The lead animator for Mass Effect 2 has shared a previously unreleased trailer for the game, only ever seen by the developers at BioWare.
This trailer, described as a demo reel of the in-progress cinematics, dates back to April 2009. It would have been used to demonstrate the kind of work that the animation team was doing for Mass Effect 2, and eagle-eyed fans will notice several scenes that did make it into the final game.
Fuck it – here’s something for #N7Day I haven’t shown before. A very pre-alpha internal trailer intended to highlight the cinematics we were creating in Montreal.
Faces were the average of all the customisation sliders in Maya, and we ran every scene with each possible squamate when polishing.
— Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) November 7, 2026
Released by Jonathan Cooper, a game developer who has worked with the likes of BioWare, Ubisoft, and Naughty Dog, this Mass Effect 2 trailer gives us an incredibly early look at some of the game’s characters and pivotal moments. While it can be a little hard to make out, we can spot companions like Miranda, Garrus, and Jack.
Cooper hasn’t shared too much info on the trailer, but did say what it was like to work on it. “[…] remembering all the arguments and drama on the team haha,” he said. “But mostly reading the scripts and getting pumped imagining how awesome we could make Shepard look hitting those story beats.”
Mass Effect 2 was quite the departure from the first game, and this internal trailer makes that perfectly clear. After opening with Shepard’s death, we’re treated to a very ‘00s action movie monologue from the Commander themself, before cutting to the new Normandy crew.
If you’re curious about the song in the background, it’s C’Mon Try A Little Bit by Melodrone. It doesn’t appear to have been used in any of the promotional material that was shared with fans back in the day, and it only has 64,000 plays on YouTube.
All in all, this is nothing like the trailer we would be shown, cinematic or otherwise, but it does capture that edgier, action vibe that the sequel was going for, compared to its more optimistic predecessor. It’s a vibe that continues to resonate with fans to this day, as Mass Effect 2 is often held up as the best game BioWare ever put out.
Now, those same fans are fighting to protect the series they love. After EA closed BioWare and canceled Mass Effect 5, the community started the Save Mass Effect campaign, which urges the publisher to do something with the series, whether that’s fund new games or licence it out to another developer. Some are also pushing for Mass Effect to be returned to those who worked on it.
Rhiannon (she/her) is a freelance journalist who has been in the industry since 2019. She won MCV’s Women in Games award in 2025 and adores RPGs. You can follow her on Bluesky at @rhithewitch.