Sam Hulick released his re-scored Mass Effect: Universe trailer for N7 Day on November 7, 2026, sharing his own musical vision for the game. Hulick helped compose the trilogy collected in Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
The leaked trailer originally used an edited version of Quartz by French 79. Hulick took that track as inspiration, combining its suggested shift in direction with the musical tone of his earlier work on the series.
Commander Shepard's combat view
Familiar synths meet a new direction
Hulick described the re-score as “a balancing act between paying homage to the original trilogy and exploring new ground.” His music draws most heavily on Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3, connecting the first game's subdued analog synth and orchestral blend with the third game's broader musical palette.
The trailer moves between ambient, cinematic, and combat music. Its fight scene near the end is where Hulick said he let the synthwave side of his sound come through, while the surrounding passages stay closer to the trilogy's musical tone.
His production process has changed, too. Hulick said he once relied on synthesizer presets but now mostly builds sounds from scratch, finding that quicker than searching through premade options. He described the re-score as more polished than his earlier work while still aiming to keep it recognizably Mass Effect.
Hulick's broader musical vision keeps room for solo piano and orchestral arrangements alongside heavier analog synth. He sees those instruments as part of the series' emotional character, not something to discard when changing its sound.
He also outlined a personal wish to use more songs with lyrics during emotional moments, taking inspiration from Faunts' end-credits song in the original Mass Effect. Gunship, NINA, and The Midnight were on his collaboration wish list for their moody, cinematic synthwave sound.
