See, if I were you, I’d be skeptical about that title too. But now, I’m going to go a little further in the opening paragraph, now that you’ve clicked and I’ve got your attention. Mass Effect Not only is it the best RPG series of all time – I think it’s also one of the best science fiction books of all time.
No, I’m not exaggerating. I was serious. I’d put Bioware’s trilogy of games alongside Asimov, Star Wars, Ballard, and Star Trek. Whether Mass Effect is taking you on a tour of sentient life in the universe and forcing you to examine the macro-patterns it follows, or delving into the minutiae of an intimate romance that’s doomed, it’s beautiful and tragic. This is hopeful and preordained. It captures and celebrates the central paradox of everything.
And it’s free – free! – If you subscribed to PS Plus Essential in December 2022, you can download and play. Picture this: For me, downloading this game via PSN has the same value as watching the entire Star Wars saga (including Rebels) on a 4K UHD Blu-ray disc by some random passer-by on the street. It’s like a rogue librarian passing you off as Ursula K. Le Guin’s portfolio in a dusty old library and telling you not to worry about bringing them back. It’s like watching all the great Star Trek on Netflix. Oh wait – you’re probably familiar.
Mass Effect is essential science fiction. It, somehow, covers all the things I care most about in science fiction: it breathlessly manages to break down social divisions, the inevitability and cruelty of war, the climate crisis, population control, artificial intelligence and sentience, what love is, what it Shuttle between what is. It’s life – and what it might be to love and live without limits.
Following the story of the first human ghost (read: space pig), you can choose to become a tool of the pseudo-fascist regime of the Empire, abusing your power to improve humanity’s standing on corrupt councils…or you can choose to exercise your power Instead, in the name of your crew and their own interests. In pursuing your interests—or your ragtag, misfit crew—you gain a unique perspective on this universe: one threatened with extinction, but still mired in its own intraspecies conflict and split.
In all three games, you’ll take on the role of an ignorant (yet noble) hero… that’ll definitely fascinate the various races you’ll be lucky enough to meet along your journey. Humanity is young in this universe; only recently joined the Interuniverse Alliance, (almost) to keep things going. For many races, the first time they saw a human being was in their memory – and it was hostile. Of course it is; humans have always been afraid of what they don’t know, and eager to conquer.
But as an ancient and unknown threat begins to manifest in the darkest regions of space, the indomitable human spirit is thrust into the spotlight – and suddenly, this curious, unproven race has it all in its hands to save (or destroy) everything. key.
As a player, it will all fall on your shoulders within hours. The first game, a flawed gem as it may be, builds up the stakes and the setting deftly and easily – introducing some of the best choice-based RPG dialogue in the world during gameplay. The second game (one of the best ever) has this wonderful sense of doom and this unique sense of menace humming throughout the background. The third game – with an unsatisfactory ending for some, but a perfectly logical conclusion for others – ended it all well… although compared to the other two, you Its focus on action has to be forgiven.
Then there’s Normandy, your ship. your home. The place to breathe, to move, that you will come back to again and again. This hub is where your protagonist unspools in the universe. A place where you – the player – come to decompress and study the world around you. Without this ship—this home, this anchor—the rest of the universe would feel adrift. By anchoring you to this place and bringing you back, you begin to appreciate the constants in an ever-changing world. You come to wish; go round each of your crew, check all systems, see how the Garrus is calibrated.
The three Mass Effect games available in the Legendary Edition—originally released between 2007 and 2012—have never dated. A full trilogy of reissues, updates, these games are once again relevant to 2022, and (like any good science fiction) will remain relevant for years—decades, generations—to come, Touching and important.
So do yourself a favor: play with them. Or play it all over again. Or play them again and again.
