// KOTAKU — GAMING
The 12 Best Moments In Mass Effect
Mass EffectMass Effect 2Mass Effect 3Mass Effect: Andromeda
As I’m sure will surprise no one, this list of the best moments of the Mass Effect series in the wake of BioWare’s shutdown was originally a lot longer. I strolled into the Kotaku Slack with a list of…one second, let me count…57 moments across all of Mass Effect that I wanted to spotlight. That was after I had made what I thought were tough cuts, but once I plopped that proposed monster into the chat, I was immediately bullied for my hubris and told I was only allowed 12. Frankly, that was rude as hell and a direct attack on my sparkle. But here I am. I killed 45 of my darlings and picked what I consider the 12 best moments across the Mass Effect series, and even now, I may keel over at the thought of not including moments like the Wrex conflict on Virmire, or Tali thinking about where the living room window of her new home will go once she’s reclaimed the Quarian homeworld of Rannoch.
So if you open up this list and wonder where your favorite moment is, do not blame me. It would have been almost five times longer if I were in charge. Please feel free to talk about your favorite moments that didn’t make it in the comments. And now, after torturing myself to scale this list down, let’s get into the 12 best moments in all of Mass Effect.
Up to this point, Mass Effect has made its galaxy feel large, but it isn’t until the player is able to speak to Sovereign, the “vanguard of [our] destruction,” that it becomes clear that it is far larger than your comprehension. The point guy of the Reapers, a synthetic/organic hybrid race that has wiped out galactic life multiple times across eons, Sovereign suggests that humanity is merely a blip in the Reapers’ long, long history of genocide and assimilation.
“Rudimentary creatures of blood and flesh. You touch my mind, fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding.”
In a rush of human pride, Shepard declares that, whatever the Reapers may have done to galactic civilizations that have come before, they have never faced humanity before, and we will not fall to the same end. And hey, what do you know? Shepard was right. — Kenneth Shepard
Mass Effect was pitched as a trilogy in which your choices would have consequences across multiple games, and the Virmire decision is when it becomes clear that BioWare meant business, making you choose between two of your party members. Yes, prior to this it’s possible to lose the krogan tank Urdnot Wrex, but there is a way out of that if you’re close enough to him or persuasive enough. The Virmire choice, which requires you to choose between either the career soldier Ashley Williams or the soft-spoken biotic Kaidan Alenko, doesn’t give you an easy way out. They each have their backs against the wall on different sides of an enemy base, and you don’t have time to save them both.
Whoever survives goes on to play a major role in the games that follow, but the empty chair in the Normandy’s meeting room serves as a reminder that not everyone is going to get out alive, and you have to be willing to live with the consequences of being in command when your choices lead to the loss of a friend. — Kenneth Shepard
The original Mass Effect sure does love its lore dumps. Much like the way the conversation with Sovereign illuminates the murderous intent of the Reapers, the conversation on Ilos with Vigil sheds light on the attempt to stop them. It’s an interesting if grim conversation, detailing the Protheans’ against-all-odds efforts to stymie the Reapers, revealing details that bring the plot right back to where it all began: The Citadel. If you’re a Mass Effect lorehound, it’s a brilliant bit of storytelling. The Citadel, introduced to Shepard as a wondrous structure with its many mysteries, was in fact designed by the very enemies threatening to wipe them out. In the early hours of the game, as the keepers—those green creatures seen puttering around and maintaining the Citadel—become background noi