pcpcIf you’ve played through the Mass Effect trilogy, you’ll be keenly familiar with the long-winded ballet of circumnavigating the Council’s bullshit. Evidence mounts but it’s never enough while scheming backstabbers play politics with the will and wellbeing of the people beneath their game of climb-the-ladder. It’s tough to get to that infamous endpoint and want […]
Home »
Mass Effect’s Most Honest Romances Don’t Even Involve Shepard
The galaxy is falling apart in Mass Effect 3, with billions of people trying desperately to reconnect with loved ones in the face of an unprecedented invasion. Unless Commander Shepard can perform some sort of miracle in the coming days, everything we’ve come to know is doomed – and that includes the places and people […]
Mass Effect’s Bars Are Proof Of Its Great World Building
There has been a collective excitement bubbling around Britain for the past few weeks as pubs have started to reopen, but that excitement has largely passed me by. I’m glad that restaurants are opening up, that small businesses can start to gain some footing, and that we can hopefully start to catch a glimpse of […]
Mass Effect's Conrad Verner Feels Very Different Through The Lens Of Surviving Assault
When I was active duty, I was taught more efficient ways of self-defense. Those lessons gave me confidence that bordered on too confident in certain situations. Assault is something I’m intimately familiar with, both within my family life in the past and growing up homeless off and on. However, protecting yourself can be hard to do […]
I Love Mass Effect’s Sci-Fi Jargon
I’m a real sucker for sci-fi, but something that absolutely makes or breaks it is worldbuilding. As well as being new to the Yakuza series, the recently released Legendary Edition is my first foray into the world of Mass Effect – I’m sorry. Fortunately, coming to the series later than everyone else has allowed me to view […]
Mass Effect's Jennifer Hale And Courtenay Taylor On The Challenges Of Bringing Certain Characters To Life
With the Mass Effect Legendary Edition out now, so many seasoned fans are jumping back to board the Normandy once more to revisit familiar planets and say hello to old friends. More than that, however, newcomers to this beloved franchise are diving in for the first time, experiencing a new adventure, one that has touched so […]
Mass Effect’s revival reminds us it’s time to abolish the space police
What does the future hold? In our new series “Imagining the Next Future,” Polygon explores the new era of science fiction — in movies, books, TV, games, and beyond — to see how storytellers and innovators are imagining the next 10, 20, 50, or 100 years during a moment of extreme uncertainty. Follow along as […]
Too Many Of Mass Effect’s Renegade Choices Just Don’t Make Sense
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve played through the Mass Effect trilogy. It’s my absolute favorite series, and I’ve developed a bit of a yearly ritual where I replay the trilogy over the summer. I usually make the same few choices, drop Ashley, save Wrex, romance Garrus or Thane, opt for Synthesis – […]
Mass Effect’s New Box Art Creator Proves The Trilogy Has No Bad Squadmates
BioWare recently revealed a new tool ahead of the launch of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition that allows you to create a custom cover for the game by selecting which squadmates are featured on it, and in what order. You can also tweak the colouration between Paragon blue, Renegade red, and a neutral mix of the […]
Mass Effect’s Mako made me quit the game. Now I can try again
I tried to play Mass Effect when it was first released in 2007. And I almost immediately turned off my Xbox 360 as soon as I had to get into the M35 Mako — Mass Effect’s divisive, horrifying-to-control space vehicle. The memory of it, struggling to steer as I flung my vehicle off cliffs, is […]