Mass Effect: Andromeda - review

I love the Mass Effect trilogy. It’s one of my favourite stories; one of my most treasured narratives. I’ve spoken about it extensively here, so (given that I think I have to admit the effective dormancy of this journal), it seems right to resurrect this place in order to add my thoughts about Mass Effect: Andromeda. In short, I am disappoint.

Listen, I’m not here to yell at anyone for what they love. The cliff’s notes version is that I enjoyed the game enough to finish it, but kept waiting for plot resolutions and thematic coherency that never arrived. Sadly, the longer I sat with the story after I had finished it, the more it frustrated me. Basically because it’s colonialist as all hell and half the plot is never resolved.

If that’s not something you want to read, that’s cool. You may disagree with me. You may agree with me and like it anyway. I am all about being able to love and critique at the same time. You are glorious, savvy media consumers and none of you need a permit to operate this game responsibly.

But, If you want to follow me down a rabbit hole of frustration and disappointment, read on. (Safety spoiler: don’t worry about me, I still love the original trilogy.)

(Spoilers spoiler: spoilers for the whole game.)

( Lol, colonialism. )

( Lol, plot. )

That’s how I felt about a lot of the characters in Mass Effect: Andromeda. They couldn’t hate me, not really, because they were NPCs.

And the plot was frustrating.

And it was colonialist as hell.

And I guess that’s about all I have to say about the game.