Whether you shoot Saren down or get him to try and commit suicide, it is revealed that Saren's entire skeleton has been replaced with a synthetic exoskeleton, with pipes coming out of the back of his skull in a perfect use of body horror.Įven after defeating Saren - and possibly getting psychological scars for life - it is time to deal with Sovereign, because there is still one Reaper inside the galaxy, and it is pretty darn hard to destroy. When you finally confront Saren, depending on your choices so far, you can try to convince Saren to doubt his motivations. The plan is to catch up to Saren and stop him from activating the Citadel and allowing the Reapers to enter the galaxy meanwhile, your allies fight Sovereign and their geth forces which are attacking the Citadel's flagship, the Destiny Ascension, which is carrying the Citadel's Council. As soon as you reach the Citadel, you encounter a warzone, with wave after wave of synthetic "geth" waiting for you. Not only are they coming to destroy humanity and all other life in the galaxy, but the new cycle of harvesting is just about to start, with the Reapers targeting the center of galactic government in the Citadel - which is actually a Mass Relay device used by the Reapers to invade the galaxy.Īnd that's how we enter the final mission in the game, with Shepard racing against the clock to try and stop Saren and Sovereign from using the Citadel to trigger the Reaper invasion. Turns out, Shepard discovers that Sovereign is an actual Reaper, huge sentient machines that wait for organic life to develop before harvesting them once they achieve the peak of technological advancement.
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As you gather new allies and explore some of the long-gestating conflicts of the galaxy, you start gaining clues as to Saren's nefarious plans and his mysteriously advanced flagship, Sovereign, which possesses mind-control capabilities - all while hearing whispers of a rumored race of machines called "Reapers" which supposedly eradicated the Protheans 50,000 years ago. You step into the shoes of Commander Shepard, basically a space cop tasked with capturing a rogue agent, as you discover a nefarious plan that threatens the entire galaxy.Īs you chase down the rogue agent Saren, Shepard also gets strange visions thanks to a beacon belonging to the ancient Prothean civilization. This discovery allowed them to travel at faster-than-light speeds and join the intergalactic community at the Citadel, a colossal space station where people of all species live. In essence, Mass Effect takes place in the year 2183 after mankind discovered the remnants of an ancient and advanced alien civilization on Mars. RELATED: 'Mass Effect' Timeline Explained: From Ancient Alien Cuttlefish to Intergalactic Genocide and Tons of Elevator Ridesīefore that, however, it's worth recapping how we got here in the first place. Whether you're playing the game for the first time with the Legendary Edition, looking for a refresher, or simply curious to see what all the fuss is about, we are here to break down the ending of the original Mass Effect and what it all means. From its memorable characters, to its vast worldbuilding, to an epic story that can still be felt in story-driven video games, there's never a bad time to revisit this hit game.
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Much of the legacy of the Mass Effect trilogy is so focused on the response to the ending to the third game that it's easy to forget just how big of a hit the first game was when it launched in 2007.