2. Mass Effect

With Mass Effect, BioWare proved they could make a great sci-fi game without the Star Wars license. The Canadian studio created a memorable sci-fi universe and populated it with great characters. A villain named Saren and his Geth army of robots was menacing enough, but the vile Reapers were an even bigger threat to the galaxy that people stubbornly refused to believe in…

Better than its overblown, overrated sequel, this had memorable moments such as protagonist Commander Shepard addressing the crew of his spaceship (the Normandy) for the first time and great Gears of War-style action too. It was controversial as other BioWare games have been as well – the game’s sex scenes were a sore point for some despite being rather tame by today’s standards… Nonetheless, the Mass Effect trilogy offers some of the best sci-fi RPG gameplay of all time, and thankfully BioWare was able to produce the remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition compilation before their demise.

Release date: November 2007. Available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, other platforms (also on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S via backwards compatibility and part of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition compilation).

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