Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

The dawning horror that I’ve doomed a galaxy is the defining feature of my Mass Effect experience.

Last time on Diary of a Hardline Shep, I covered Shepard’s super-judicial might and how it came at the cost of politically weaker species’ self-determination. Here at the end, only humanity is safe. And it all feels remarkably familiar. (more…)

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 3: Who Gets to Choose

Welcome back to Diary of a Hardline Shep. Last time I talked about how Mass Effect’s premise positions humanity as an exceptional species. What I didn’t talk about is how much embodying that really sucks. (more…)

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 2: Space Colonialism Is Still Colonialism

So I want to start this diary from the very start. And from the very start, Mass Effect is very clear about one thing.

Shepard is special. (more…)

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 4: Imperialism but Make It Space

Diary of a Hardline Shep, Part 1: It’s Been Years Since I Heard That Name

It’s been eight years since I last played the original Mass Effect trilogy. I know this because in the final moments of Mass Effect 3 I knocked over my Xbox 360, gouging a ring into the disk I’d borrowed from my friend. At 9AM on a Saturday morning, I biked across town to my now-shuttered local games store to have it buffed, all things that could have only happened before I left for college. (more…)