Mass Effect: Genesis
2011
- visual novel
- science fiction
- single player
The story
Mass Effect: Genesis is a downloadable "interactive backstory comic". Genesis fills the role of Mass Effect for new players by introducing them to the story of the original game and allowing them to make six of the major plot decisions that players could make. If downloaded, the comic appears between the opening level and character customization. There are two versions of the comic, one each for a male and female Commander Shepard.
What it’s like
Presented as a sequence of comic-book pages, this interactive backstory unfolds in inked panels with a graphic, slightly stylized sci-fi look: clean linework, flat colour blocks, and cool blues and grays of starship interiors and alien worlds, with the occasional burst of orange from explosions or gunfire. Panels hold still and then cut, so the rhythm is deliberate and read-at-your-own-pace, with brief pauses for the choices it asks of you. The mood is a steady, somber seriousness, a brooding sense of a galaxy on the brink, and the score of the original game's ambient synth and low strings would fit it well. Combat appears in short, tense bursts of gunfire and destruction, with some wounded or dead figures, but the violence stays comic-book restrained rather than gory. It suits a quiet evening with a controller in hand, or a first playthrough when you want to settle into the setting before the main game begins. The emotional register is solemn and purposeful, following a crew under pressure as they confront a threat they can't yet fully grasp. It's for players who enjoy branching decisions and sci-fi worldbuilding, and for anyone curious about the Mass Effect universe who doesn't mind a story told mostly through still images and dialogue.
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