Mass Effect Trilogy

After romping around the pseudo-medieval realm of Valisthea, you might be in the mood for a complete change of genre. Good news: the first three Mass Effect games remain some of the best science fiction RPGs you can currently play. And the recent Legendary Edition re-release has made the trilogy easy to jump into on modern consoles and PCs.

Like Final Fantasy XVI, the stakes are high for Mass Effect’s characters, with potentially world-ending consequences should you and your comrades fail. You create your own Commander Shepard, choosing their gender, largely shaping their personality (you get some amazing opportunities to be a real space-jerk), and determining how they tackle combat, whether primarily through straight-ahead third-person shooting or with the help of magic-esque “Biotic” abilities.

And unlike a certain someone who just gave up when her ship wouldn’t fly, you’ll actually get a darn ship in Mass Effect with the Normandy. Mass Effect delivers on the fantasy of flying with your own crew who you’ll come to depend on to get you through thick and thin. Arguably, there’s far greater opportunity for real relationship-building here than there is in Final Fantasy XVI, since you get to actively participate in each conversation and influence how your connections with your crew evolve over time.

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