Being a space opera, Mass Effect lacks truly alien races. All so-called aliens have too much in common with humans. Yes, they may have extra eyes and limbs, and they have unusual abilities. But this is just an illusion, under which there is nothing extraterrestrial. Or does it seem so only at first glance? Now we’ll find out!
Imagine living in the Mass Effect universe. You were born on a small planet inhabited by people. All your adult life you have had a dream: to see a real alien! Now the required amount has been collected, and the space shuttle takes you straight to the Citadel – the center of the Galactic Alliance and the multiracial capital.
It seems like a dream has come true, and you are now surrounded by unusual species of creatures. But somewhere here there is a catch – these are some wrong aliens! They dance in discos, drink in bars, and gamble. If you don’t look after them, these creatures form gangs. In other words, alien species behave like human society. See for yourself:
- Volus : greedy and narcissistic shorties;
- Salarians : a race of “scientists” who live no longer than 40 years;
- Turians : soldiers obsessed with drill and order;
- Krogan : aggressive and brutal big warriors;
- Elcors : “inhibited” creatures that communicate in an unusual way – they tell their interlocutor about all their feelings in words, because they cannot show emotions with facial expressions or body movements;
- Quarians : Their immunity is so poor that they will not survive without their own spacesuit.
Each of them is a reflection of human traits. Even the hanars, which look like flying jellyfish, make films and work as models for adult magazines. And for this you left your home planet? To see aliens do everything that humans do? In fact, it was worth looking better.
Guardians
All this time, mysterious aliens have been under your nose. It’s just that no one pays attention to them. The Guardians silently go about their business, keeping the Citadel running.
No one knows the true nature of the Guardians. These creatures, which look like large aphids, could be anything – biorobots or an artificially grown species. Perhaps this race evolved to perform one function – to maintain the Citadel, repair it and keep it in working order. After all, when people found the new capital of the Alliance drifting in space, the Guardians were already there. Unfortunately, observing them does not answer any of the questions posed.
Azari
At first glance, asari are not very different from other races – they are same-sex humanoid creatures that look like blue-skinned women. They are also long-lived and have powerful biotic abilities. But their method of reproduction already goes beyond what is usual for humans – asari can conceive a baby from a representative of any race and gender, but an asari will always be born from this relationship. This leads to some suspicions.
Perhaps something sinister is hidden under the guise of the blue-skinned seductresses. The very fact that asari are capable of procreating with any other race is already frightening. Instead of continuing their own line, other races will produce asari. This is also facilitated by the fact that any race sees in them the ideal of beauty.
During the process of “conception”, asari are able to read the thoughts of their partners. An excellent tool to manipulate politics through bed. All this makes the blue-skinned seductresses a race of parasites who will conquer the entire galaxy using humane methods – it’s only a matter of time.
A Thorian
Deep beneath the surface of the planet Feros, an ancient horror dwells. The intelligent plant organism known as the Thorian lived for tens of thousands of years. He survived the Protheans and the Reapers’ harvest. When colonists appeared on the planet, he enslaved them with his spores. And those who refused to obey suffered a terrible headache.
It all ended after Shepard arrived on the planet. The captain, having learned the secret of the colonists, entered into battle with the Thorian. The creature, in an attempt to defend itself, mass produced eerie humanoid creatures and clones of the captured asari. But that didn’t stop Shepard! As a result, an ancient, wise and extremely aggressive organism was killed. Possibly the last of its kind. But who knows. The Thorian’s roots span the entire planet, and the deep horror may yet return…
Rahni
This insect-like race was once the scourge of the entire galaxy. The Rachni warriors destroyed all sentient beings on their way – only the help of the krogans helped stop these monsters. The Rachni troops were driven back to the borders of their home planet, where this race was subjected to genocide.
But not all the rachni were killed that day. On the planet Noveria, Shepard will find the last living Rachni Queen. In a conversation, she will not behave like a barbarian or a murderer, for whom her entire race was mistaken – she is a noble and beautiful creature, ready to put an end to her distraught children. The Queen will humbly accept Shepard’s decision to kill her.
If you leave her alive, the player will learn a lot of new things about this race – they are not mindless bugs, but peaceful and developed creatures. They are in many ways reminiscent of the arachnids from Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Despite their completely organic civilization, the Rachni are able to build spaceships, stations and other artificial objects. Moreover, they are able to understand the culture and technology of other races.
The rachni’s way of communicating is also amazing. The Rachni Queen communicated with Shepard through the asari and krogan, who were on the verge of death or voluntarily allowed her into their consciousness. The communication between the rachni is called ” singing “. If the Queen does not sing to newborns, then the children deprived of parental love will go crazy, they will kill everyone in their path – this is what happened in the first Mass Effect.
The surviving Queen blames the Reapers for the Rachni’s aggression. She associates their influence with “the color of buttery shadows.” This is very important information! After all, Shepard in Mass Effect 3 had hallucinations with exactly this shade. Perhaps our hero was drugged, and he didn’t even know about it.
Reapers
The main threat in the entire Mass Effect series. At the beginning they are described as a “horror story before bed” – as if monsters live in the darkest corners of space. At one point, they arrive in the galaxy to exterminate all living beings and show that they are not a fiction that is told to children before bed.
But even the most terrible fairy tales paled before reality. The Reapers proved themselves to be powerful and ruthless machines – intelligent races suffered huge losses trying to destroy only one flagship of the Reapers, the Sovereign.
They later showed their terrible nature by remaking the races into docile monsters who fought their former comrades. In the last cycle, they created collectors who collected information and harvest from the races of the current cycle. The Reapers stupefied the leaders of their enemies, intimidated the population of the planets – all in order to make it easier to destroy life in the galaxy.
In a sense, these ancient machines are capable of compassion. They collect the remnants of the destroyed race to create a new Reaper. In it, the remains of civilization will be stored until the need for harvests no longer exists.
We can say “thank you” to BioWare for the fact that there are two versions of the Reapers’ motivation. According to one of them, the Reapers destroy all intelligent organic matter so that they do not create machines with artificial intelligence. Sooner or later, machines rebel against their creators and destroy them. Therefore, the Reapers destroy organics so that they do not create machines that will destroy them.
The second version is less idiotic. According to her, the Reapers are looking for an alternative to element zero. The zero element, also known as the mass effect, is widely used by intelligent races. The problem is that it is slowly depleting the galaxy. For this reason, the Reapers destroy intelligent organics over and over again, trying to find an alternative to the mass effect – or to discover a young race that will cope with this task better.
Leviathans
The oldest living people. Millions of years ago they conquered the galaxy – they were the most powerful and technologically advanced race. It was she who noticed the threat to the galaxy and created the Reapers to protect all life. The creation of the Leviathans decided to act radically – it destroyed the hosts, and began to use their form as a design for the outer shell.
But not all Leviathans were destroyed. Shepard will have the opportunity to talk with these ancient creatures, at the edge of our understanding. The conversation will take place at the bottom of the ocean, where the surviving creators hid from their creations. And this is one of the most atmospheric moments in the game!
Alas, the Leviathans, like many of the key races of the trilogy, were hidden in the DLC. Without installing the add-on, you might not have known about such an important plot element. You can thank the greed of Electronic Arts for this.
Mass Effect: Andromeda and new disappointments
Mass Effect: Andromeda takes place in another galaxy. You, together with a group of colonists, find yourself in a new world where everything can start from scratch. And it would seem that this is an opportunity! BioWare could create unprecedented races, impossible for the laws of the Milky Way. But all they did was make more humanoids.
Even though this is a new galaxy, the only interesting aliens here are the kett.
They do not have reproductive organs. For this reason, they forcefully transform other races into their own kind, calling it Ascension. The created kett takes on the features of the old race and the new one, acquires bone armor and becomes similar to its new relatives.
Yes, these are the same asari, but with a boring design. The kett answer the question: “What would happen if the asari tried to aggressively take over the galaxy?” But in practice, they are inferior to Reapers and Collectors in terms of level of sophistication and perceived threat.
Analysis
If it seems that it is impossible to find unusual aliens in Mass Effect that are surrounded by an aura of mystery, this is not so. Yes, the standard humanoid alien representatives predominate, but even they are interesting and well developed. Exotic lovers will prefer Reapers, Rachni, Guardians and Thorian.
It’s just a shame that BioWare didn’t fully reveal some of them. And that the company didn’t do this in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, although you simply can’t think of a better reason. But alas, we received a mediocre re-release, where the main changes are aimed at the camera positions in the scenes where Miranda Lawson moves her hips.