34 Interesting Facts About Mass Effect

The Mass Effect series has tens of millions of devoted fans. These games have been described as interesting, captivating, and unpredictable, earning every bit of praise they’ve received. Mass Effect can be rightfully called one of the best space operas ever created in the realm of video games.

Facts About Mass Effect:

1. The working title of the first game in the series was “Science Fiction X.”
2. Originally, Javik, the last surviving Prothean, was meant to be part of the main storyline in ME3. However, due to tight deadlines, this wasn’t possible by the release date, so Javik was only introduced in a DLC.
3. The appearance of the salarian Mordin Solus was modeled after the face of the famous actor Clint Eastwood.
4. The male version of Shepard’s face is modeled after Dutch model Mark Vanderloo, who reportedly dislikes Mass Effect because he doesn’t want to be associated with Shepard. Fans who recognize him on the street and shout “That’s Shepard!” annoy him greatly.
5. In Mass Effect 3, Garrus and Tali begin a romance with each other if Shepard does not pursue a romantic relationship with either of them.
6. In all three parts of the canonical trilogy (excluding Andromeda), only two companions are available to recruit without DLC: Tali and Garrus. Liara joins Shepard in the first and third games, but only temporarily in the second game, and only in the “Lair of the Shadow Broker” DLC.
7. The voice narrating Shepard’s story in the final scene of Mass Effect 3 belongs to Buzz Aldrin, the legendary astronaut who went to the Moon with Neil Armstrong.
8. The Illusive Man was originally intended to be the final boss in Mass Effect 3, but this idea was scrapped as it felt too similar to the battle with Saren in the first game.
9. The faces of the krogan were based on the features of vampire bats found in South America.
10. Voice actor Mark Meer, who voices male Shepard, also provided lines for other characters like the hanar and vorcha.
11. According to statistics, most players choose the Paragon (heroic) path rather than the Renegade (anti-heroic) path in Mass Effect.
12. The asari were designed as a monogender species to add more female characters to the game. The creators felt the game had too many male characters.
13. The most popular companion chosen by players is Liara, while the least popular is Kaidan Alenko.
14. The salarians’ appearance is inspired by the “little green men” stereotype of aliens that became popular in the 20th century.
15. At one point, you can see the Illusive Man drinking Jim Beam bourbon, a real-life drink.
16. In the first Mass Effect, during the mission on the Moon (when you need to shut down a rogue AI), you can find a Soviet satellite on the surface.
17. Mark Meer’s wife played a minor character, the asari Rana Thanoptis, in the first Mass Effect.
18. Grunt is the only krogan in the series with blue eyes.
19. Tali’s face can be seen in a photograph in the third game. The image is actually a slightly edited photo of Miss Great Britain 2005, Hammasa Kohistani.
20. In Mass Effect 3, Tali has a combat drone named Chatika vas Paus, a reference to the second installment of the legendary Baldur’s Gate.
21. Joker keeps his favorite baseball cap throughout all three Mass Effect games. He is only seen without it in ME1 (during the landing on Ilos) and ME2 (during the Collector attack).
22. Asari do not have eyebrows, except for Liara and her mother, Matriarch Benezia.
23. In Mass Effect 2, male Shepard has only three dialogues with Garrus, while female Shepard has more.
24. Tali has entomophobia—a fear of insects. In Mass Effect 3, she states that the creepiest enemies she has ever encountered are the rachni husks.
25. If you save Kaidan in the first Mass Effect, sacrificing Ashley instead, you may sometimes see her on the Citadel in ME3 due to a bug.
26. The Citadel in Mass Effect bears a striking resemblance to the Babylon 5 space station from the series of the same name.
27. Some secondary plotlines were cut from the game because they were too similar to episodes from the “Star Trek” series.
28. During Miranda’s loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, there is a moment where she hacks an elevator. The music playing in the elevator is the same as that played in elevators in ME1.
29. The Shrike Abyssal cluster is a reference to the “Hyperion” book series.
30. In the second and third Mass Effect games, there is a star system called Memory. All the planets there are named after Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Soyuz 11 disaster.
31. According to the Shadow Broker’s dossier, Legion enjoys playing MMORPGs in his free time.
32. Jacob’s father in Mass Effect 2 was a crew member on the ship “Hugo Gernsback,” named after the man who was the editor of the world’s first science fiction magazine.
33. Of all the possible companions in Mass Effect, Liara is the only one who cannot die.
34. The design of the Collectors was based on macro photographs of insects studied under microscopes.