Is It Worth Playing the Mass Effect Trilogy in 2026?

BioWare has only been disappointing fans in recent years. Dragon Age: The Veilguard spent years in development and ended up a flop, and before that came the divisive Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda. The studio's golden era fell in the 2000s and early 2010s, when hit after hit kept coming out. That's when millions of players around the world followed the adventures of Captain Shepard. But does that trilogy still hold up in 2026? That's exactly what this article sets out to answer.

Mass Effect's open world spans a huge number of star systems across the Milky Way. Games like this aren't rare these days. In Kerbal Space Program, you oversee a rocket launch; in No Man's Sky, you explore planetary surfaces; in Dead Space, you try to survive aboard a starship. There are also plenty of projects tied to specific licenses — Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Alien: Isolation, and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader. You'll find the full list in our article on the best space games for PC: RPGs, horror games, puzzles, and strategy.

Against that backdrop, Mass Effect stands out for being a full-fledged epic space opera that's also completely self-contained. You don't need to watch a bunch of movies to understand key events, the way you would with Star Wars or Alien, and you don't need to dig through mountains of lore, like with Warhammer 40,000. It's enough to just play through the original trilogy. But is it still worth it today?

Writing was never BioWare's strongest suit; even the surprise plot twists are almost always easy to see coming. The story told across the Mass Effect trilogy probably won't shock you. The threat initially seems overblown, you have to convince skeptics of the danger and put together a team, and then you try to stop an extinction-level catastrophe. The third game's ending is divisive — it comes across more like bold arthouse cinema than a modern blockbuster. The finale disappointed plenty of fans, and only the Citadel DLC, with its heartfelt farewell to the characters, managed to sweeten the pill a little.

But the real charm of the Mass Effect trilogy lies in its seemingly minor mini-stories that end up sticking with you. Take your companions' personal quests, for instance, which reveal their backstory and motivations, after which they start feeling like real, living characters with their own fears and hopes.

It's also worth noting that your choices genuinely affect future events. The ending of the second game immediately comes to mind, where a number of characters, including Shepard themself, can die. But even during the main story, there are branching points where an ally's interests will clash with your own goals. Fail to talk them down, and you risk losing a valuable squadmate. Certain decisions will shape the fate of entire species. In other words, even if you end up disliking how the trilogy wraps up, the journey itself, spanning dozens of hours, is almost guaranteed to hold your interest.

Plenty of space operas, Star Wars among them, carry that spirit of genuine adventure. The Mass Effect trilogy is no exception. But on top of that, it also has simple detective investigations, horror elements set on abandoned stations or lifeless spacecraft, visits to loud nightclubs with exotic dancers, and much more. Depending on the location, the atmosphere can shift dramatically. As a result, the playthrough feels genuinely varied. That's what sets the series apart, even among other space-themed games.

It's worth admitting that certain individual elements in Mass Effect aren't quite as polished as they are in dedicated genre representatives. For instance, if you love examining evidence and questioning witnesses to get to the truth, check out our list of the best detective games.

Back in 2007, when the first Mass Effect came out, combining a shooter with RPG elements felt like something fairly unusual. By today's standards, after Borderlands, Destiny, and The Division, that approach seems completely standard. But that doesn't mean the Shepard trilogy has aged poorly.

If you want, you can treat the second and third games as full-fledged third-person shooters that fall just a little short of Gears of War. But there's an important nuance here — Shepard's abilities are directly tied to their character class and skill investments. For instance, besides firearms, there are biotic powers, essentially the sci-fi equivalent of magic. With them, you can lift enemies into the air, put up defensive barriers, and much more. Some of Shepard's allies have these powers too. During a mission, the captain can bring along one or two companions.

The first game, though, has a handful of questionable design choices that remain irritating to this day. For instance, there's no ammo — instead, your weapons overheat, and you have to wait for them to cool down. At first, this feels like an interesting twist, but over time it just gets tiring. And overall, the combat mechanics in the original Mass Effect feel a bit dated, especially compared to the sequel. The 2021 remaster partially fixed the combat situation. It's worth noting the original game also has more detailed character progression, while the second and third games noticeably simplify it. It's also worth mentioning the sections where you drive the Mako, an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a machine gun. Anyone who loves shooting things should check out our list of the best first-person shooters (FPS).

If you wanted to, you could nitpick every single element of the series and find another game that does it better. But Mass Effect's real value comes from how well its individual pieces complement one another. For instance, Shepard doesn't just carry out some abstract investigation disconnected from everything else — they're searching for proof of another species' guilt so the Council will actually act to defend the galaxy's civilization. Alongside that, you take part in firefights, talk with characters, and soak in the atmosphere. In this respect, Mass Effect still has no equal, at least among space-themed games.

In 2026, the Mass Effect trilogy remains one of the most vivid and significant series in the sci-fi RPG genre. Despite its age, the games look fresh thanks to the Legendary Edition remaster, and the story, character work, and freedom of choice are still genuinely impressive. If you value deep storytelling, a strong sense of space, and sweeping adventure, the Mass Effect trilogy absolutely deserves your attention, even years after its release. That said, you're better off skipping the fourth game, subtitled Andromeda.

Finally, instead of a postscript, here are a few more space-themed game recommendations. If pure exploration is what interests you, definitely check out the previously mentioned No Man's Sky; fans of survival games should look at Breathedge; and those who love action set aboard spacecraft should check out Everspace 2 and Elite Dangerous. We also recommend checking out our selection with 30 best story-driven space games for PC.