How Mass Effect Gets Cosmic Horror Right

Mass Effect is my favourite fictional universe of all time for a good many reasons, one I've played through at least a dozen times over the years, and this is one of them. The Reapers are such an existential threat, with a perspective so far beyond what we can ever truly understand, and yet the rest of the game is so very grounded, and full of the tiny details of life, it makes for an incredible juxtaposition.

This is an incredible video essay, and one I'm certainly going to be both coming back to later, and sharing with friends. Thank you.

You know I never thought of it in this respect, and it's probably why it's one of my all-time favorite stories, Lovecraftian horror has always been my favorite genre, and this game really does an amazing job encapturing it!

You got a like and subscribe out of me. Great video, well done.

Honestly I came to the Mass Effect fandom late, and I was astonished that none of the people who had been telling me to get into it told me about the Reapers. It took me until ME2 to pick up on the cosmic horror details, but once I did I was very impressed by the level of background details that hint at the murky, evidently covered up truth of the millions of years of harvests.

A lot of people are disappointed by ME3, not just for the reason you gave, but for the ending. The control ending is in its way, a submission to the inevitable, as you describe, but even the destroy ending is a fate of cosmic horror. The Reapers might be gone, but what they were, is not. Now, the known monster is gone, but the threat, the reality of them, is now faceless. The inevitability of it, now unfettered, anything known about the Reapers, worthless now.

I too have had this thought. Also consider that once you give a creature like cthulu a stat block, people will inevitably find a way to beat it. It's just a stat sponge. That denies the very concept of eldritch. I think instead, the very fact that the ending is so wrapped in so much irl dissatisfaction is such a masterful stroke. "The best game storytellers ever couldn't just drop a meaningless ending...... could they?" The fact we are sitting here passing around secrets hidden in the texts is very 'catching something off. It's not an action or a look. But something. It didn't feel..... right. And as I tried to look closer, suddenly I realized it wasn't wast just not right it was wrong. But everyone else just laughed and carried on. Didn't they see it? How couldn't they not? Until..... at the end..... I had to ask ............. maybe..... Just maybe...... was I the crazy one?....................................................'

I've always been a fan of ME series. I've never viewed it as comic horror. I alwayd viewed it as the hypocrisy of Ai. But loved the video.

It's insane people are still playing this game and i've still been to scared of being mean to play a renegade run.

Wow a very new and interesting take on ME.

Time for me to subscribe and reinstall ME1-3😂

Thx for the video!

Found this channel because of star wars stayed because of mass effect. Good videos so far brother

I killed the reapers. They talk and talk, I liked watching them fall. They found out they are insignificant. lol

:<[{ D

I'd say dead space does a fairly decent job with cosmic horror as well. Although it'll likely not see a true ending like we all hoped.

I grew up on Mass Effect (parents played it all the time) and I absolutely love the Reapers as villains because they are so well written, I want to implement them into a DnD campaign

I felt Mass Effect was scifi with Lovecraftian elements from the first shot of Sovereign on Eden Prime.

But Leviathan DLC turned the corner for me and I realised it was Lovecraft in space.

You give me MrBTongue vibes

Every cycle create AI, every cycle create Crusible, and every cycle is dead, becouse every indoctrinated military leader is catalyst.
Shepard is indoctrination military leader (check codex), he have all symphtomes and he is a Catalyst, he making Crusible for make harvest more easyer. So your "perfect ending" right anyway, choices is was just a 4rd dream, its not reality.

Thanks for this video. I'm a huge fan of the ME series and replay it regularly, multiple times a year at least. I love playing Renegade because it aligns with what you're talking about. I think the Paragon route is too cookie cutter "good guys wins the day" type storytelling. I prefer a narrative wherein you have to make sacrifices just to stay afloat, fighting an enemy you can't comprehend that requires every last bit of ruthlessness you can muster. The destroy ending is my favorite because it highlights the human condition. Our enemy exists on a level we cannot comprehend, can see a big picture we could never grasp, and yet Shepard kills them just because it's defiant. It's like an eldritch being telling you if you kill them, it will doom you and everyone you know, but you do it anyways because fuck him. I love it.

I prefer the synthesis ending but im not 100% happy with it either. I think the red ending is the most "shepard" ending but as a habitual paragon player I think evolving past the man/machine dynamic is how you overcome cosmic horror. Great video sir

Honestly my opinion on the mass effects ending is controversial I don't think there shouldn't be an ending where Shepard survives, I feel the 3 games have been building up to the final moment. I prefer the endings that get a stronger reaction out of me.

I love that mass effect is getting an resurgence in a way

Both Halo Reach and ME3 had an effect of helplessness and sadness for me...

This is the reason why i like MEA more than the Trilogy.

The Reapers ceased being a cosmic horror once Leviathan dlc dropped. Really made them from a cosmic horror to just another rogue AI that won.

FluffyNinjaLlama mentioned!!

Is everyone in the dark as to who worked on this series? Go back and familiarize yourself with WHO worked on these games and it will make more sense as to why they were so good. I haven’t come across a game series like this since. Andromeda was okay but, the trilogy was 🔥. Well, as long as at the end you got what it takes to get the job done 😉

That's an interesting way to view mass effect I must say.

But for me mass effect is a story about overcoming the impossible by working together and never giving up, no matter how hard it is or how much we had to sacrifice.

Shepard needed a crew to find Saren.
Human fleets needed to work together to defeat Sovereign.
Shepard died to the collectors but Cerberus of all things did te impossible and brought him back.
Shepard and his crew took the fight to the collector's base and defeated them.
The reapers were the biggest threat galaxy has ever faced in every cycle, but throught those cycles the spirit of the species inhabiting it refused to die as each cycle kept on building the Crucible so they may one day defeat the reapers. They weren't even sure what it will do but they had hope.
The protheans sabotaged Citadel so it would not open a way to dark space itself, they knew it wouldn't do them any good but they gave next cycle time.
Shepard and Mordin brought end to genophage. Nobody thought it would ever end.
Shepard brought peace between quarians and geth. Feat believed to be impossible.
When they came back to Earth, whole galaxy stood behind Shepard. They knew they couldn't win conventionally, more powerful species have tried and failed before them, but they were willing to sacrifice everything for the sliver of hope that was the Crucible.

And while reapers are great way to represent cosmic horror, there is one thing in which they fail

"that is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die"

The reapers, for all their power, are not truly immortal. They can be killed, and if they can be killed, then they can be defeated.

Reaper. A label created by the Protheans to give voice to their destruction. In the end what they chose to call us is irrelevant. We simply ARE.

I remember one morning I had the day off, and was like “I got nothing to play” and I googled new games.

Never even seen a trailer or ad for ME.. just was in a list and it said “this game is Star Trek, Star Wars and Babylon 5 rolled in one”

And I was like oh shiiiiiiii

And I went out and bought it, grabbed some Wendy’s, came home and was HOOKED.

This was the first time I've ever seen the control ending. It definitely fits the themes of the cosmic horror you talk about in this video. It's an interesting idea, but I could never not pick synthesis, since it's the entire theme of the series. The combination of the cosmic horror with the sci-fi is something I find so interesting and it's amazing that they do it so well

Eventually the reapers will fail time is the true god for them

Was doing a full playthrough of all 3 games and just imported my character to ME3 and when the reapers came down... "Our numbers will darken the sky of every world..." was echoing in my mind the whole time

Props to your presentation and editing.
Also, did you know that in the original release of ME3, your squadmates on the final run always died, no matter what? But there was a huge backlash from the happy-ending crowd, and the devs gave in with an "patch" so that Joker could nonsensically swoop in and save your mates, which also made some other "fixes" that I was not a fan of.
Btw, I always choose Control ending, no matter my galatic readiness, because of my Lovecraftian pessimism, you could say. For me, it's always more about telling a compelling story and less about crafting some ideal ending.

And to think people genuinely believe the ending only comes in three flavors. I (most recently) picked the control ending w/ most of the war assets available and a paragon Shep, and that was not the speech he gave at the end; at least not to my memory. And yeah, this is a pretty solid reading of the impact/lack thereof of the events of the previous games. In the face of the Reapers, even the full might of the galaxy can mean precisely nothing

Great analysis, it was really strange to me that this subject is really overlooked when talking about ME, and I would argue that even the Leviathan DLC, did not ruin this because it happened too long ago, and even though it was initially an AI, it became something else, it was mentioned the reapers were a combination of synthetic and organic, the ultimate being, I still believe they still represent an unstoppable force, the only reason they are "defeated" is because they get to the conclusion that their current solution is no longer appropriate, and they need to devise a new one, but give Shepard the option to choose given he was the one who proves them wrong, as with many of the different Lovecraftian histories, it never ends because the horror is defeated, but because it is negotiated or simply survived, in this case, it was Shepard who managed to sacrifice himself to save the universe, because outside of "Perfect Destroy" ending, Shepard dies one way or another, is a sacrifice, which matches with what usually happens in this kind of lovecraftian stories, his strong willpower allow Shepard to get their, to unite most/all galaxy against them, and even them, they would have lost, because when Shepard refuse to use any of the options provided by the Reapers, they just kill everyone and continue the Cycle, which proves they are in control of the situation.

Reapers are right.

I am mixed on ME regarding its cosmic horror elements.

ME 1 gets it right for the most part, although Sovereign is a bit too chatty for my taste. I always felt that the reapers shouldn't care about me and would consider me little more than a pesky insect. Instead, Sovereign gives a long speech on Virmire, like a silly Bond villain. In ME 2, they get almost comically stupid. Harbinger comes across as a silly action schlock villain, and his taunts are hilariously lame. His constant "this hurts you" or "this is true power" make him look less like a millions of years old, unstoppable, incomprehensible menace and more like a petulent child. The only part with good cosmic horror elements is the mission where you find Legion. Finally, in ME 3, their origin is pointlessly over explained. The creators of ME obviously didn't understand that good horror comes to life inside the mind. The monster doesn't need an explanation for why it is after you (think Micheal Myers or The Thing) let alone a really bad one.

And then Mass Effect SCREWED EVERYTHING UP by making The Reapers the side-villain. CERBERUS takes up most of the villain parts.

I thought you were gonna say Bloodborne at the start, was surprised to hear Amnesia. If you haven't played bloodborne yet, please do!

++YOUR WORDS ARE AS EMPTY AS YOUR FUTURE. I AM THE VANGUARD OF YOUR DESTRUCTION.

THIS EXCHANGE IS OVER.++

Goosebumps every time...

The discussion with Sovereign the player has in ME1 is peak cosmic horror for me. It always gives me goosebumps. ME2 and ME3 sadly don't truly have that charm, but the idea of Reapers being simply a reflection of the Leviathans makes up for it. That's because it shows how much of a cosmic horror Leviathans themselves really are.

Sorry man, but these guys are overrated--outside of Sovereign, at least. They are ridiculously overpowered, are extremely one dimensional, they have limited dialogue (which is surprising since your interactions with them are all talk), their lore is all over the place and, to top it all off, it's finally revealed that they were the puppets of the worst character in franchise history all along! In the end, their motivation (the old man vs. machine trope) doesn't justify all the sound and fury of their actions.

In indoctrination theory, all Shepard's brilliant victories and successes were insignificant under the Reapers. There never was the possibility of victory, there was submission or death - as Saren said. I was unhappy with Shepard losing at first, but the horror of it all was much more poignant. Imo, the ending of ME3 was brilliant.

I had read a review or someone said that they were let down by the fact that Mass Effect two really meant nothing in the grand scheme of the narrative. I have never considered that being the entire point, but now I think you are exactly right it is to make you feel helpless, no matter how much you fight

I agree with you when you said that the Lovecraftian in 1 and 2 is about building up to the beginning of ME3. But the whole series, to me, is then about how punch Chthulu in the face in an act of payback as much as it is an act of survival. The series is cosmic horror, yes, but it is also a series about defying the Old Gods and triumph by the end. Or at least, in an attempt of triumph because other than the Refusal ending, something about the collective peoples of the galaxy has to change: in Destroy, it is about destroying any "sentient machines," meaning that the geth (if you don't choose to destroy them earlier) and EDI are wiped out; in Control, it is about having the cherished hero of the galaxy becoming the Eldritch God who would enforce peace by force; and in Synthesis, we then live in harmony by having everybody become one with the gods, essentially an alternative to "ascension" as mentioned by the Reapers.

Really, the Refusal ending is true act of defiance over everything else since the galactic peoples refuse to change for anything and rather be wiped out. And with Liara's time capsule project is successful in sending a message to the future, the act of defiance can complete by another group of people 50,000 years after we have been wiped out. Therefore, the series is not just about cosmic horror per se but also about unmasking that horror and the truth.

While I do agree about Lovecraftian themes being present in the Mass Effect trilogy, I don't think the trilogy itself is a cosmic horror game.

The main narrative "promises" about Shepard (given by yhe writers) were that: 1. Actions have consequences
2. Shepard is the chosen one (see the prothean visions)
3. Shepard is not a martyr, bur someone who saves the galaxy and lives to tell the tale.

The first two games lived up to these, but the third game's ending threw everything out the window. The idea of the Reapers being these horrifying cosmic villains from dark space was swapped for the good old "man vs machine" theme, then Shepard got railroaded into three very flawed ways to end things, all of them ending up with him dead (minus perfect destroy).

In the first two games, the ending was shaped by your choices. In the third one, the majority of that was taken out of our hands.

nah, mass effect 3 didnt have the horror I expected from the reapers.