The adrenaline from hearing that first shot fired in a dark corridor, the tension felt as you take cover to reload – these things are typically my nightmares incarnate. In general, I'm much more suited to the less stressful side of gaming and have been a fervent cozy gamer for close to a decade now.
Give me an abandoned farm, and I'll make a fortune while saving an adorable town. Hand me a gun and tell me to aim, and I'll start panic-spraying bullets while silently crying. I never thought I'd ever connect with a shooter, let alone enjoy one as much as I do planting virtual seeds. However, Mass Effect 2 recently came into my life and flipped the proverbial table.
My time with Shepard
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As many cozy gamers know, there are plenty of crossover game mechanics that we love in RPGs, be it casually completing every side quest, exploring vast open worlds, or forming genuine connections with NPCs. So, one fateful Steam Summer Sale day, I decided to dive into BioWare's Mass Effect Legendary Edition – a collection of titles constantly praised as some of the best RPG games in existence (just read our Mass Effect Legendary Edition review, and you'll see what I mean).
Yes, I knew it was a shooter, but I also knew that there were casual modes available. So I happily took over the reins of Commander Shepard and set out to save the galaxy against all those pesky Reapers myself. For years, I've happily enjoyed otherwise stressful RPGs, such as Fallout: New Vegas and Cyberpunk 2077, by cruising on easy mode, turning every title I come across into my ideal cozy experience. So I should have been safe when it comes to Mass Effect, right? Wrong.
While both Mass Effect and Mass Effect 3's casual modes are forgiving to terrible shooters like myself, Mass Effect 2 hit me with some tough love, forcing me to duck and cover, push forward through enemies, and (the worst anxiety inducers of all time) shoot under a time limit or with the threat of a companion death looming over me. There was no way to make this a stress-free experience via the game's settings, and I was forced out of my very familiar and safe comfort zone very abruptly because of it.
Mass Effect 2 was originally published in 2010, and you can feel the influence that games which dominated consoles only a few years prior, like Gears of War, had on its third-person shooter mechanics. Not only does Mass Effect 2 use the same buttons as Gears of War for its controls, but both live by the philosophy of “run to chest-high cover or die”. In Fallout: New Vegas, you could avoid enemies, talk your way out of most confrontations with enough charisma, or use your handy V.A.T.S. in those dire combat moments. Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, gives me no workaround to avoid gunfights.
I had to play by the rules of the same military shooters that I have avoided for years. On paper, you're probably thinking that I should have abandoned this game, and normally, I would agree with you. In fact, I felt a sharp pang of betrayal when I first saw BioWare's new controls and was brutally murdered by the Blood Pack on Omega. However, after importing my Shepard from Mass Effect 1 and watching that opening cinematic showing the tragic fate of the original Normandy, I found that it was impossible to put Mass Effect 2 down and return to my Stardew Valley farm.
The story of Mass Effect latches onto you, as every choice you make leads to some kind of consequence for your crew and fate. On top of that, all of BioWare's characters make you care about their futures. Sure, I could leave, but then what would happen to my space bestie Garrus? But potential Garrus guilt aside, what really made me stay is that Mass Effect 2 constantly reminds you of how impossibly difficult and important Shepard's goal is. When you have to save the entire galaxy from an immensely powerful and giant enemy; and have lost the support of the Alliance you gave your life to, every mission feels important and like the odds are stacked against you.
There's no shame in occasionally dying during a level with an overarching story like that, but there is an unspoken push to keep moving forward. With this in mind, for the first time ever, I actually paid attention to the shooting element of an RPG while playing Mass Effect 2. I had to keep my crew alive if I wanted to keep them as part of my story. And I'd be damned if my paragon Shepard would allow any more crew sacrifices to happen. Hell, that would be like joining JojaMart – and I'm no monster.
Saving the galaxy
My panicked bullet sprays became less frequent as I got comfortable with taking cover and then pushing forward, running to various chest-high barriers and ledges for dear life. I was completely immersed in the story and felt as if I was levelling up with Shepard after every enemy encounter. By the time I completed every companion loyalty mission and the all-famous Suicide mission at the end of the game, I was confidently reloading and no longer jumping every time a hostile Collector started firing at me first.
Of course, it helped my cozy gamer brain that I could collect ship models and fish as well, but Mass Effect 2 made me play in a completely different style from the ones I'm used to. And, surprisingly, I didn't hate it. Who would have thought that all it would take is great writing and one of the most immersive RPG experiences to help me overcome my crippling anxiety around firing a gun in a game?
While I'm still a cozy gamer, first and foremost (you won't see me playing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 anytime soon, sorry), Mass Effect 2 really has helped me overcome my fear of shooters and has filled me with the confidence to try every game that tickles my fancy, regardless of a “story mode” option or not in its settings menu. So if you are curious about branching out of the cozy game genre, or just want to get over that feeling of dread every time you see a virtual pistol, Mass Effect 2 is the perfect gateway shooter – and I couldn't recommend it enough.
Check out our breakdown of everything we know about Mass Effect 5 if you are keen to learn more about the franchise. Or head over to our lists of the best shooters and the best BioWare games that you can play right now.
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