In many ways, this game is the inverse of Mass Effect 1. Its story is its weakest point and it wrests the Mako's potential to explore dozens of worlds away from you. Instead, this game is a tight character-focused thriller about broken people teaming up to do the shit that no one else is willing to do.

What works? The gameplay is fully improved over the previous game and is actually fun. No it's not great, but charging into a pack of Vorcha as a Vanguard and filling their prone bodies with a full heatsink of shotgun ammo is thrilling. Abilities still chain together and make any level with OSHA-violating bridges and rails thrilling.

The companions have matured from drab "let me tell you about my people" vessels repeating the same animation in their dark corner of the ship to people. They have their own desires, pasts they'd rather not get into right now, and conflicts with each other that you have to settle. Beyond your companions, the supporting cast of characters have tons of standouts who excel in this dark pulpy sci-fi world.

Before this game, I had never seen characters this realistic in appearance, animation, and performance whom I could interact with. Even when the story revealed itself as a filler story between games, I was still enthralled because I was fighting with my friends in dark neon alleys against aliens with four testicles.