And so my journey with the Mass Effect trilogy has come to an end. Going through these games for the first time throughout this past year has been nothing less than a wonderful experience, a great opportunity to finally catch up with some of my largest gaming blindspots, and it has also lead me to discovering some new favorites. I went into the divisive third game skeptical but also incredibly excited. I was excited to jump back into a world that i loved so much, excited to spend more time with the characters that I grew to care about across the span of the first 2 games, excited to see how bioware would seal off Shepard’s story that i felt so deeply and intrinsically invested in. Finally having played the game though? I can say with certainty that I thoroughly enjoyed Mass Effect 3 and I would even feel comfortable declaring that I loved it. This is a flawed game that lacks the sheer quality and butter smooth pacing of Mass Effect 2 (which is incidentally one of my top 5 favorite games) but there's still a lot to like here. There are a handful of genuinely poignant emotional beats that make this game well worth experiencing. Certain character moments (Mordins sacrifice just as an example) have stuck with me even after finishing the game and they rank among my favorite moments in the entire trilogy. The action set pieces are by and large excellent while the visual presentation remains top notch. This game is also comparatively much darker in tone than the prior Mass Effect games, both in its stark themes, and its focus on a more somber story. This is a game which really stews in a gradual sense of dread and harrowing despair, particularly towards the climax of the story where all of your best efforts appear to be rendered futile as all hope seems lost, further galvanized by the games frequent emphasizing of mortality and bloodshed. The culminating ending (while imperfect and messy in its execution) ultimately provided me with a measure of well earned emotional catharsis, allowing me to reflect on just how much this story, this world, these characters, and this trilogy in general has meant to me. All of these aspects i’ve mentioned all point to the same conclusion. That Mass Effect 3 is not a bad game at all and it is in fact worthy of greater consideration. The gameplay alone is incredibly polished and engaging but the narrative, world building, and thematic weight, further elevate the experience, providing some intellectual meat to chew on. This game offered me a lot and if nothing else it deserves better than to be carelessly dismissed entirely on the basis of its ending.