As Commander Shepard, you lead an elite squad on a heroic, action-packed adventure throughout the galaxy. Discover the imminent danger from an ancient threat and battle the traitorous Saren and his deadly army to save civilization. The fate of all life depends on your actions!
User reviews:
Recent:
Very Positive (120 reviews) - 93% of the 120 user reviews in the last 30 days are positive.
Overall:
Very Positive (6,570 reviews) - 94% of the 6,570 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date: 28 May, 2008

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Packages that include this game

Buy Mass Effect Collection

Includes 2 items: Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 Digital Deluxe Edition

 

Reviews

"One of the best role-playing games in recent memory... Makes you feel like the badass warrior you were meant to be... The refined PC version is your best choice for experiencing this excellent game." - GameSpot: 9/10 | Editors’ Choice

"Raises the bar for the role-playing genre... Mass Effect's greatest strength is the quality of the narrative… Mass Effect takes interactive entertainment to new heights and is wholeheartedly recommended." - GameSpy: 5/5 | Editors’ Choice

About This Game



As Commander Shepard, you lead an elite squad on a heroic, action-packed adventure throughout the galaxy.

Discover the imminent danger from an ancient threat and battle the traitorous Saren and his deadly army to save civilization. The fate of all life depends on your actions!
  • 2007 New York Times Game of the Year
  • A Stunning universe with high resolution graphics and textures
  • Controls and interface optimized for PC gamers
  • Includes free additional content — face off against the horrific Batarians
  • Customize your character and embark on a pulse-pounding adventure in an immersive open-ended storyline
  • Incredible real-time character interaction
  • Thrilling, tactical combat as you lead an elite squad of three
  • Interplanetary exploration of an epic proportion

System Requirements

    • Supported OS: Microsoft Windows® XP with SP2 or Windows Vista*
    • Processor: Intel P4 2.4 Ghz or faster / AMD 2.0 Ghz
    • Memory: 1.0 GB RAM or more (2.0 GB for Vista)
    • Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible, ATI X1300 XT or greater (ATI X1300, X1300 Pro, X1600 Pro, Radeon 2600 HD, and HD 2400 are below minimum system requirements); NVidia GeForce 6800 or greater (7300, 7600 GS, 8500 are below minimum system requirements)
    • Hard Drive: 12.0 GB or more free hard drive space
    • Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible
    • DirectX®: 9.0c
    * WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 USERS: Launching “Mass Effect” from Steam requires the setting “Run as Administrator”. If the User Account Control feature of Windows Vista is enabled, launching “Mass Effect” from Steam will result in failure. For users with User Account Control enabled, launch Steam using the “Run as Administrator” option or launch from the windows shortcut.
    • INTERNET CONNECTION AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY. MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.EA.COM.
Customer reviews
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Recent:
Very Positive (120 reviews)
Overall:
Very Positive (6,570 reviews)
Recently Posted
Erudite Incubus
( 73.3 hrs on record )
Posted: 11 August
Not as widely beloved these days as ME2, with some of its pacing marred with the passage of time. In my personal opinion, however, its narrative stands the test of time, and is well worth the hard chew to get through it.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
the little blacksmith
( 59.3 hrs on record )
Posted: 11 August
recommend 10/10

Helpful? Yes No Funny
Lumine
( 2.4 hrs on record )
Posted: 11 August
Played the crap out of this game on the 360 and only recently got it for PC. So far the only bad thing I can say about this game is the weird garrus texture bug. Poor guy, on ultra he's set on low texture quality. Other than that, 10/10
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Grey-Coven
( 55.0 hrs on record )
Posted: 10 August
Good game, going to be playing the second one in the future.

The morality in the game works well. It isn't the clearly seperated black and white, but the paragon and renegade capture doing everything in the straight and narrow or doing what it takes to get things done. The dialogue options is presented with short quips to get the feeling of what the character will say but doesn't always capture it well and you might find yourself wanting to have picked something else but this doesn't happen often. Your actions don't change the course of the story but determines how it unfolds, will is still nice.

It has levels that is common with other real time games with action, the combination of third person with RPG elements. My levels capped out at 50 near the end of the game. You collect enough credits through the game you don't really need to worry about hoarding it and feel free to spend it on superior equipment as it becomes availible.

Two times in the game there was a visual glitch that made all the characters turn into pixelated black blobs.

Overall, I recommend.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
sholdeer mun
( 31.3 hrs on record )
Posted: 10 August
eh dont buy the steam version
its ok tho.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Darkening Demise
( 35.6 hrs on record )
Posted: 10 August
We'll bang, okay?
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Nobitsura Kage
( 12.0 hrs on record )
Posted: 9 August
Game is just so much amazing. Espeacially the STORY. Oh, man it's just too good to be true. If you are interesting in story, you MUST read the BOOKS and COMICS. When you combine the story with books and comics, you are going to say why they haven't complete the movie yet.

Just baught,play and read it
Helpful? Yes No Funny
PhantomQ
( 37.8 hrs on record )
Posted: 8 August
Awsome Game
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Daruud
( 22.0 hrs on record )
Posted: 8 August
Mass Effect from Bioware is one of the best Space themed RPG's I have played. Also one of the games I have enjoyed most since it's release.

Nice mix between shooter-action and intriguing storytelling through dialogues with great voice actors.

Levelling, stats, dps, accuracy, squad play and different abilities lets you play an even more varied character that fits your playstyle like a glove.
In my opinion, these mechanics is somewhat better in Mass Effect 1 than in Mass Effect 2.

But the second game is not at all bad! (See my Mass Effect 2 review)

The only con is that the screen resolution might not be fully optimized for your screen if you have, say: 1920x1080 or higher. This would be great if it got a fix, along with a little retexture, but still highly playable!

All in all a great game with a true Rpg feel from the magnificent Bioware.
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Emmanectric
( 146.0 hrs on record )
Posted: 7 August
you’re never too ♥♥♥♥ed up to date an alien
Helpful? Yes No Funny
Most Helpful Reviews  In the past 30 days
35 of 42 people (83%) found this review helpful
32 people found this review funny
Recommended
29.0 hrs on record
Posted: 14 July
I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favourite game on the Steam Store.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
18 of 18 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
4.8 hrs on record
Posted: 25 July
There are games you like. There are games you love, and replay many times.

And then there are the games which almost bring a tear to your eye every time you start them. The games which you've played enough times, you can quote the dialogue, speedrun the game perfectly, and remember every encounter from. Because those games are masterpieces.

This is one of those games.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
11 of 12 people (92%) found this review helpful
7 people found this review funny
Recommended
24.7 hrs on record
Posted: 13 July
Fight for the freedom of the human race as a renegade badass ♥♥♥♥♥ and Make the Galaxy Great Again. All those aliens are just rapists, criminals and drug lords, some I assume are good people. Commander shepard is gonna build a wall around Earth that the aliens will pay for.

One of the best sci-fi franchises I've played. I give it a 9/10
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3 of 3 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
4.7 hrs on record
Posted: 28 July
Mass Effect changed how I look on games as media, before I liked games but I was almost never really invested in the stories they told, that all changed when I played this game. Mass Effect is a classic game that everyone should at least play once in their lifetime, the story is so well told and written it will keep you invested the whole way, the characters you meet and get to know are some of the best characters I have ever seen in a game. But this game is not only awesome because of the good story and well written characters but also because the world they made for this game is simply one of the best universes in not only games but in all of fiction. Both the aliens and the humans in this game feel real and convincing.

I’m a big sci fi nerd and I have always been fascinated by how they portray the human race, in most sci fi that is a huge hit or miss, example of this is how humans are in star trek (love star trek) they are simply too nice they don’t feel like the more grey humanity we know. In mass effect they made a human race that seems like a logical step from how we think and act today, no perfect goodwillers ( like star trek), not some evil war empire( like in 40k) but somewhere in between(maybe a bit more to the 40k on the scale then star trek, kind of on the same place as babylon 5 grey humans not black or white). The universe they made feels alive and almost real something most fiction fail at.

The gameplay is maybe weak in some areas like the mako but it doesn't really matter because what you get out of this game is simply more than just gameplay (gameplay is good in most parts) you get a good story. Should you buy this game? I think so because I think if you don’t you will miss out on one of the best modern games ever made, you will also miss the start of a saga that only got better in mass effect 2. This Game changed my whole view on games and it has stuck with me after all this years and I think that is a testament to how much of an impact this game had on me.

Story 10/10
Music 9/10
Atmosphere 10/10
Gameplay 8/10
Replayability 9/10

Final Score a solid 9/10 because no game or media is perfect.

PS: sorry for any bad English I have always been bad at typing and spelling even in my own language, also if you wonder why my playtime is so low its because i played the games on the xbox back in the day, think I finished mass effect 1 7 or 8 times. Was planning to play through all the games on pc but i haven’t gotten around to doing it yet.
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2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
52.9 hrs on record
Posted: 1 August
Words don't exist to describe the scale, brilliance and emotional intelligence of this series. The relationships that are possible to build within the game are ones that you will reflect on in daily life, the choices to make will have you wondering for days what could have happened had things gone the other way. This is a game that allows you to pour yourself into it in the most organic way. This is a game in which you make friends with the characters - hear me out - to the extent that you miss them when you don't play the game for a while. Well, I imagine you would, as I never go more than a month or two without revisiting this series.
Be prepared for plenty of room for improvement in Mass Effect 1. Like any game series, the first instalment leaves something to be desired of the combat and customisability, but Mass Effect 2 and 3 more than make up for that.
This is my favourite game series of all time, and if you don't play it, you're missing out. Trust me.
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2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful
Recommended
21.0 hrs on record
Posted: 26 July
i really reccomend this game to everyone
i reccomend every masseffect game
im glad i grew up with masseffect as a part of my childhood and adult hood the graphics and story and options of what you can do is amazing and so is the designs of buildings weapons and worlds and every place you can travel and go the weapons are handy there are side missions to and tasks to addvance . characters are also amazing with detail but the other nice thing about masseffect games are when you talk to somone you have multi options for what you want to say and do and sometimes if you say the wrong words it can result in good or bad responces but all in all i definitly reccomend this game to everyone 10/10
((((((i just really reccomend every masseffect game)))))))
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
2 of 2 people (100%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
Recommended
146.0 hrs on record
Posted: 7 August
you’re never too ♥♥♥♥ed up to date an alien
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
3 of 4 people (75%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
Recommended
43.0 hrs on record
Posted: 4 August
It has an amazing storyline but the combat has become a bore and has not aged well.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
3 of 4 people (75%) found this review helpful
1 person found this review funny
Recommended
29.6 hrs on record
Posted: 6 August
I did it with a blue alien lady 10/10
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
5 of 8 people (63%) found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny