Finding Comfort in Non-Cozy Games - Mass Effect Legendary Edition

When Cozy games don't quite work for you, there are always other options.

Finding Comfort in Non-Cozy games is a series about how I, and probably many others, find comfort in games that don't usually qualify as cozy/comfort games. They can be dark, dramatic, filled with some really depressing themes, but if you play them over and over and find comfort in them, they become your own comfort games. This will be is a multi-part series and this is Part 3. I will always link prior and following parts at the beginning and end respectively.

Finding Comfort in Non-Cozy Games - Persona 5

Finding Comfort in Non-Cozy Games - Cyberpunk 2077

The Introduction

In Part 1 of this series I covered Persona 5. A game filled with making the world better through ever increasing levels of change to truly make a lasting impact on said world. Then in Part 2, I talked about Cyberpunk 2077, a game about characters in a world that you as a person have no real influence on and you get to experience stories in a setting that will never really improve.

This week I have to talk about a set of games that I replay once a year and cant imagine not playing. It's 3 games that let you change small details to make your experience of playing be different each time you play. 3 games that allow you to change aspects of them through modding. These 3 games are so important to me that I literally got a tattoo of something from them on my arm. I adore them and will always fall in love every time I play them, no matter how many times. I'm talking about the 3 Mass Effect games, or for the purposes here, Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite game on the Citadel.

A consistent theme throughout this series is the experience of taking a real world thing, like politics, corruption, corporatism, or the world ending, and putting it in an easier to handle package. The original 3 Mass Effects do this incredibly well. One of the key parts of Mass Effect is negotiating through political and pseudo-political environments. Whether you're having to deal with the assholes on the Council, Information Brokers like Liara, the eventual Shadow Broker, or even negotiate the end to a genocide that has befallen the Krogan for generations, you are always having to deal with the subtleties of discussions and the threat of universe destruction hanging over you.

Mass Effect has this amazing talent of creating a world that begs you to explore it and makes you want to come back to make different decisions. They're games that evoke feelings that something new is on the horizon. Feelings of discovery and of fighting against corrupt special agents. The series as a whole is designed to make you fall in love with it and want to keep coming back. Whether that's because you simply enjoy making different decisions over the course of the trilogy to see how they play out, or because you simply like re-experiencing the exact same decisions you made last time. The game makes you want to keep coming back.

Getting to play as Shepard, a character you get to pick the backstory of and who happens to already be a very well regarded soldier. Shepard is a person who you are able to define so much of that it just makes you be able to sink into the world more. Of course, this becomes incredibly important when the game gets into dealing with the end of the fucking world, or universe I should say. The game really allows you as a character to feel the stress in the world surrounding the Reapers and other antagonists. It allows you to see the ramifications of your actions. It allows you to truly exist inside of a world that is going up against the end of all things.

It is that end of all things that is comforting. It is that end of the world that is endearing. Mass Effect gives you this world that has such depth to it, has such wonderful characters in it that really makes you care for it. Then it says "Now I'm gonna to take it away from you." It does this so fucking perfectly that it makes you, alongside your teammates and the others in the world, want to stop the end of the world. It makes you feel like it's your world too.

So the end of the world/universe is comforting?

I'm a Millennial. As a generation, we have grown up with the constant understanding that Climate Change is fucking over the entire planet and that we could do something to stop it, if we just acted. Compare this to the Reapers who are also able to be fought before they arrive to try and prepare for the future. Similarly to Climate Change reality, Mass Effect also deals with Reaper-denialism where people can see that Reapers are coming and still be in denial about it. All these things lead into a world that is parallel to ours even if the situations might be different.

Mass Effect 3 does a fucking wonderful job showing us how dire the situation is with the galaxy map showing all these Reapers. It really makes you feel that the end is coming.

Going off that, Mass Effect LE allows us players to escape the world we live in that has people refusing to do anything about Climate Change or even looking to Accelerate it (or even thinking that it's a good thing). It allows us to be able to push for change in a world facing similar dire odds. It allows us to go from hopeless to hopeful. Sure, Shepard and Co. have to face off against Reaper after Reaper, sure they loose trillions of civilians, sure they end up destroying the Mass Relays at the end of the trilogy, and sure you could lose a lot of teammates depending on your decisions, but you're still able to finally be hopeful that you will always pull through. It's this wonderful experience of being able to go up against the odds, knowing that the world is likely going to end, but continuing to push anyway because if you don't what's the fucking point.

Then there's the smaller moments of the series that really solidify this comfort. For instance, in Mass Effect 3 you get to experience Shore Leave for the first time, in the Citadel DLC. This allows you and your teammates to be able to just kinda relax. Mind, you have to go through a bunch of fighting to get to that relaxation, but once you get to the party at the end of the DLC you will feel nothing but comfort. You'll see your teammates having discussions about past adventures together and their individual histories. You'll talk to people in the weirdest possible ways like when going between Wrex and Grunt and Shepard and they're all just using one word sentences and largely saying "Shepard". You'll get to see your teammates in more vulnerable situations than they've ever had before like seeing Tali drunk out of her mind on the bathroom floor.

These small moments round out the Mass Effect games, you go from being this world saving badass with some badass friends on this massive journey to just...people. Sure badass people, but each of them have their own personality and history. They each have their own lives and interests. They each have their own dynamics with the other teammates. It's good to know that even with all the destruction going on around the Galaxy that these small moments still happen. That personal moments of quiet and relaxation can still happen no matter what. It's nice to be reminded of that with how bad the world has gotten. It's always important to be able to be aware of all the problems in society and the world but still be willing to sit back, relax with your friends, exchange stories, and get drunk through your thermal exhaust ports.

Going through the games and seeing these characters grow, seeing them become stronger, more confident people who can be just as badass as Shepard is comforting. Knowing that you can go through some really tough situations and still come through the other side is comforting. That as long as you keep fighting you have done yourself proud.

No, it's your turn to describe why you find it comforting.

Fair enough. I've talked a lot in this series so far about games that have been there for me in dire moments. Games that have allowed me to play as myself. Mass Effect LE are both of those things. Can I play as a trans person? No, but I still feel like I can play as myself because of how different the story can go depending on my choices.

Meanwhile, the first Mass Effect was a game that I was desperate to play as a teenager about to be in High School. I was drawn to it because of my love of Space stories. When I finally played it I was provided a story and world that helped shape how I think of my own story and world designs through to the present. I became more aware of the depth that could be there if you just push. The second game did the same and the third pushed me even further by showing me that sometimes the ending is not likely to be the best even if the journey is an amazing experience. Mass Effect LE consists of games that mean a lot to me and are comforting to me because they are the default Space Opera in my head, they are what I think of when I think of space games. Nowadays, I'm making my own world for a space game I'm helping develop and Mass Effect is always at the forefront of my mind because of how much it meant to me.

Of course, it meaning a lot to me doesn't necessarily equal comfort. The reason these games are comforting to me is that I always know I can go back, play them slightly differently, maybe mod them to change them a bit, and still end up being able to save the world. Am I solving all the worlds problems or pushing out corruption in the government? Nope. But what I am doing is showing my brain that fighting to continue on is the best possible decision I can make. When I think of going through physical therapy for my MS I think of how if I didn't then I would be giving up and not fighting. That I would be letting people like Shepard down because they fought through the thick of hell to save the fucking universe, why couldn't I just relearn how to walk? Of course Mass Effect and Shepard aren't real but the meaning behind their stories are. Showing the players that you can push and push and improve things if you keep fighting is not something that a lot of games do. Mass Effect has you lose people, it has you make tough decisions that lead to the deaths of many, but does that mean you shouldn't keep fighting? No. You should always fight. Fight to survive. Fight to live. Fight to walk. That's why Mass Effect is comforting to me, because it reminds me to keep fighting even in the toughest of situations.

Since you spent all this time reading, here’s my tattoo of a Mass Relay as a thank you.

The Conclusion

Mass Effect LE is a long set of games. They are each different with different situations and some different themes. But they all provide that comfort. They all show that sometimes it doesn't matter how many losses you've had, because a win might be right around the corner (not applicable to gambling). I will never let go of my love for Mass Effect. I got my tattoo of the Mass Relay because I wanted to always be reminded that people are capable of great feats if they just keep pushing and searching.

If you haven't played Mass Effect before then you really should grab the Legendary Edition next time it goes on sale. It's an experience that is capable of shaping you, of changing you, of showing you that comfort can be found even in the most dire circumstances (as I think I've shown). Mass Effect is a comfort game because of all of these things and they are all applicable for different generations and sizes of situations. Mass Effect changed and shaped my life, and I love it for that.

Next time on...

Next time we examine the most recent game that I've played that has become a place for comfort in my life. It's a game that came out last October and was made by the same developers as Persona 5. I am speaking, of course, about Metaphor ReFantazio. Until then, time marches on and the day of the new King draws nearer.

Meow,

Cat