The videos below are captured gameplay examples from BioWare's video game trilogy, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021). Each video is referenced in the essay as part of the argument and analysis developed therein.
1. Priority: The Citadel II, Mass Effect 3 (footage from an attempted Cerberus coup to conquer the Citadel and assassinate the Council). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
2. Race Against Time: Final Battle, Mass Effect (a montage of cutscenes from the end of the game, including the defeat of Sovereign, the Reaper vanguard). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
3. Prologue: Save Joker, Mass Effect 2 (the opening of the second game, including the destruction of the Normandy SR-1 and Commander Shepard's death). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
4. Prologue: Awakening, Mass Effect 2 (Shepard meets the leader of Cerberus, the Illusive Man). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
5. Prologue: Awakening, Mass Effect 2 (Shepard is resurrected in a Cerberus lab and wakes up under attack). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
6. Fight Vasir, Lair of the Shadow Broker, Mass Effect 2 (Shepard kills the Spectre double agent, Tela Vasir). All screenshots and footage © Electronic Arts.
» Meghan Landon is a PhD student in Theatre Studies and Game Studies & Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a dramaturg and game historian, they analyze gaming through a performance studies lens, arguing that contemporary games utilize theatrical methodologies to envision and enact the future. Website
