9/10
The finale to Shepard's story, Mass Effect 3 takes the narrative into an even darker place than its predecessor, pushing its cast -and us - through the emotional wringer as it wraps up one of the most powerful trilogies in contemporary gaming.
It, of course, remains a controversial game to many even today due to its ending, but I'm a big believer in the preceding journey making it all worth it regardless. Mass Effect 3 continues 2's efforts to streamline the RPG experience but at least adds some nice branching choices for character builds for a little bit of customization. It also has even more of its story and quest options defined by your actions in the previous two games, making the experience as a whole one of the most interlinked and inter-dependent I've ever had the joy of playing.
It is, however, also a very emotionally wracking story. The narrative broadly centres around Shepard's attempts to unite the galaxy for a final stand against the terrifying force of the invading Reapers, but they are stymied at every turn by self-interest and divisions that threaten to tear the galaxy apart. This means that the wider systemic issues plaguing Mass Effect's world have to come to a head here, and that combined with the depictions of Shepard's exhaustion and PTSD make for some pretty intense writing. The catharsis is worth it though as the story concludes.
Check out my full review! The Almighty Backlog, review #29:
https://thealmightybacklog.wordpress.com/2018/12/29/mass-effect-3/
