I’m assuming if you’re reading this, you’ve never played Mass Effect before. If that is the case, welcome, and buckle up. You’re going to experience one of the best game series ever made. I envy you.

In this article we are going to go through character creation, as well as some minor gameplay tips. I’m not interested in spoiling any aspect of the game, but rather, to give you a plain language explanation of some of the decisions you’re making as you’re starting out.

Character Creation

Gender and Name

Your first options will be your gender and name. This has no effect on your gameplay mechanically, although your gender will affect your romance options in the story.

Pre-Service History

This is the first look into your character’s backstory. It has an effect on the way you speak with the other characters, and how you relate to the world. Each has a side quest in the first game, allowing you to explore your character a bit further. You have three options: Spacer, Colonist, and Earthborn.

• Spacer: Both of your parents were in the alliance military. Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Following in your parent’s footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen.
• Colonist: You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol, and you enlisted with the military a few years later.
• Earthborn: You were an orphan raised on the streets of one of the great metropolises covering Earth. You escaped the life of petty crime and underworld gangs by enlisting with the Alliance military when you turned eighteen.

Psychological Profile

Like the pre-service history, this gives you a little more insight into your character. Each examines a significant event in your past and how you reacted to it. Each of these options gives you a bonus to Paragon, Renegade, or both (we’ll get more into that later).

• War Hero: Early in your military career you found yourself facing an overwhelming enemy force. You risked your own life to save your fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Your bravery and heroism have earned you medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. (Bonus to Paragon)
• Sole Survivor: During your service, a mission you were on went horribly wrong. Trapped in an extreme survival situation, you had to overcome physical torments and psychological stresses that would have broken most people. You survived while all those around you fell, and now you alone are left to tell the tale. (Small bonus to both Paragon and Renegade)
• Ruthless: Throughout your military career, you have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done. You’ve been called cold, calculating, and brutal. Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellow soldiers wary of you. But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first. (Bonus to Renegade)

Military Specialization

This is a fancy term for character class. Your specialization will have a much more significant impact on the gameplay than anything else you choose during character creation. Although, bear in mind that there are no wrong answers here. Choose whatever sounds like the most fun and don’t look back. If you’re like the vast majority of people who have played these games, this will not be your only playthrough.

• Soldier: If you typically play fps games, this may be your go to. While these characters also have a handful of useful extra abilities, the focus is that they are capable with every weapon in the game. If your style is run and gun, try out a soldier.
• Engineer: The engineer is potentially the most underestimated class in Mass Effect. That said, I’ve plated through these games with every single class, and this one is my absolute favorite. You’ll use tech abilities to wear down your opponents, taking care of their armor and shields, then eat away at them from a distance with your pistol alongside (in the later two games) a sentry turret and your own personal combat drone. This class remains very effective throughout the entire series.
• Adept: This is what I lovingly refer to as the space wizard. You’ll only get light armor and will only be decent (for the most part) with pistols. Don’t worry though, you don’t need weapons when you are one. Adepts have the ability to absolutely dominate with what could be viewed with magic, or psychic, abilities, known as biotics. If you typically play mages in rpg games, you’ll have a lot of fun with this one.
• Infiltrator: This class focuses on some of the tech abilities of the engineer, paired with a specialization with sniper rifles. Take out the enemy’s defenses, and gun them down from the shadows.
• Sentinel: This class pairs the abilities of the engineer and the adept. You’ll have a solid selection of both tech and biotic abilities throughout the series. This plays somewhat as a support class, though, don’t think that makes this class weak. With the right combinations of skills, playthroughs with adepts can be a lot of fun.
• Vanguard: Doom fans rejoice. This class is made for ripping and tearing. Taking the toughness and shotgun specialization from the soldier, along with a strong selection of biotic abilities, vanguards take the fight to the enemy, getting in close and beating them to a pulp.

Morality System (Paragon and Renegade)

As with all Bioware games, this is story first, and that story leans heavily on decisions you make throughout. These decisions can be as large and significant as killing or sparing someone, deciding the fates of entire groups, so on and so forth. They are also as subtle as using charm or intimidation in conversation to get your way.

With each of these decisions, you gain points in Paragon (the “good” option), or Renegade (“bad”). These aren’t good/evil, per se. More along the lines of kind and generous decisions, versus cold, or aggressive ones. Higher scores in Paragon and Renegade unlock extra options in conversation, or at some major decision points in the story.

My best piece of advice, play your character first, and let those decisions come naturally. Don’t look up what decisions have the best outcomes. These games are much more fun when you make calls and deal with the consequences. That said, in the first game of the series, you’ll want to try getting close to maxing out one or the other (charm/paragon or intimidate/renegade). Trust me on this, by the end, you’ll prefer you had.

Thank you for the read. This should get you a solid start on your adventure. If you have any questions, or if I missed anything, let me know in the comments.

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