Mass Effect 2 Plot

[GamersThrone]

Mass Effect 2 will be darker than the first game, with Bioware stating that "Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril." Online retailer listings have further elaborated on the plot: "The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy takes you to the darkest reaches of space, where you must uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of humans across many worlds. Prepare yourself for a suicide mission to save mankind."

Casey Hudson, Project Director for BioWare, and Greg Zeschuk, BioWare co-founder, as well as various developers on the official Mass Effect message boards, have said that players should keep their Mass Effect save-files, because decisions made by the player in the first game will continue to have influences on their character in the sequel. Players who have not played the first Mass Effect will start a new character in Mass Effect 2, and will be brought up to speed on the story elements that have taken place thus far in the series. Hudson also states that characters from the previous game will come back, provided that they were not killed. The first teaser trailer for this game gives the impression that Commander Shepard has been killed in action, but a later trailer shows that Shepard is still alive at the beginning of the game. Players themselves can dictate whether or not Shepard will die based on choices that they make throughout the game.

Following E3 2009, BioWare Executive Producer Casey Hudson reiterated some aspects of the game which had been on display during E3. Regarding the issue of Shepard's death, Hudson explained that based on decisions made during Mass Effect 2, Shepard can die in some of the game's multiple endings. Hudson stated "If you do die in the ending of Mass Effect 2, it will not come as a surprise, nor will it be random. It will be pretty obvious that you headed into the final mission knowing that Shepard probably wouldn’t make it out alive." Hudson also confirmed that team members would be affected by the player's decisions during the final mission: "You might have an ending where Shepard’s entire team survives, or where the entire mission is a bloodbath and everyone (including Shepard) is killed, or anything in between." The ending in which Shepard is killed represents a permanent death, rather than one where the player simply reloads from the last saved game, meaning Shepard would not be available for Mass Effect 3 in that scenario.