Expanding on lore through multiplayer

Companion video! The Immortal Vorcha on ME3 multiplayer!

Mass Effect fans who consider themselves purists may have scoffed at the last two DLC packages being offered but they're truly missing out on great multiplayer content. But the multiplayer expansions go beyond simply giving you new characters and weapons to play with. It expands on the lore that made Mass Effect so appealing in the first place. If you stop to think about it, what better way to experience just how brutal and domineering the Batarians are then by playing as one with all his tools of torture at his disposal?

For months after Resurgance's release, one of the speculated new species fans pondered over was the idea of playing one of Mass Effect's most reviled and mysterious races, the Vorcha. The Vorcha are considered the vermin of the universe and are quite possibly the bipedal cockroaches of space faring organic life. Codex entries give a vivid description of how Vorcha as a race cannot evolve as a species as individual Vorcha can rapidly adapt to inhospitable environments in a few days. Low breathable oxygen on a planet? Vorcha can miraculously reconfigure their lungs to absorb as much oxygen as they can get. High atmospheric temperatures? A Vorcha can thicken their skin to cope and survive temperatures even a Krogan would find uncomfortable. The codex and your run-ins with Vorcha in Mass Effect 2 paint the picture of a rabid and quite frankly, hard to kill creature. So how would you introduce one as a playable character?

Pain and violence is ingrained into Vorcha culture. So of course, Vorcha in multiplayer have great melee strength. Reflecting their incredibly adaptive physiology, playing as Vorcha means having a health bar that regenerates so fast, it can heal faster than the DPS of most enemies on even Gold difficulty. Even the poison-like effects of a Warp attack are completely negated by the Vorcha's regenerative powers.



Batarians are known slavers and it's reflected in their brutal punches and net throwing attacks. Geth, being synthetics with a completely different view of the world, can activate a view filter to see threats. Even Male Quarians continue to demonstrate the technological prowess of the Quarian race.

While some people may continue to complain about Mass Effect 3's singleplayer ending, I've been enjoying the multiplayer offerings as they subtly expand on the lore of multiplayer with new alien species and new weapons. The Kishock Harpoon Gun is a Batarian weapon that fires a huge, brutal harpoon at its enemies. The Krysea Sniper Rifle is a Turian weapon with familiar design aethstetics to the Phaeston Assault Rifle which also keeps in line with Turian war strategy: total domination. It's not enough that the Krysea is capable of long-range combat but it also fires explosive rounds! And the Reegar Carbine is a Quarian weapon which continues the long line of electrical Quarian weapons. While the Arc Pistol is a Quarian weapon which miniaturizes the Arc Projector, the Reegar continues this design by creating a constant current of electricity rather than bursts.


Awesome in a concentrated burst of electricity

The rumored Mass Effect 3: Earth pack does not include alien species in its expansion but instead introduces new human classes with new, varied skills and powers. It remains to be seen, but it may very well also expand on the lore of Mass Effect by revealing new biotic powers and new technology to wow people who love to dig into the Mass Effect universe, like how the Project Phoenix, Ex-Cerberus operatives come with interesting energy whip technology. Their interesting codenames like Slayer and Demolisher, combined with weapon names like the Piranha assault shotgun and Acolyte pistol, means that there may still be a creative angle to the world of Mass Effect.