It’s been eight years since “Andromeda” was released and it’s time to give it a look back. “Mass Effect: Andromeda” is a sci-fi RPG developed by Bioware that was released in 2017. It is a spin off series that takes place 600 years after “Mass Effect 3” (though the characters started their journey after “Mass Effect 2”) in a different galaxy altogether.

“Mass Effect: Andromeda” had high expectations from “Mass Effect” fans as the series desperately needed some new life after the fumble that was the ending of “Mass Effect 3″. Those hopes were dashed soon after launch thanks to glitches, poor writing, repetitive gameplay, and lackluster characters.

At least, that’s what the general consensus was at the time. However, as time has passed since then, tempers have long since calmed. The question that needs answering once and for all is this: Was “Mass Effect: Andromeda” really that bad?

***Be warned, there are spoilers ahead for anyone who still cares.***

The answer is both yes and no. If we’re talking about “Mass Effect: Andromeda” at launch, then yes, the game was a shoddy entry. However, thanks to the passage of time, we have hindsight. While the story of “Mass Effect: Andromeda” is nothing to write home about, the gameplay still holds up remarkably well. To clarify, I don’t mean the repetitive sidequests, but the combat, which is impeccable.

Even better, most of the characters are quite entertaining. What “Mass Effect: Andromeda” really nails, however, is atmosphere and aesthetics. The environments are beautiful, the landscapes are well designed and have intriguing dynamics that really draw you in, and there’s an air of new found wonder that the game expertly sells. 

Going from planet to planet in your ship, the Tempest, and exploring them with your all terrain rover, the Nomad, is incredibly fun. The vibe of jumping into a new system in a galaxy unfamiliar to you is perfectly delivered.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t save the game. While atmosphere and gameplay are important, the main draws of an RPG are not just its world, but its characters and the story it tells. While the cast has endearing moments and quite a few are masterfully written, some are irritating beyond belief at times and are weirdly written.

For example, Liam’s personal quest is just him making a stupid gamble that goes (expectedly) horribly wrong. You are not only dragged into it, but you’re then forced to fix the mistake before it causes an irreversible problem. That’s whatever on its own, but Liam refuses to take accountability throughout the quest and will argue up and down regardless of how hard you are on him.

This is a terrible approach to take when writing a companion and only makes the player dislike them. He later apologizes for his attitude and his mistake, but by then most players will already dislike him as the damage has been done.

The story in “Andromeda” is not only mediocre, but it’s already been done before in the previous entries. In the original trilogy, you and your allies have to stop the Reapers, an eldritch machine race, from exterminating all sapient organic life in the Milky Way galaxy. During your war with the Reapers, you face abominations that are in reality genetically altered denizens of the Milky Way.

In “Andromeda”, you face an Imperialist alien race known as the Kett who wish to conquer the entire Andromeda Galaxy and, get this, exterminate the other alien races that live in it. Oh, and they also genetically alter their prisoners into their slave abomination foot soldiers. How groundbreaking.

This is a plot twist around the halfway point of the game, but it’s such a pointless plot twist that it’s barely addressed. More importantly, it’s boring and was literally recycled from the previous games. It doesn’t help that the Kett are bland as well. They’re basic evil aliens that don’t really have any interesting lore beyond being evil.

The story outside of this is fairly boring as well. While the vibe is well done, the concept of exploring a new galaxy isn’t actually done well in practice. It feels cool at first, but you don’t actually discover much because you either find Kett strongholds, human outposts, or alien ruins because you apparently woke up from cryo sleep late. 

A side note before continuing: the main plot starts with you and your crew waking up abruptly due to contact with a harmful energy that damages your colony ship and forces you out of cryo sleep. Come to find out, not only was your crew late to the party, but the other colony ships never arrived and were lost somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Since the colony ships never arrived, the people who went ahead and developed the Nexus, which is where all the colony ships were supposed to go, had a schism and branched off into their own groups all over the Heleus cluster.

Back to the point – while this isn’t necessarily a bad story choice, it does kind of kill the whole ‘exploration of a new and unfamiliar land’ vibe if it’s already been explored and even settled on. You’re not exploring an unknown land just because it’s your first time there.

The land is unknown to you, but not others, and that’s not really what people want in a game that advertises space exploration. This isn’t a huge deal, however, as that’s part of the point. Assuming a new place would be undiscovered and unchanged for 600 years was not only naive, but foolhardy, and the game kind of makes a point to say how ignorant an idea that is.

Now what is a game without gameplay? While “Andromeda” is lackluster story and character wise, its gameplay is dynamic and fun. The weapons feel great, the abilities are varied and the combo mechanic of chaining two different abilities to make a powerful reaction is really fun.

While not my personal favorite in terms of gameplay (combat specifically), “Andromeda” definitely nails it in that department. The aesthetics of the game are also consistent and stylish. While not every piece of equipment is awesome looking, most are really cool, especially the returning stuff from previous games.

While “Andromeda” isn’t a perfect game, nor is it a great “Mass Effect” game, it has fun elements and is worth trying out at least once. While it definitely earned the criticism it got, it’s still valuable to form your own opinions. Give the game a try for yourself, but play the trilogy first. You should always play the trilogy first.