and there will be no templars to tear them apart

yeah i had to.

Inspired by the scene in the DA2 quest Dissent in which Anders/Justice (almost) murder Ella. AO3 link here.

popyp

in the game, mutt and pebbles are always nearby when henry wakes up after sleepwalking. therefore, this is the sight he sees when he wakes up in some random shrub.

They're all good. But ME3 captures a FEELING of desperation, of racing against the clock, while even on a meta level (since it is the last game in the trilogy) that time is running out. Each game in the trilogy has a feeling to it, but the feeling of ME3 is the one that hurts the most. Even the music carries it through. It's like it took the soundtrack of ME2 but made it slower and sadder, while juxtaposed against a game that's such a fast-paced, angry frenzy.

All of the above, the dread, the desperation…Mass Effect 3 has been my favorite since it came out.

It never lets you forget that you’re losing. Even if you cure the genophage, even if you broker peace between the geth and the quarians, even when you ally with the leviathans, the game never once stops reminding you that in the big picture, across the entire galaxy, you’re still losing to the Reapers. It’s in all the side conversations, the mood when you talk to your crew, the news and the war updates, the codex and galaxy map entries, the music, the pacing. The Reapers are fantastic villains because the game succeeded in making you feel how relentless and oppressive they are.

And then the way it’s balanced with Shepard’s sheer stubborn refusal to believe there isn’t a chance they could survive.

Really quick Logan doodle before I roll down a hill somewhere