Let’s start with the important piece here: I love the Mass Effect trilogy—yes, even the deeply “controversial” third entry. Looking back at the games I’ve played in my life, Mass Effect 2 is easily the one that I put the most hours into, exploring every nook and cranny, every piece of DLC, and every conversation with every character I could find. I loved the universe, and how impactful all my actions felt through the series and particularly in that second entry. I won’t deny that there are plenty of issues in all three of those early games, hell the first one is practically unplayable in my opinion. It’s easy for me to understand how I could fall under the spell of Andromeda; jumping back into the universe that I lost myself in years ago had huge nostalgic appeal. That nostalgia even helped me, very enthusiastically, through the early parts of Andromeda, as I relived a lot of the feelings of wonder and exploration that the earlier games offered.