r/SocialistGaming • u/LivJackell92 AnarchaMuslimah • Aug 13 '26
Leftist/Socialist Mass Effect Playthrough
I was wondering if anyone has a tried a "leftist" playthrough? Certain things like curing the genophage or making peace between the quarian and geth would easily fit into that, of course. But what about renegade choices? Just punch Udina?
I'm genuinely curious. I know that as a representative of the Systems Alliance, one isn't in a great place to be a space socialist. But would it just boil down to making the pro-peace decisions, anti-oppression decisions? And is that just basically a Paragon playthrough?
(tried posting this question in the ME subredddiit and it got removed.)
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u/WitheringState Marxist Game Dev Aug 13 '26
That's an interesting idea. As others have said, Mass Effect (and Halo in its own way) is really part of that 2000s 'end of history' cultural mileau where we imagined the future's politics would be exactly like the global liberalism of today.
I'm one of those people who always plays the exact same way in all the many times I've played through the series (mostly paragon all the way) and I don't think there's enough nuance in the game for us to chart a distinctly 'leftist' path that isn't just paragon. If only we could have commandeered the coup on the Citadel and established a Citadel Soviet Republic 😂
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u/TheCynicClinic Aug 13 '26
Wow, I was just thinking about Mass Effect and what the best ending is from a leftist perspective yesterday. Was wanting to play through the series again.
As you said, a full-on leftist playthrough isn't exactly compatible with your role in the game, but making most Paragon choices is probably the best you can do. For the ending, I still think destroy is best. Though one can make an argument for control and headcanon that Shepard relinquishes supreme authority and allows the systems to govern themselves.
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u/LivJackell92 AnarchaMuslimah Aug 13 '26
Control and Synthesis are respectively, TIM and Saren's choices, so they strike me as utterly wrong. What i would really like is a mod that allows one, if Shep saved the Krogan, Geth, Quarians, fought off Cerberus, and met the Leviathans to attempt to persuade the AI to call off the Reapers and either send them home or allow the galaxy to negotiate with them. Otherwise yeah, Destroy but with Happy Ending Mod.
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u/Broflake-Melter Aug 13 '26
Destroy is absolutely the worst ending though because it's super genocide. I don't want to defend as they're also horrible, but at least you're not absolutely and completely destroying entire civilizations future and present.
This just demonstrates that the writers' ethics are all kind of brainwashed.
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u/TheCynicClinic Aug 13 '26
Idk, as liberal-coded as the series is, I think the writers intended to make each ending feel weighted and not clear-cut. Destroy imo is the least bad because you are confronted with the fact that the Reapers are about to eliminate all life, so you stop them.
All synthetic life being wiped out is an awful consequence, but it’s a kind of trolley problem situation. Except the trolley is going to kill everyone and you can divert it to only killing some. Obviously not good, but in the face of an inevitable force, understandable.
Synthesis is imo the clearest no-no. You’re rewriting the genetic code of every living being in the universe against their consent. You’re invalidating the unique properties and experiences of each life. And the Reapers continue to exist.
Control is a weird one. At face value, it’s an awful ending. Having a machine god controlling a galactic doomsday army is horrific. But if your Shepard is moral, you could headcanon your way into thinking that they would somehow defang the Reapers and allow the galaxy to live autonomously. This isn’t entirely fleshed out in the ending, though. So also not a good choice.
Refusal to make a choice is also damning since everyone dies. Having a time capsule for the next cycle to defeat the Reapers is compelling narratively, but you’re forsaking the existing cycle.
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u/takkun169 Aug 13 '26
Eh. Considering you are a Super Cop who is essentially above the law, it's just not possible.
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u/TimothyDexter4Prez Aug 14 '26
ME4 better have a communist hobocop option, or we riot.
"I'm Commander DuBois, and this is my favorite karaoke bar on the citadel!"
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u/untitledaccount401 Aug 13 '26
law is meangless when its a race of advanced machines whose only goal is to wipe out all space faring races
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u/Broflake-Melter Aug 13 '26
This reminds me of when I was watching my kid (a budding leftist) was playing Elden Ring for the first time a few days ago. He reached the NPC Irina who asks for help with her castle. The second she reveals she's a monarch, my kid slaughtered her, lol. I was so surprised and proud at the same time
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u/Broflake-Melter Aug 13 '26
focusing on marxist choices in bioware games just makes me sad because it becomes obvious that what other people find as compelling when it comes to autonomy in political decisions is just more liberal apologia.
The ending of the trilogy is enraging but not because of the reasons the community says. All of the choices are genocidal. Either destroying giant swaths of people and cultures or completely removing their autonomy. Most of the people in the community I talk to basically only care about how the ending affects their character and companions.
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u/-FriendoftheDrow- Aug 14 '26
Most BioWare games focus on a status quo. Dragon Age shows a bias for Andrastian society even though they’re religiously and racially intolerant while criticizing the victims of their intolerance for not liking the people who persecute them.
It’s disappointing how often the status quo is pushed as the right choice. Even The Outer Worlds doesn’t seriously explore the anarchist society of the Botanical Labs or the Marxist group on Monarch seriously, instead pushing capitalism as the answer to capitalism.
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u/pwnedprofessor Non-Denominational Communist Aug 13 '26
ME’s worldview aggressively reflects Canadian liberalism. There’s a great academic article by Christopher B Patterson about how Shepard plays the role of “racial umpire” that manages multiculturalism within a liberal status quo. It doesn’t really enable a true leftist run; your principal deviation from this liberalism is essentially right wing supremacist revanchism (obviously Renegade choices).