The videogame series Mass Effect is a remarkable rarity not only for being an original
science-fictional franchise of recent vintage that has risen to such prominent commercial and
critical success in popular culture but also for pushing the canonical boundaries of how
science fiction as a genre will be experienced and understood in the future. This book analyzes
the significance of the game for an understanding of the evolving SF genre and articulates an
explanatory framework to limn its landmark reception in videogame history. This book both
synthesizes the burgeoning body of scholarship on Mass Effect for a readership unfamiliar with
either the game or the critical conversation on its salient importance while simultaneously
for readers already invested in the science-fiction and videogame scholarship mounting an
extended inquiry as to why Mass Effect has served as such a representative milestone in
videogame and genre history. The book should appeal to veteran science-fiction and videogame
scholars and students as well as a wide variety of fans consumers gamers and general
readers.
