Mass Effect 1 was the first game I ever completed on PC back in 2008 or so, and the entire Mass Effect trilogy remains one of my favourite gaming experiences of all time. Naturally when I saw this Legendary Edition was priced at £54.99, I was like, nah. I've already paid for all these games on Origin. I've completed them. I don't have time for this anyway. Why would I go ahead and spend over £50 on it, and I closed it.

It was like a little alien brain-worm had invaded me. I kept thinking about it. Wondering about all the DLC I never bought. Wondering about how it would play in 2021 in 4K Ultra HD glory. Why did I even buy this fancy ass monitor if I wasn't going to buy Mass Effect Legendary Edition? I was already thinking about the playthrough I was going to have, the choices I was going to make, how epic it would be to experience games 1-2-3 back to back rather than waiting years in between and forgetting half the details.

So yeah, I bought it. I've sunk some time into the first one - which is arguably the one that needed a bit of TLC the most. It may actually take me years to finish all three with the amount of free time I have lately (screw you, real life), but I'm off to a good start, reliving the experience. I'd forgotten how tough some of the decisions in the first game were.

It really looks fantastic, I've not experienced problems with bugs (touch wood) and it runs on my PC like a dream. Playing the first game for a second time 12 years later has managed to capture both nostalgia and a fresh feel for me somehow. Probably because I've forgotten just enough detail to make half of it seem new, whilst remembering the other half. It's a smoother experience, but not streamlined or dumbed down for the masses (phew). It's kept that undefinable je ne sais quoi. I was worried some of the atmosphere might be missing - but it's definitely still there. It still feels like something special. But even better.

I never would have prioritised replay the original games, but this re-release gave me the motivation to revisit one heck of an epic series and I have no regrets. Don't expect any new reviews from me for some time though, this one's going to take a wee while to complete! I've even started looking at the achievements and wondering if I could 100% it, wish me luck.

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I don't have a lot of time for gaming anymore and with around 1000 games in my library I've never even played, I'm trying to cut back on buying new ones. So when a friend told me I had to play this one, I was skeptical. I do love card games and strategy - but I also have a lot of burnout from poor Early Access experiences and since my maternity leave is over and now I have to ugh, make money AND look after a baby, absolutely no spare time for gaming. So I surprised myself when I realized that three days after launching this, I'd managed to clock up 15 hours.

That pile of paperwork next to me, the unfinished laundry and my mums messages asking if I'm okay because she hasn't heard from me for a few days may be related in some way, but you can't prove anything! I was so tired last night I beat the final boss with the Ironclad for the first time, sent a screenshot to the friend who bullied me into playing the game (essential step), turned my PC off, walked to bed and fell asleep, to dream of deck building.

Despite my friend having played double my hours and generally being vastly superior at games to me, his playstyle choices have been vastly different. He prefers Silent, the poison character, whereas I prefer Ironclad, the strength deck. He'd never used the style of deck I used to get my first win (barricade, massive armor stacking, dual wield into body slam) and I played with quite a few different deck types before settling on my winning synergy. Even though there are not a massive array of cards, there is a significant amount of choice and strategy in your play, coupled with constant adjustments needing to be made as you pick up relics and rewards.

With over 9,000 reviews (no I mean literally, that's not a meme) and overwhelmingly positive, you don't need someone slow to this bandwagon to describe the mechanics of the game. What I will say is this is a fun roguelike deck-building card game that is simple to grasp, hard to master and incredibly addictive. I'd love to say it can be played in short bursts when you have 30 minutes here and there, but only if you've levelled your willpower to max and can walk away from the PC.

Highly recommended from me, even in Early Access, with hopefully even more content to come.

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