The original Mass Effect trilogy forces players to embark on a galactic quest where their choices can affect entire species across the universe -- and have a radical impact on the storyline of the game itself. These carry over to the newly released Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which is allowing players to revisit those gutwrenching decisions all over again.
One of the most memorable choices in Mass Effect has to be the fate of the Rachni Queen and the ensuing effect it has on the series as a whole. Regardless of what you choose to do in your encounter with the Rachni Queen, the outcome of your game will be changed forever.
The Rachni are introduced on the world of Noveria from the first Mass Effect, a formerly powerful race who were almost all wiped out centuries before the events of the game. The last of the species can be found in the Hot Labs of Peak 15, currently controlled by Matriarch Benezia, the mother of crew member Liara T'Soni and a corrupted aid to Sarus. After fighting your way through her forces and defeating her, the player is confronted by the Rachni Queen -- who has been held in confinement. Separated from the colony of smaller Rachni she birthed, the Queen reveals that this resulted in the berserker Rachni that Shepard and their team has had to fight earlier in the level.
Speaking to Shepard through an Asari, Shepard learns the long-extinct species was reproduced to create an army, but that the Rachni Queen just wishes to return to the stars. After convincing Shepard to kill the young Rachni that have lost their minds and have become a danger to others, she asks to be set free, vowing to keep the Rachni from lashing out at other species if so released. Shephard will have two choices here -- either to do so and set the Rachni Queen loose back into the galaxy or to determine she's too much of a threat and kill her while she's still confined. The player can decide to spare the Rachni Queen or destroy her with the acid connected to her confinement.
Sparing the Rachni Queen will allow the Rachni to form a new colony. The Turian member of the Citadel Council will grill Shephard about the potential risk during their next meeting -- and will accuse humanity of enjoying genocide if Shephard decides to destroy the Rachni Queen, offering a lose-lose situation for players when it comes to the Turian's view. However, Mass Effect 2 can reveal the Rachni Queen was indeed telling the truth about the option for peace.
If spared, an Asari can be found in the shopping districts of Illium in Mass Effect 2 who is willingly connected to the Rachni Queen and used as a conduit to speak through. She reveals to Shephard that the Rachni have indeed been growing their numbers once more, but have vowed to bring no war to the universe. In fact, she vows to help Shephard in the coming battles against great darkness -- the Reapers -- in thanks for Shephard's mercy. If the Rachni Queen is instead killed, then all evidence of the experiments on Peak 15 is lost instead, with the tragedy of this once-again extinct race is lost.
In Mass Effect 3, the player is confronted with the full coming of the Reapers. One of their intended weapons is the Rachni, ideally utilized as foot soldiers. This is regardless of whether or not the player spared the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect. If Shephard allowed the Queen to survive, she'll have been captured by the Reavers. If she was destroyed, then the Reavers create an artificial one to serve at their side, known as the Breeder. The Rachni are encountered during a mission to the Attican Traverse. Venturing to the world, Shephard ends up working with the remnants of a lost Krogan team (and their leader, Grunt from Mass Effect 2, assuming he survived the Suicide Mission from the conclusion of that game).
After fighting through the Reaver-spawned Rachni, the player will confront the Rachni Queen or the Breeder, which has been successfully and fully indoctrinated by the Reavers. Players will be given the choice to destroy the Queen/Breeder or to spare them at the expense of the Krogan team. Destroying the Rachni Queen or the Breeder will result in the Aralakh Company becoming a War Asset worth 25 points. If Shepard spares the Breeder, then they gain the Aralakh Company buff as well as the Rachni Workers War Asset, which is worth 100 points. However, the Breeder is secretly too far gone and will eventually betray the player -- resulting in a loss of 100 points after a few missions.
The other option is for the player to spare the Rachni Queen, which results in the loss of the Aralakh Company (and depletion of 25 points to their War Asset worth), however, the Rachni Workers will never betray the player, and their 100 point War Asset worth will never be reduced. However, sparing the Rachni Queen or the Breeder can result in the death of Grunt if the player didn't complete Loyalty Mission "Grunt: Rite of Passage" in Mass Effect 2. Otherwise, Grunt will survive the encounter and return to the group before they depart the planet. So long as the player is able to complete the Grunt mission in Mass Effect 2, it's a net-win to spare the Rachni Queen in the long run, as she becomes a useful asset in the final stretch of the game when the player needs to increase their War Asset strength as high as possible.
0 Comments