10 Most Breathtaking Moments In Video Game History

5. Introducing The Citadel - Mass Effect

The first hour of the first instalment of Bioware's Mass Effect trilogy is purposely constrained; just Commander Shepard, his crew, and a simple mission that goes horribly wrong. The consequences of this failing mission forces Shepard and the starship Normandy to visit the Citadel, heart of galactic society, and it is here that the game expands substantially in scope.

If you were feeling somewhat ambivalent towards the game before, the full reveal of the Citadel in all its impressive glory is the moment where the game gets its hooks in you, and from that point it never lets go. Suddenly you are thrust into the politics of this world and are able to absorb all of its history. The characters, the alien races, everything starts to make sense, feel real, and draw you in.

It is epic, operatic, and is the moment where millions of gamers became fans of the Mass Effect franchise. While there are objectively bigger and grander sequences spread throughout the trilogy, the introduction to the Citadel leaves an enormous impression on anyone dipping their toes into the Mass Effect universe for the first time, and solidifies it as a game worth seeing towards the end.