10 Video Games Way Weirder Than Advertised

The original Mass Effect was largely hyped to BioWare fans on the promise that it'd be another epic action-RPG from the studio, focused on delivering a world of unprecedented scope and creativity.

While none of this was untrue, the pre-release marketing more-or-less glossed over its more interesting and unexpected elements.

Of course, the media latched onto the player's ability to have inter-species sex, which while incredibly tame was nevertheless boundary-pushing for the medium in 2007.

But the excess focus on this ultimately ignores Mass Effect's more adult and often unsettling ideas, few of which were impressed ahead of release.

These include the Reaper-created zombie-like "husks" encountered during the game, the sterility plague known as the Genophage, and its general tackling of humanist themes such as suicide, prostitution, addiction, racism, and mental illness.

While the first Mass Effect may be rough around the edges, it's far more strange and thoughtful than suggested by its marketing, which was more intently focused on selling the epic, planet-hopping spectacle and massive cast of characters.