8 Video Games Fans Didn't Deserve

Before BioWare delivered a sequel to their successful sci-fi shooter Mass Effect, they dropped a "fantasy Mass Effect", Dragon Age: Origins. It's understandable how fans of the former considered overlooking this new IP, but they couldn't realize at the time how much Origins shaped BioWare's future successes.

Whilst fans had already oriented themselves with Mass Effect's races and their militaristic disagreements, they found Origins' politically urgent commentary on social-class struggle "too real" for fantasy. Ironically, other fans regarded the fantasy setting as either "nerdy" or "childish" compared to a hard sci-fi tone.

However, with elaborate and elegantly executed conflict, Origins challenges fans to consider the overlap of empathy and social consequence. The player must rely on a history of thousands of years to decide right from wrong between underprivileged elves, isolationist dwarves, and self-interested humans.

"Childish"? "Too real"? Merely a mirror of life's overflowing inequities.

Also, Origins implemented a system to radically change companions, either positively or negatively, based on thorough, personal quests. Mass Effect 2, a G.O.A.T. contender, later built an entire game around these quests to determine who survives its climactic Suicide Mission.

Well done, Origins.