Mac Walters, Mass Effect Legendary Edition director So in that sense, I can't imagine a Mass Effect experience without it.” It really is the thing that makes Mass Effect, Mass Effect. It's in everything from our Mass Relays, to the way we travel, to our weapons, to biotics. But in the stories, it's critical because you know, it's in everything. This sort of mystical fifth energy, that in some ways binds the universe together. It's one of those great elements that fascinated us, as designers and developers, because it is something that actually sort of exists in our world, at least theoretically. “I don't think you can really talk about the Mass Effect universe without talking about dark energy. The Mass Effect brand has since expanded into a franchise which encompasses a series of novels, comic books, mobile games, an animated film, and a 3D theme park ride, all of which are centered on other characters as protagonists. The original trilogy have overall been both commercially successful and critically acclaimed, and the Mass Effect setting has been praised by critics for the believability and depth of its design, lore and narrative themes. The fourth main series game is a standalone sequel about a group of settlers who are members of the Andromeda Initiative colonizing the Andromeda Galaxy. The first three main series games is set in the Milky Way galaxy and follows Commander Shepard, a human special forces soldier who discovers an imminent threat to the galactic community from the Reapers, an ancient collective of sentient synthetic starships which harvest all spaceflight-era organic civilizations as part of a repeating cycle that span millennia in length.

The developers created extensive background lore for the universe of Mass Effect and its alien species, with detailed explanations documenting the complex relationships between the universe's various factions and the setting's phenomena from a scientific perspective. Dark energy, a form of energy theorized to massively affect the universe, forms a key part of the franchise's concept and background.

The developers of the originating video game series drew inspiration and influencefrom numerous fantasy and science fiction works, as well as real world cultural and scientific concepts. The Mass Effect media franchise, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, is set in an alternate universe consisting of innumerable worlds populated by sentient alien civilizations that coexist with humanity.

The Art of the Mass Effect Universe, a 2012 publication which contains concept art and commentary by BioWare staff on the characters, locations, vehicles, and weapons of the Mass Effect universe.

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