Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC: The Ending I Was Waiting For

The moment BioWare Mass Effect DLC producer, Mike Gamble, announced Citadel would be released at 3 a.m. Pacific time March 5th, any attempts to sleep the night of the 4th were doomed. 

Fortunately, the imps at BioWare anticipated this, keeping me entertained with side-splitting Twitter narratives from an N7 squad on shore leave (@VorchaDaddy, @De_MEL_isher, @ThisUnit1025, and @TalktotheTalons). At the appointed time, to my bleary-eyed consternation, no DLC by the name Citadel was available for download for the Xbox 360; not for Mass Effect 3 nor any other game. However, all was remedied a mere half-hour later and I was on my way to experiencing one last adventure with my Shepard and the crew of the Normandy.

After playing through three times with various team members and finding an abundance of Easter eggs (I love you, Grunt!) I can say unreservedly that the developers have exceeded all expectation with Citadel. The writing was superb, the voice-over performances were brilliant, the cinematography was dazzling, and the gameplay was thrilling. I was struck by the dizzying number of assets involved, from Shepard's apartment to the Armax Combat Arena. Last month, Patrick Weekes, a senior writer for the Mass Effect series, revealed pre-production began not long after Mass Effect 3 shipped last March, with the writing being completed by late summer 2012. In truth, Citadel felt like opening a long-awaited love letter and I have found the ending I had been searching for. Given the timing of its conception, perhaps it was the ending the developers were searching for, as well.

I know how Shepard's story ends: there is no happily ever after. But the Citadel DLC lets me freeze her in time, when she was happy, when she was loved, when she wasn't so broken down by the unending onslaught of war and suffering that death no matter how nonsensically presented)seemed a welcome release. I will not go on to Cronos station nor return to take back Earth as I have countless times before. I refuse to remember my Shepard as beaten, bloodied and forsaken. She deserves better than that.

Garrus: Best times of my life were spent on that ship. Been a damn good ride.

Shepard: [gazing at the Normandy against the morning Presidium skyline] The best.