Mass Effect is a science fiction media franchise set in an alternate universe in the 3rd millennium developed by the Canadian video game company BioWare. Composed of multi-platform video games and associated media, the core of the franchise is an eponymous trilogy of action role-playing third-person shooter video games, released between 2007 and 2012, which follow Commander Shepard's mission to save the galaxy from a race of mechanical beings known as the Reapers. A fourth main series game, Mass Effect: Andromeda, was released in 2017. The Mass Effect franchise also includes three mobile games, each with a different gameplay style; seven novels, some written by BioWare writers and some by science fiction authors; four art books; ten comic book series or mini-comics and their anthologies; a