Revealing Tali's Face in Mass Effect 3

Among the many mysteries of the Mass Effect universe, perhaps none has inspired as much curiosity as the Quarians. The race that created the Geth, they have been driven from their homeworld and exist as the Migrant Fleet.

Without their home planet's atmosphere, they require the constant support of their enviro-suits lest they fall prey to an extraordinarily weak immune system. This obscures their faces, creating an aura of strangeness. Their concealed faces and affiliation with the Geth have led to mistrust of Quarians throughout the galaxy.

One, though, has become resident among Commander Shepard's team. By the end of Mass Effect 2, Tali'Zorah vas Neema is a full-fledged member of Shepard's crew, adopting the name vas Normandy to signify her new home. In fact, a male Shepard can even engage in a romantic entanglement with her, adding to the mystery.


Despite Tali's prominent role, we still have no idea what she looks like.

Some players are fine with leaving her appearance a mystery. After all, with the majority of female characters in Mass Effect sexualized to often ridiculous degrees, Tali's obscured appearance has helped her stand out as one of the better developed personalities among the franchise's cast.

Quarians seldom remove their face mask, even among the Migrant Fleet, but the game's writers managed to find a good excuse for Tali to reveal her face in Mass Effect 2. If players pursue a romance with Tali, she does exactly that, but only to Shepard; not to the player. This is a crucial disconnect.

For many players, it creates a problem for the game's narrative. The Mass Effect series is all about choice and making players feel like they are playing a role, not merely witnessing one from a third-person perspective. It's called a Role-Playing Game for a reason.

Shepard is a catalyst for players to enter the story. Shielding the player from Shepard's experiences breaches the player's sense of immersion.

The resulting disconnect between the player and their on-screen persona can be jarring, briefly reminding players that it is all just a game rather than the organic experience it strives to be. Few events create more disconnect than when your in-game character is privy to information you are not.


With Mass Effect 3, Bioware has an opportunity to rectify that disconnect, and create a potentially powerful moment in the process. As awkward as it was for Shepard to see Tali's face before the player, it was the right move for Bioware. The "sex" scene in Mass Effect 2 was not the right place for such a reveal, especially when an already established side-plot provides a more in-character solution.

During Mass Effect 2's Shadow Broker DLC, if Shepard has a romance with Tali then Liara asks what he is fighting for, and whether it is a new homeworld for Tali. Let's say, hypothetically, that the answer is yes.

Picture the scene: after a hard-fought battle across a new planet, Shepard and Tali stand victorious over a cliff, beneath a sunrise, or some equally dramatic backdrop. Tali takes off her mask and the player's first view of her face sees her breathing in the planet's sterile air. In that moment it won't matter what she looks like. Her face isn't the reward, her expression is. The reward is an expression of joy, freedom, and most importantly, hope for her species' future; emotions that can only be fully expressed through body language, and have therefore been denied to Quarians since their exile.

If Tali's face is revealed in Mass Effect 3, there is no doubt that some fans will inevitably be disappointed. Some will say it ruins the mystery while others will complain that she doesn't match what they had envisioned. The safe choice would be for Bioware to keep Tali's face shrouded. The bold choice, however, would be to reveal her face, and to do so in such a way that the actual appearance is irrelevant. After all, players can already see the outline of Tali's face behind her visor, giving us a vague sense of what she looks like.

What players want to see isn't just Tali's face, but the expressions it can make, adding yet another level of emotional depth and complexity to a fan favorite character.

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