Famous Figures in Gaming 101: Urdnot Wrex

Australian website TheVine has doled out another one of their “Famous Figures in Gaming 101” features, and this time they’re spotlighting Urdnot Wrex, the tough-as-nails Krogan from the Mass Effect series.

Wrex is at The Citadel to take out a bounty on Fist, and the first time you meet him, he’s on the verge of gutting the bouncers outside the club Fist owns. And given that this is a Bioware game, and that with Bioware it’s all about the choices you make, you are presented with many opportunities to establish a rapport with Wrex, or be a dick to him. Which is part of what makes this relationship so unique; there are many chances for you to strengthen it or utterly destroy it.

Now here’s where the character of Wrex gets really, really complex and wonderful. And potentially heartbreaking. At one point, you and your squad arrive on the planet where Saren (the villain) has a series of labs, where he’s basically breeding an army of super-soldiers: specifically, Krogan. And somewhat frighteningly, this means that Wrex sees that the goal he’d abandoned, the goal he was betrayed over centuries ago, is within reach: that technically, it might be possible to fix the Krogan breeding problem. However, for the safety of the galaxy, it’s imperative that you destroy the facility, and with it, the last hope Wrex has. This is where one of two scenes play out, with many variants thereof.

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That’s right. Shepard can tell Ashley, the openly racist, Christian, close-minded bint to execute Wrex. And if you haven’t bothered to talk with Wrex enough and put time into developing a friendship, it takes longer to talk him down. And if you take too long, Ashley just steps in and executes him anyway. It really does add weight to the friendship; if you care, he lives. If you don’t, he dies. It’s the kind of high-stakes dilemma that, come Mass Effect 2, ensures that you truly care about Wrex. He’s got centuries of pain behind him, but he is, potentially, the staunchest ally and friend you could ever have at your back.