Mass Effect: Dawn of the Reapers is a total conversion mod that was last updated on April 13, 2019. This mod turns SINs into a totally new experience, from ships, to heroes, to research. It has totally new looks for the user interface as well. A great mod, especially if you’re a fan of Mass Effect games.

What exactly attracted me to this mod? To be honest, I’m not sure since I’m not a follower of Mass Effect games. While it’s true they are massively popular, third person shooters are not in my repertoire. It’s not because I didn’t like them but because I totally stink at them. With all that, the main reason I downloaded and installed this was it looked like it was going to give me a totally new SINs experience, and I was not disappointed.

Entertainment Value

The entertainment value for me was the vast differences in strategy that had to be used for each faction. Not only were they totally different for each faction, they were totally different from the stock SINs factions as well. For instance, playing as the Alliance meant I could not build the defense structures I was used to building in a stock SINS game, and rush tactics weren’t feasible as well. There is simply just not enough resources or time available to implement that strategy.

This all made the modded game not all that easy to learn, it took a little time to get comfortable with the new research screens and ships. Graphics were good, and the voice overs were pretty entertaining. This mod really held my interest since I was always trying to figure thing out. The research portion of the game has been totally remapped and it was challenging for me to figure out what I considered to be a workable strategy.

Replay Value

This has good replay value, but since I’m not a Mass Effect fan, I think I would tire of this game rather quickly. I think the replayability is there for Mass Effect fans, same as a mod for Star Trek fans (guilty!) would add a lot of replay value for them.

Research

The research trees were one of the most noticeable changes in this mod, they were in six sections, just like in vanilla SINs, but that where the similarities ended. The research tree was completely different from what I’m used to seeing in a SINs game. For one thing, there are only five tiers of research available instead of the traditional eight. Several structures and /or ships can be unlocked at the same time through one research task instead of the many it usually takes.

Factions

This mod does away with the stock SINs factions and replaces them with five factions of its own. It also revamps ships, structures, the UI and almost everything else in the game. One neat thing about this mod is that, whatever is selected, an image of the selection appears in the UI with some basic information about the object. The planet classes have been changed and new names given to at least some, if not all, of the planets.

Systems Alliance. This faction represents Earth and all other human factions in Citadel space. The Normandy Stealth Frigate was available at the start of the game to use as a scout. The biggest change was that these new research sections did not follow the logic of the base SINs game. For one thing, there were no defensive structures that could be built except for the Fleet Alert Beacon. Defenses mainly consisted of ground units that can be deployed to strengthen a planets bombardment resistance. Fleet logistics were not the same, they were located in the Combined Arms section, and both fleet supplies and capital ship crews were both increased at the same time, rather than being researched and increased separately. This is a significantly different faction that requires a new type of strategy to play, one that I have yet to perfect.

Cerebus. This is a human survivalist group led by the Illusive Man. They focus on having a technological advantage over their opponents and are very resistant to culture spread due to the intensive brainwashing their agents receive. Once again, a significantly different layout when it came to research.

Citadel Council. The governing body of the Citadel. They have the strongest economy in the game due to the extreme diversity of the races that make up this faction.

Terminus Mercenaries. Provide “services” that give additional strength to your forces. They suffer severe allegiance penalties but they can set up a Criminal Underground specialization much easier and cheaper than other factions.

The Reapers. A highly advanced machine race that destroys all life in our galaxy every fifty thousand years. They do not use credits and can upgrade planets for free, but at a slower rate than other factions. Their culture spread, although slow, is virtually unstoppable.

Go to our SINS Faction Differences page if you want to know more about the original SINs factions.

Conclusion

A mod worth getting, especially if you’re a Mass Effect fan. If you don’t mind seeing an occasional placeholder, which doesn’t affect the gameplay, and like to develop new strategies for SINs, then you’ll enjoy this mode, even if you’ve never played any Mass Effect games before.

You can read the SINs review here and download the game mod from Mod DB using the link below.