The fight over who is the best companion in the Mass Effect trilogy can be a bloody one. With (almost) every crewmate on the Normandy being so full of personality, it’s easy to form favourites, and want to defend those favourites from any and all criticism, valid or otherwise.
However, as divisive as it can be, the stats don’t lie - there is a clear fan favourite. Based off achievement and trophy stats on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation, Tali is the most used companion in the first game, with Garrus narrowly in second place.
We know this due to the first game granting achievements for taking each companion on five missions. The “Quarian Ally” achievement has a completion rate of 52.1% on Steam - almost 20% higher than the achievement for taking Kaidan on five missions.
Garrus takes second place at 49.6%, followed by Liara at 38.4%, then Wrex at 35.7%. Unsurprising to anyone in the Mass Effect fanbase, this puts the two human companions in last - despite them both being recruited in the first mission. Kaidan just about takes last place over Ashley, with only 31.9% of players bothering to take him along on at least five missions.
Tastes must have completely changed since 2007, because the achievement list for the original release on Xbox 360 paints a much different picture. According to True Achievements, almost every companion is neck and neck, with Ashley just about taking the lead. It’s quite the fall from grace for the Alliance soldier, as she’s now barely clinging on to her second-from-last placement.
This isn’t the only news that Tali fans will be happy to hear. One of the most controversial aspects of Mass Effect 3 was her long anticipated face reveal - which was just a photoshopped stock image. To remedy this, Legendary Edition now uses a unique mock up of what the quarian would look like without her suit, making her look distinctly more alien.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition released May 14, and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.