Mass Effect succeeds as a series predominantly because of its memorable and complex squad . Several of them appear in all three games in the original trilogy, growing alongside Shepard and the player as they fight against the Reapers. But many of them got their start in Mass Effect 2, the game with the most squates and the biggest focus on their side stories.

Each member of the team in ME2 gets a "loyalty mission," an adventure that revolves around a key part of their backstory or motivation, and ultimately secures their loyalty to Commander Shepard as a member of the crew. These missions come up all across the game at different times, depending on how much time the player spends getting to know the individual characters and following their stories.

12 Jacob's Search For His Father Is Just Disappointing

A Mission With Lots Of Potential That Ultimately Fails To Deliver

Jacob Taylor is already considered one of the least-liked squad in the game, just because of the absence of story and interesting character development he is given. He's a good enough person, with biotic abilities and a good sense of right and wrong, but he is simply outmatched by the complex development of other of the crew. His loyalty quest is a great example of why, as it offers very little in the way of character growth for this ex-Corsair.

Jacob gets an alert that the ship his father disappeared on ten years ago, the Hugo Gernsback, has been found planetside. He and Shepard go there, only to find the survivors mentally destabilized by the planet's toxic food, and Jacob's father lording over the rest of them as a dictator. Jacob confronts him, comes to with his loss, and then leaves, giving Shepard the final decision on what to do with Taylor Senior. Most loyalty quests offer a choice that affects the crewmate's character trajectory, but Jacob doesn't even stay to see the end result of his own mission.

11 Zaeed's Fight With The Blue Suns Doesn't Do A Ton For His Character

An Introduction To This Mercenary, Not A Moment Of Change

Next up is Zaeed Massani, a mercenary and ex-leader of the Blue Suns. He s Shepard in exchange for the Commander's help in killing Vido Santiago, the gang's current leader who betrayed Zaeed long ago. Like Kasumi, ME2's other DLC squad mate, Zaeed's loyalty mission comes at the beginning of his time on the crew, rather than mid-game, so it acts as more of a character introduction than a climax to his personal story.

If the suicide mission has already been completed, Shepard can actually leave Zaeed to die during this mission if they wish.

Even worse, the outcome of the quest doesn't really change Zaeed at all. It sees him endanger factory workers for the chance to get to Vido, and Shepard can either go along with it or try and save the innocents. In the former case, Zaeed and Shepard get Vido, and Zaeed stays a brutal bastard. In the latter case, Zaeed almost dies but is saved by Shepard, securing his loyalty but leaving him the same as he was before.

10 Legion Provides Some Neat Geth Lore, But Not Much Personal Backstory

This Follower Shows Up A Little Too Late In The Game

Sometimes, a loyalty mission ends up providing more information on an alien species than it does on the specific crew member in question. That is especially the case for Legion, whose loyalty mission carries huge consequences for the Geth as a whole, but not really for them personally. Legion is a part of the Geth collective that resists Reaper control and fights for his people's independence, and his quest sees him take Shepard aboard a Geth station to fight those loyal to the Reapers.

The mission is interesting, showing how this Geth hivemind works, and it ends with a decision for Shepard: to either reprogram the Repaer loyalists to make them agree with Legion, or to destroy them. One outcome would be like brainwashing a group of sentient beings, while the other would see them exterminated, and both would massively shift the dynamic of the Geth collective. But Legion leaves the decision entirely up to Shepard, and the game ends shortly afterward, meaning Legion doesn't get much time to reflect on the quest's aftermath.

9 Grunt's Rite Of age Is Straightforward And Fun

Action And Excitement Make Sense For This Krogan

Some characters in Mass Effect have deep and complex reasoning behind their decisions, and debate morally on what is right or wrong. Not Grunt, though. His loyalty mission is about his rite of age, something krogan undertake on the planet Tuchanka when they reach a certain age. Grunt was raised in a cloning pod, and thus has no knowledge of this rite; therefore, him and Shepard learn about and go through it together.

If Wrex survived the first game, he will play a bit of a role in this mission, making it a bit better than it is otherwise.

The mission itself is undeniably pretty cool, as it sees Grunt fighting the monsters of his home planet, including a massive Thresher Maw. But the ending leaves much to be desired, since it presents no real choice of consequence, since the outcome is always the same: Grunt s Clan Urdnot and feels more fulfilled.

8 Miranda's Loyalty Mission Is Essential To Her Character Arc

A Moment Of Humanity For This Perfect Soldier

Miranda Lawson is a much more controversial character, an arrogant Cerberus agent who hides her insecurities behind a wall of snarky superiority. If her character ended at being a controlling second-in-command on Shepard's crew, there would be little to discuss here. But she's more than that, and this mission illustrates the true depth of her character.

As it turns out, Miranda was genetically augmented by her father, a man hellbent on securing a powerful dynasty. She was raised to be perfect in a cold and abusive environment, and she kidnapped her infant sister to save her from the same treatment. The mission sees Shepard help Miranda to protect her sister from her father's agents, during which the real humanity behind Miranda shows itself.

7 Samara's Fight With Her Daughter Has A Very Important Decision For Shepard To Make

The Chance To Replace One Companion Altogether

Samara is a character of black and white justice, a Justiciar from Asari-controlled space who seeks out and destroys criminals without mercy. Her devotion to her order is absolute, but it threatens to crack when she has to hunt down a particular rogue asari: her daughter, Morinth, a kind of asari called an Ardat-Yakshi that possess the unique ability to seduce and drain the life of innocent people.

Samara's duty is to kill her, but she its that she can't do it alone, and needs Shepard's help. The quest sees Shepard first find and lure Morinth to a meeting place, before Samara attacks in a gutting fight between mother and daughter. Samara's pain at the weight of her task is evident during this quest. Here, Shepard can help her excecute this awful mission, or even replace her with Morinth, killing off Samara completely.

6 Garrus Gets Revenge, Or A Chance At Forgiveness

A Character With Their Own Paragon/Renegade System

Garrus Vakarian is undoubtedly the fan favorite character of the Mass Effect series, a ride-or-die Turian with a confident attitude that sticks by Commander Shepard through all three games in the original trilogy. His story is one of the best executed in the franchise, as he pursues the Turian that betrayed him and his squad while he was going by Archangel.

Garrus spends the time between ME1 and ME2 as Archangel, a vigilante on Omega with his own squad of fighters.

His moments of vigilante justice mixed with regret showcase how his character is at a crossroads morally, and the outcome of the quest offers some genuinely divergent paths for him: he kills the traitor, Sidonus, and goes further down the path of an antihero, or he forgives his old friend and finds some peace. There are certainly more exciting and impactful loyalty missions in ME2, but Garrus' works perfectly for the slow arc of his character growth.

5 Thane Moves Closer to Redemption

An Assassin With A Heart

Thane Krios has a great and tragic story across the second and third games in the franchise; a tired assassin fighting his last battle as a terminal illness slowly whittles away at his life. His story acts as both excellent world-building concerning the Drell and Hanar, and as a complex narrative about a morally gray character. His loyalty quest in ME2, which centers around his son, makes him all the more likable.

Long ago, Thane abandoned his child to hunt down his wife's killers, and has been too ashamed to him ever since. Now, he wants to prevent his son from becoming an assassin as well, and asks for Shepard's help. The mission mixes stealth and dialogue mechanics in a fascinating way, and Thane's reconnection with his kid is vital characterization that fuels his arc into its final act.

4 Jack Finally Gets Some Closure

An Important Moment For This Angry Biotic

One of the earliest loyalty missions most players will unlock is Jack's, as it comes relatively early in the game's story. Jack is a super-powered biotic who was tortured for years at the hands of Cerberus, and is now out for revenge. Her selfish and violent philosophies on life make her hard to relate to early on, but this mission does a great job of both making Jack empathetic and giving her cause to change. Jack finds the facility where she was tortured, and goes there with Shepard to blow it up.

Along the way, she sees elements of her past trauma, and gives Shepard a sense of why she is the way she is. At the same time, she realizes she had wrongly interpreted some things as a child; mainly, while she thought the other children there were treated better than her, she learns they were test subjects to make sure none of torture Jack was subjected to would kill her. This revelation causes Jack to reevaluate her philosophy and become a more empathetic person, eventually opting to help teach and care for young biotic s.

3 Kasumi Balances Spectacle With Character Development

A Heist With High Stakes

Kasumi is the other DLC squate, and her loyalty quest is far superior to Zaeed's in every way. This master thief needs Shepard's help pulling a heist, stealing the memories of her dead lover from the vault his murderer has put them in. The mission involves Shepard infiltrating a fancy dinner party, has multiple methods of bying security, and a boss fight with the killer in a helicopter. It's all great, and works perfectly for introducing Kasumi's character.

The real kicker comes at the end, when Shepard and Kasumi recover the memories of her dead lover, who had stored important secrets about the Alliance there that could cause massive damage, should they get out. The memories should be destroyed, but doing so would mean Kasumi would lose the biggest trace left of her partner. It's a tough decision that Shepard can weigh in on, and Kasumi's desire to hold on to the memories even though they could be harmful really goes to inform on her personality.