Mass Effect 2 Arrival DLC outed

By Robert Purchese Published 22 February, 2011

How the Reapers found Earth?

The next significant Mass Effect 2 add-on has been spotted and goes by the name of Arrival.

A PS3 patch for the game revealed the name and three associated Trophies (via the BioWare forum): The Ultimate Sacrifice, awarded for completing the Arrival DLC; Last Stand, awarded for surviving all five waves in the battle for Object Rho; and Covert Action, awarded for rescuing Dr. Amanda Kenson without attracting hostile attention.

Dr. Amanda Kenson - didn't she pop up in a Cerberus Network bulletin recently? Yes, she did.

"Historians and astronomers alike are abuzz tonight over a new paper published by Dr. Amanda Kenson of the University of Arcturus. Her team claims that by testing the dust trapped in the gravity wells around a mass relay, and comparing its composition to that of dust clouds in the same system, scientists can create a timeline of when the relay passed through the dust. Her conclusion? 'Only a small fraction of the mass effect relays date back 50,000 years,' she writes, 'The majority are far older, indicating they were created by a species predating even the Protheans.' " the news flash read.

"Dr. Aurana T'Meles of the University of Serrice met the information with skepticism: 'While Dr. Kenson's methods appear sound, the asari tried a similar procedure centuries ago and discounted it. What civilization could have spanned the galaxy for not thousands, but millions of years? If this were the case, we should have found mountains of evidence of their passing. Where is this species now?'

Popular opinion among the Mass Effect 2 community is that this DLC will build towards Mass Effect 3 and, more importantly, how the ancient Reaper menace gets to Earth. There's also plenty of speculation about Arrival offering a different playable character to Shepard.

BioWare hasn't commented on the new DLC yet.

The last chunk of story DLC for Mass Effect 2 - Lair of the Shadow Broker - earned a whopping 9/10 on Eurogamer. Let's hope that winning streak continues.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • richarddavies #1 1 year ago

    Nice! To be honest I would've thought they'd not be releasing anymore DLC for 2 and just concentrated on 3. Not a bad suprise though.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #2 1 year ago

    I thought the ME3 leadup-DLC would be out late summer-ish, closer to the release of ME3. Does this mean there will be several new pieces of DLC still?

  • ubergine #3 1 year ago

    I bet that guy from Big Ben is the playable character.

  • linea #4 1 year ago

    If this is as good as Shadow Broker then BRING IT ON.

    Bioware really have achieved something stunning with the Mass Effect universe. I've enjoyed many many RPGs over the years but frankly although I'm looking forward to say Skyrim immensely I couldn't really give a toss about what happens in that universe outside of the core game, whereas I'm champing at the bit for more Mass Effect universe info. Great stuff.

  • NewbieZilla #5 1 year ago

    Wonder when this will be out.

    (The DA2 demo, too now that I mention it. That'll be the next few hours.)

  • MojoDex #6 1 year ago

    @ubergine

    the guy in big ben was voiced by sean bean, so i thik anyway sounds like him too me. might be a bit expensive for dlc to hire him.

  • Vortex808 #7 1 year ago

    Balls. I didn't expect any more and passed on my copy of ME2. Time to get another one if this is good/contibutes to ME3 stuff.

  • Utopolitan #8 1 year ago

    Fan Tastic.

  • Antaios #9 1 year ago

    I'm just glad the patch is here to fix the savegame bug. I'll worry about new DLC later.

  • Murton #10 1 year ago

    So much for the PS3 version being "complete" then. Unless it's being offered free in a patch which I very much doubt.

    Still, it's nice to see that they're still supporting the game after all this time, bodes well for ME3 when that comes out.

  • DuncDisorderly #11 1 year ago

    I only just picked ME2 up and am loving it so far, however I plumped for a cheapo pre-owned copy, can anyone tell me if its worth shelling out the 1200 MS Points for the Cerberus Network code, is the DLC it accesses worth the cash?, is there anything else crucial im missing by not having the content?

  • Whitster #12 1 year ago

    The Cerberus Code is probably worth it if you are still early in the game as it unlocks an extra character, whom although he isn't crucial to the plot has his own backstory, loyality mission, etc, also I maybe wrong but theres an achivement towards the end of the game that you may not be able to get without him. Also if you plan to download the other DLC I don't think Overlord will work without Firewalker, again I may be wrong.

  • ocmerius #13 1 year ago

    Giev! NOW!!

    Can't wait for ME3. Past weeks did a complete runthrough of ME1 and ME2, playing as a complete an utter bastard.
    That was actually harder than I thought. Comitting genocide is harder than you think.

  • Xabarin #14 1 year ago

    Mass Effect 2 is the only game I've ever played which not only I bought DLC for (every one of them except for the purely cosmetic) but also looked forward for more. I can't wait for Mass Effect 3.

  • the_inchworm #15 1 year ago

    "the guy in big ben was voiced by sean bean, so i thik anyway sounds like him too me. might be a bit expensive for dlc to hire him."

    Are you sure about that? Doesn't sound anything like Sean Bean to me.

  • Ninja_Tino #16 1 year ago

    Question regarding the reapers: surely everyone knows they exist after the Citadel attack? It's been a while since ME2, so I've forgotten the public consensus. Was it all made hush hush? Just wondering because of that doctor disregarding the other's report of an ancient race.

  • dupplawt #17 1 year ago

    @Ninja_Tino the council and public remember Sovereign but refused to believe there were many more Reapers hiding in dark space. The Council then convinced everyone the threat had gone as Sovereign was dead.

  • The-Bodybuilder #18 1 year ago

    I'm having an arrival just reading this news piece....

  • Dizzy #19 1 year ago

    I think that the Rachni are probably the oldest race in the galaxy. Wanne bet they are going to save our ass in ME3.

    Also... this is not Halo... the Reapers should have no problem finding Earth. They are super advanced.
    Edited by Dizzy at 22/02/11 @ 10:42

  • MattyD #20 1 year ago

    @Ninja_Tino the council convinced everyone that Sovereign was a Geth mothership.

  • Soton4084 #21 1 year ago

    Brilliant news and this will be a day-one purchase for me.

  • Mockerre #22 1 year ago

    Spoilers?

  • icematt12 #23 1 year ago

    Arrival, perhaps when the Reapers finally get revealed to the entire galaxy. Cue screams of panic and Shepard saying something along the lines of "Told you so". My stamp of awesomeness is ready to be used.

    EDIT - actually, I don't want a "Told you so". I want to do the "Ah yes, Reapers" air quote to the person who says it to Shep. Karma and all that.
    Edited by icematt12 at 22/02/11 @ 18:04

  • shave_my_donkey #24 1 year ago

    MOAR mass effect! MOAR!!!!!!!!!!!

  • darc #25 1 year ago

    I think it's time I start playing some of this ME2 DLC. Fallout New Vegas is giving me migraines anyway.

  • dagas #26 1 year ago

    I'm all for more DLC as long as it can keep up the same quality.

  • orpheus #27 1 year ago

    @Ninja_Tino - No, the Reaper attack on the Citadel was covered up according to the game. IMO that was one of the biggest 'plot fails' in the game. The whole 'oh yeah, the Reapers attacked the Citadel with half the universe watching and did/didn't blow up the Council (depending on your choice in the first game), but actually the Council/etc managed to brush the whole thing under the carpet, Reapers and all and now no-one believes you again' was a load of bollocks and completely unbelievable given the game world.

    ME2 was very much the 'middle game' and suffered for it. Hopefully ME3 will bring back some of the RPG aspects and good story writing that made the first game so enjoyable.

    EDIT: supplawt got the details more accurate than me, but my point still stands :)
    Edited by orpheus at 22/02/11 @ 18:05

  • The-Bodybuilder #28 1 year ago

    @Orpheus

    Here's a guess, have you considered that maybe.....MAYBE that it's not a "plot fail" but actually part of the plot? With the reasons revealed in ME3?

    Just a guess.

  • Climhazzard #29 1 year ago

    Cant wait for my next Mass Effect fix!