Mass Effect 2 Romance options for Male and Female Shepard
With the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, fans can play all three games in the beloved BioWare sci-fi trilogy. Throughout the course of the Commander Shepard trilogy, you’ll develop relationships with the various characters you’ll come across. These are known commonly as Romance options.
The cool thing about the Mass Effect trilogy is that the relationships you establish carry over into the next game. So the romance options you choose in Mass Effect will be remembered in Mass Effect 2 and then in Mass Effect 3 as well. Each game does allow you to change your mind, of course.
With Mass Effect Legendary Edition featuring all three games in the Commander Shepard saga, the decisions you make regarding relationships can be planned from the start — especially since we now know the options available.
While Mass Effect 1 is pretty limited in the Romance options available, BioWare really opens things up with Mass Effect 2. Both Male and Female Shepard each have up to four romance options available. Plus there are three side characters that you can have romances with either Male or Female Shepard, although these won’t count towards the Paramour achievement/trophy.
Mass Effect 2 Romance options for Male Shepard
- Tali’Zorah vas Neema
- Miranda Lawson
- Jack
- Liara T’Soni (Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC)
Mass Effect 2 Romance options for Female Shepard
- Garrus Vakarian
- Jacob Taylor
- Thane Krios
- Liara T’Soni (Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC)
Mass Effect 2 side Romance options for Female and Male Shepard
These side romance options don’t impact your main romance choice.
- Kelly Chambers
- Morinth
- Samara
How to unlock Romance options in Mass Effect 2
Regardless of whether you’re playing Male or Female Shepard, to romance with squadmates in Mass Effect 2, you must first complete their loyalty missions. This will unlock additional dialogue options that will allow you to further pursue your romance with that character.
Actually progressing through your romance option with these characters is fairly straightforward. The answers you’ll need to respond with are pretty apparent.
Romancing Samara, for example, is only possible if Shepard is Paragon and not committed to another character. Having a romantic encounter with Kelly Chambers won’t prevent romance options with other characters.
In some rare cases, giving the wrong response could possibly end your chances of a romance completely. Because of this, I recommend saving the game before these interactions so you can go back and try again if you don’t get the result you want.
What about Ashley, Kaiden, and Liara?
dark. Next. Mass Effect 1 romance options for Male and Female Shepard
Ashley, Kaiden and Liara were the three main romance partners in Mass Effect. But they aren’t really prominent characters in the sequel. Ashley or Kaidan do make brief appearances in Mass Effect 2 (depending on the decisions you made in the first game) at the end of the Horizons mission; however, the heartfelt reunion is brief.
Even though Liara is in Mass Effect 2, it isn’t until the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC where you can have a romantic encounter with her. You must complete the mission in order to unlock the romance dialogue. Romancing Liara will not grant the Paramount achievement/trophy as she is not a crew member.
If you had a romance with Liara in Mass Effect but did not remain faithful in Mass Effect 2, she will ask you about it. Thankfully, this won’t impact your relationship possibility with her in Mass Effect 3.