The new villainous alien race in Mass Effect: Andromeda — the Kett — are deeply reminiscent of the Borg, a classic recurring villainous alien race in various Star Trek series, mainly because of their tech-based assimilation tactics.
Spoilers for Mass Effect: Andromeda inbound.
Mass Effect: Andromeda follows the Andromeda Initiative, a collaboration between several Milky Way Galaxy races that migrate to the Andromeda Galaxy on a 600-year journey. There, the assumed “Golden Worlds” they had detected with long-range scanners are being consumed by dark energy, a strange technology wielded by the hostile Kett race. As the story unfolds, it’s revealed that for decades the Kett have been capturing members of the native Angaran race and assimilating them into their militaristic hive mind empire by injecting them with a mutagenic serum. They also doggedly try to harvest any and all Remnant technology they come across.
At first glance, this seems remarkably similar to how the Reapers from Mass Effect indoctrinated and mutated the Protheans into the Collectors, and while the comparison is apropos, the pursuits of the Kett are much closer to to the Borg.
The Kett Archon: "Surrender or burn."
The Kett leader, known as the Archon, says to the humans, “Surrender or burn,” which is pretty much a religious-tinged version of the Borg’s “resistance is futile.”
This comparison was pointed out by GQ in their review of Andromeda, and by several other outlets as well. In function, the Kett are remarkably similar to the Borg who assimilate “biological and technological distinctiveness” and adapt it to serve their own race. The Collectors harvested races to destroy sentient life. Both the Borg and the Kett seek to assimilate in the pursuit of genetic and technological perfection.
