Mass Effect 2 is a 2010 action role-playing game by BioWare in which Commander Shepard must assemble a team of specialists to stop the Collectors, an insectoid alien threat, on a suicide mission. It carries over the player's save from the first game, so earlier choices shape the story. BioWare made the combat more like a third-person shooter, with limited ammunition and regenerating health. Optional missions were given the same intensity as the main story, which was a shift in design. Critics praised its characters, presentation and combat, and it won Game of the Year at the 14th Interactive Achievement Awards. It is widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.