Discovering that the Reapers won and that we all got uploaded into a Reaper Dreadnought would be a massive downer as much as it would be a massive twist.
(NOTE: 'Think' = speculate, in this post, lol)
***Incoming reckless speculations***
I don't think that's what's happening.
I DO think that the 'final state' of things (final choice) creates copies, and picking Control keeps a version of our Shepard in this copied universe.
And only in Breath Destroy does some version of ourselves wake up and smell the ashes.
However:
1)Everyone is still on the ground. Just maybe not the same exact people we knew before.. Same with Shepard. (heh, no 'Commander' here..)
2)It's OK. No matter the option picked, the Reaper that was constructed, IS on our side. And it's not a Dreadnaught, it's a Destroyer 
.
3)The relationship we have with Reapers is adversarial and for a good reason, but now it's the time to understand what they actually are, and how they preserve people, and why they keep looking for specific agents to fulfill their goals.
4)The Reaper cycle itself has still ended. It's just that in ME3, we're 'dreaming/nightmaring' an internal mental cycle of events. That's the 'indoctrination', but it's not quite what it typically appears on the outside.
Commander Shepard himself is done. He had a fun, awesome, action-packed journey. However, I think the sudden dark and confusing tone (they even originally were not going to have the QEC character convos etc) is put in at the end because this is the end of the road for that journey - one that may be virtual, yet still have the keys to inspiring and interacting with a whole other universe.
ME3 even likes to go 'back in time'.
Cronos - ME2 - sudden speculations by Shepard himself on whether he's real, the nature of EDI, and what TIM is after
London - ME1 - a race against time to the beam, somehow called the 'Conduit', particularly by EDI
Citadel/Crucible - ME1/ME2/ME3 - opening the Citadel, facing the child from the beginning of the game, environments like Shadow Broker base, Collector base, TIM dying like Saren with the same gun (I think), etc
It's because the simulation is fraying, and Shepard has to make his choice NOW, before he outright bleeds to death. This is Sovereign trying, for once, to make a deal with you, because he notices finally that the Cycle isn't going to 'work' anymore. There's other paths open, and he doesn't have the autonomy to do them on his own.
Pick your path, influence the ending/ME3 universe, and possibly wake up to a brand new, yet familiar, world. (If you pick Control, it'll be the Catalyst/Sovereign itself who comes down to Earth in another form, and if you pick Synthesis it would be a whole new being; not to say that Destroy would be 100% Shepard either, because it won't)
***end of reckless speculations***
Synthesis could go there, but I don't see Bioware canonising any ending, let alone Synthesis.
I think all endings are canon just like almost anything else in the series.
Discovering that we were in a simulation all the time? Since Mass Effect 1? That would place the Reapers within the simulation, suggesting something else even bigger than them... But it would also render the trilogy meaningless (in a sense) because it wasn't 'real'.
No, only ME3 is a simulation, as a separate title. While in rubble. As an indoctrinated cyborb noob (think CloneShep except not as bizarre as shown). Green.
ME2 is a virtual overlay/brain-understanding of events. While being a clone with a control chip, but still opposing the Reapers. Blue.
ME1 is pretty much real but a different interpretation (hint: Renegade/Paragon wouldn't be what they appear to be) - we still kill Sovereign and resist the Reapers every step of the way. Red.
What I'm saying is that the Reapers, (as far as the MEU has it in this idea), are real.
It's our understanding of them that isn't. They literally warp perceptions of reality around them.
It's just that over the course of the trilogy and especially ME3, we can *optionally* come to understand how and why they do it.
We can take some of that information and run with it, and it may have some positive results. Just don't expect our Shepard to make it out alive, and to bring his knowledge with him. Fight or Die.
But that doesn't mean Control or Synth are absolutely horrible. In fact, they may hold the keys to future positive results, even if more suffering happens in the present here and now.
I guess I mean that if someone picked Synthesis, they'd lose their Shepard (who they already tossed away anyway) entirely, and aspire for greater connection between the organic and synthetic (Catalyst was NOT lying, but using misleading language), and whatever comes next is unknown. But the universe made with the green lines and eyes.. that exists. It's just virtual. And in a Reaper that may be the last one, but represents the wishes of a person who sacrificed it all for the more primary goal of making the world a better place (like other Green characters: Thane, ME3-Legion, ME3-Mordin), not just preserved in safety (Blue), or free from oppression (Red).
I do vaguely remember reading on TVTropes about a videogame that did something similar - the characters discovered that their universe was a simulation that was about to be switched off, thus killing them all. I can't remember the game though, but it don't think the twist was received very well...
Star Ocean 3? Yeah, but that was Star Ocean lol. It didn't have any lead up, nothing.
At least ME1 has "There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own, you cannot even imagine it."
And ME2 has the greater (optional) understandings of geth/synthetic workings (each Geth hub is basically a city, btw).
There is at least precedent. HEck, there's more precedent for it than we have for the Crucible (only LOTSB slight hint, and ME1 wondering whether the Conduit was a weapon - also lol @ that..).
Anyway, maybe there's a reason why:
1)Wider Mass Effect is just called 'Mass' by the devs? Yeah, I know its easier to say, but so is 'M E'.
2)The devs often refer to the squadmates as henchmen? That's an almost universally negative term, not positive.
~~~
KOTOR had what I can boil down to being a much simplified and basic version of what I'm contemplating here.
We played a good guy, who was really a bad guy, but was brainwashed by others into possibly being a good guy. But we can choose to be more true to ourselves before the brainwashing. Or we can choose to be a better person regardless or even because of the brainwashing.
Mass Effect: We play a good guy (Awesome Commander Shepard), who was really a nasty guy (only War Hero background is at all 'positive' from the start), but was brainwashed by others into thinking of himself being a hero.
But we can choose to be more true to ourselves before the brainwashing in various ways (Destroy or maybe Control), or we can choose to be a 'better' person regardless, even if it costs our physical lives (Synthesis and kinda Control).
Soldier? Leader? Hero?
All three? Is picking Destroy still being heroic? Is picking Control still doing your job? Is picking Synthesis being a leader, or are you just making a choice without any of your allys' input agreed with?
With Mass Effect, EVERYTHING is a lot more subjective than KOTOR. Every major path *is* a good one in at least a significant number of peoples' views, instead of the more black/white Jedi/Sith conception.
It's more of a movie, and we direct the proceedings, instead of a more straightforward tabletop RP scenario.
So yes, I think there's a mind twist happening, but instead of more 'official IT', I think enough players would be happy with what comes out of any (at least high EMS) choice.
Destroy - Get 'Shepard', and continuation of more core Shepard affiliation, even if Shepard's story is over and the 'character' himself is done.
Control - New default path for new players, has more information and elaboration on what happened so that people will understand, but loses 'Shepard'. More about 'N7' than the Shepard individual.
Synthesis - Alternate RP path, has the most information and elaboration of lore, highest tech. Is more about the inspiration of heroism that 'Shepard' put onto everyone, instead of anything more physically based.
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