Since the release of Mass Effect in 2007, the Mass Effect franchise has become a beloved staple of the SciFi gaming genre. Despite Mass Effect Andromeda being the black sheep of the series, Mass Effect is still beloved by many. On November 7th, 2020, Bioware announced the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. November 7th, also known as N7 Day, was a great day to reveal the remastered bundle. With a little over a month until its release, Mass Effect Legendary Edition has gone gold. Last night, Project Director Mac Walters has announced the project has gone gold. So, what should you expect from the Mass Effect Legendary Edition?
Mass Effect Legendary Edition has gone GOLD! It's been quite a journey – time to celebrate briefly. Maybe even dance a little… if that's you're thing. #MassEffect #Legendary pic.twitter.com/cvDmGjFrSi
— Mac Walters (@macwalterslives) April 9, 2021
Beyond improved visuals, Bioware has made improvements across Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. So what has the team changed heading into the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition? Let’s Dive In!
Mass Effect 1
When Mass Effect first released, weapon accuracy, and cooldowns, were a major part of the game. Players had to manage their weapons, powers, and health in ways similar to an RPG.
- Shepard can now sprint out of combat
- Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy
- Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved
- Reticle bloom is more controlled
- Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles
- Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved
- Improved aim assist for target acquisition
- All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game
- Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies
- Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game
- Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels
- They are now also available to purchase from merchants
- All weapons can be used by any class without penalty
- Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific
- Weapons cool down much faster
- Medi-gel usage has been improved
- Base cooldown reduced
- Leveling benefits increased
- Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns
- Inventory management improvements
- Items can now be flagged as “Junk”
- All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once
- Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality
- Some abilities have been rebalanced
- Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:
- Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases)
- Heat now resets on power activation
Additional Mass Effect 1 Updates
- Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3
- Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging
- Cover has been improved across the trilogy
- Additional cover added to some encounters
- Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable
- XP has been rebalanced in the first game (details below)
- Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (details below)
Mako Updates
- Improved handling
- Physics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less
- Improved camera controls
- Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles
- Shields recharge faster
- New thrusters added for a speed boost
- Its cooldown is separate from the jump jets’
- The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed
- Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time
Other Enhancements
- New unified launcher for all three games
- Includes trilogy-wide settings for subtitles and languages
- Saves are still unique to each game and can be managed independently of each other
- Updated character creator options, as mentioned above
- FemShep from Mass Effect 3 is the new default female option in all three games (the original FemShep design is still available as a preset option)
- Achievements across the trilogy have been updated
- New achievements have been added to the trilogy
- Progress for some achievements now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games)
- Achievements that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed
- A number of achievements have had their objectives/descriptions and/or names updated
- Integrated weapons and armor DLC packs
- Weapons and armor DLC packs are now integrated naturally into the game; they’re obtainable via research or by purchasing them from merchants as you progress through the game, rather than being immediately unlocked from the start. This ensures overall balance and progression across ME2 and ME3
- Recon Hood (ME2) and Cerberus Ajax Armor (ME3) are available at the start of each game
- Additional gameplay & Quality of life improvements
- Audio is remixed and enhanced across all games
- Hundreds of legacy bugs from the original releases are fixed
- Native controller and 21:9 display support on PC, with DirectX 11 compatibility
The Bioware team has spent a lot of time overhauling the Mass Effect Legendary Edition experience. The team has blended gameplay to keep the experience uniform between games. Mass Effect Legendary Edition is set to release on May 14th for PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.
