Commander Shepard returns with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Thirteen years after the release of the original Mass Effect game, BioWare has finally confirmed that a remastered version of the entire Mass Effect trilogy will soon be available on multiple platforms sometime in Spring 2021.
In a surprise blog post during BioWare’s N7 celebration, Bioware Vice President and Studio GM Casey Hudson confirmed that Mass Effect: Legendary edition will be bringing back all three games in the original Mass Effect trilogy (Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3) to modern hardware. The Legendary Edition will also include promo weapons, armors and all the other premium DLC content.
According to BioWare, the remastered version will bring in updated models, effects, textures shaders and even technical features to all three of their classic games. The goal of BioWare with the Legendary Edition is not to deliver a reimagined or a remade Mass Effect series but to “modernize” the Mass Effect experience for both hardcore fans and newer players who are unfamiliar with the trilogy and to have them experience it in 4K Ultra HD.
The announcement also came in with a trailer that was posted on BioWare’s Twitter account.
Your choices. Your squad. Your Shepard. Relive the legend in a remastered edition of the highly acclaimed trilogy. Mass Effect Legendary Edition arrives Spring 2021.https://t.co/jLUj8FUGaI pic.twitter.com/vxTKyq4LQ1
— BioWare (@bioware) November 7, 2020
Fans on the other hand are yet again split on Twitter in response to BioWare’s “surprise” announcement. A number of fans are excited that they are able to relive Commander Shepherd and so with the entire cast of the Mass Effect Universe, all their refurbished looks as seen on the trailer.
Other fans on the other hand are all clamoring for in-game footage of the remastered game. Apart from this fans are also requesting that BioWare replace the “disappointing ending” of Mass Effect 3 that took place regardless of the choices made throughout the game. Other users are also calling for the game to make efforts in further representing minorities particularly the LGBTQIA+ community, which back then had fans carving theories of certain characters such as Kaidan (among others) being part of that community.
The Mass Effect: Legendary edition will be available for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 around Spring 2021 which will be some time around March to June 2021. Thou at release on both of the next-generation consoles has not yet been confirmed, BioWare is also set to include target enhancement and forward compatibility for both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.
BioWare aims to bounce back after their last release of Mass Effect: Andromeda last 2017, which was seen by both critics and gamers alike as not being able to hold up to the bar set by the original Mass Effect trilogy. One well-known review from Forbes outright stated that Andromeda was a “game Mass Effect fans will want to miss.”
Aside from the remastered Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, BioWare has also announced a new Mass Effect game in development by a “veteran team” that will still take place in the Mass Effect universe. Although the development of the game is still in its infancy, BioWare is expected to reveal more about it in the near future.
