Love and appreciation for Star Wars is in the air right now thanks to the Star Wars Day celebrations of May 4 (and "Revenge of the Fifth" on the day after). The revelry about memorable adventures in a galaxy far, far away may be drawing to a close soon...but the team behind one of the most promising upcoming Star Wars projects has made some exciting announcements before it does.

That project is Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic — a brand new single player RPG for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 that was announced during The Game Awards 2025, and that will be set in the Old Republic era of the Star Wars timeline. It's the first game to return to that era since the 2011 MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was preceded by 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KotOR) and 2004's Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords.

Fate of the Old Republic has been described as a spiritual successor to KotOR, and the studio making it, Arcanaut Studios, is helmed by the ex-BioWare KotOR and Mass Effect director Casey Hudson. For the last several months, it's been unclear who else is working on the game; now, though, Arcanaut has revealed several of its executive developers on the studio's website.

These include Dan Fessenden as senior technical designer, Melanie Faulknor as director of external development, Pascal Blanché as art director, Caroline Livingstone as director of production and performance, and Ryan Hoyle as chief technology officer.

Notably, Fessenden, Livingstone, and Hoyle all worked on the original KotOR, with the three all also having contributed to the Mass Effect franchise. Faulknor and Livingstone also helped build BioWare's Dragon Age titles, and Livingstone was involved with BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment's Neverwinter Nights as well — experience that Hudson touched on in a LinkedIn post on Star Wars Day.

"Our team members working on Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic come from many different development backgrounds," he wrote. "Some were with me in 2003 on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and throughout the creation of the Mass Effect Trilogy. Others have cut their teeth on industry-changing games at the likes of Microsoft, BioWare, Epic Games, Ubisoft, EA, and more."

"We're united in purpose, with a desire to live and breathe Star Wars and return to this beloved galaxy for a new adventure," he added.

The presence of veteran KotOR and Mass Effect talent on the Fate of the Old Republic development team is incredibly exciting, and gives me confidence that the RPG is in good hands. I've been waiting for a true successor to the KotOR games for over two decades now, and if there's anyone I trust to make it, it's the people that made the series in the first place.

As for when Fate of the Old Republic is set to release, it's unknown right now, as the game doesn't have a release date or even a release window. With that said, Hudson previously confirmed that the game is coming before 2030, so it'll be in our hands before the dawn of the next decade.

Are you looking forward to getting your hands on Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic? Does the presence of KotOR and Mass Effect devs make you more excited about the project? Let me know in the comments, and in our poll.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Role-playing game developer BioWare has traditionally shared new teases, updates, or messages to the Mass Effect player community on November 7, or "N7 Day," reflecting the in-game designation for special operatives.

For N7 Day 2025, BioWare declined to share any new tidbits about its next game, instead simply reiterating that the game is coming, pushing back against recent online chatter that it's in trouble or will be cancelled.

"You’ve made it clear you care deeply about what’s next. So let’s start by setting the record straight: the next Mass Effect game is in development, and EA and BioWare remain committed to telling more stories in this universe," the statement reads.

"The truth is, the last few years have been an incredibly busy time at BioWare. But currently, the team is heads-down and focused exclusively on Mass Effect. We have a lot of universe to cover, lots of features to build, and lots of romances to figure out. We’re excited by what we’re building, and we promise you: when we’re ready, it’ll be a lot of fun to show."

This comes as Electronic Arts' (EA's) overall game division has seen a turbulent past few months. At the start of the year, BioWare was subjected to layoffs, reducing the studio down to under 100 staff.

In April, hundreds of additional workers were laid off, including some at Apex Legends and Star Wars Jedi developer Respawn Entertainment. More cuts came shortly after, with EA cancelling a Black Panther game and closing the developer.

Now, EA has agreed to go private in a deal financed by private equity and Saudi Arabian investment, leading to concerns over the tone and content present in future games, as well as fears of additional cuts.

While the next Mass Effect game was first announced with a teaser back in 2020, extremely little has been shared since then. BioWare did present a new teaser for N7 Day 2023, which showed off a new character design and hinted towards a possible game title of Epsilon (or Mass Effect 5, in a more literal sense).

Some updates on the Mass Effect TV series, and a cryptic message

While there are no new tidbits regarding what players can expect from the next Mass Effect game, BioWare's update does shed some light on the long-gestating Mass Effect TV series in production at Amazon.

We now know that the series will take place after the events of the original trilogy, and it is not going to be a retelling of the story of Commander Shepard.

This is similar in approach to the Fallout TV series (which was also produced by Amazon), which is set years after the events of Fallout 4. I previously argued it would be a mistake to try and have a "canon" Commander Shepard and accompanying choices in the TV series, so I'm certainly happy to see BioWare confirm things won't go that way.

Finally, there's a curious pattern scattered throughout the message. A few letters of different words in BioWare's blog post are italicized, and put together, they spell out "URL KROGAN."

Combined with a vague post on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Mass Effect account, some players quickly figured out that it linked to a new piece of artwork, presenting a Krogan civil War.

The Krogan are easily my favorite race in the Mass Effect universe, so I'm already speculating about just what this event could entail.

As for the message itself, while I certainly understand what BioWare is aiming to do here, it's still hard not to feel worried. I wish the team the best, and I hope things go well in the months and years to come.

FAQ

The general manager of BioWare, Gary McKay, has announced the studio is restructuring the studio during the development of Mass Effect 5.

In his blog post, McKay announced, "Given this stage of development, we don't require support from the full studio. We have incredible talent here at BioWare, and so we have worked diligently over the past few months to match many of our colleagues with other teams at EA that had open roles that were a strong fit."

While the blog post states that these actions are in lieu of the current development stage for Mass Effect 5, it's hard to put aside the recent sales figures of Dragon Age: Vielguard as another potential reason for the studio shuffle. Only last week, EA announced in a preliminary sales report that Dragon Age: The Vielguard underperformed by a whopping 50%. A hard pill to swallow for any development team.

The news also comes on the heels of Dragon Age's director leaving for an offer she "couldn't turn down," which garnered gamers' attention. What was happening at BioWare? Was the studio safe? Would we see Mass Effect 5?

The most recent news assures us that development continues on the project but still leaves worry in the hearts of fans, myself included, about how safe the game is. Coming off back-to-back-to-back underperforming games doesn't bode well for any game developer. Mass Effect: Andromeda, Anthem, and most recently, Dragon Age: The Vielguard all failed to capture audiences in any meaningful way.

According to McKay, "Now that Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been released, a core team at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others."

Having veterans of the franchise working on the latest installment is almost always a promising item. Continuing, McKay added, "In keeping with our fierce commitment to innovating during the development and delivery of Mass Effect, we have challenged ourselves to think deeply about delivering the best experience to our fans. We are taking this opportunity between full development cycles to reimagine how we work at BioWare."

Mike Gamble was a former Producer for the second and third games in the series, as well as the lead producer for Andromeda. Preston Watamaniuk was the lead designer for the entire original trilogy and the current director for Mass Effect 5. Given their rich history involved with the first three games of the series (we'll forgive Andromeda), one can place some faith in the idea that Mass Effect 5 still has a chance to capture audiences and bring the magic back to the BioWare of old.

At least, that's what this fan is still hoping for. I even forgive you for the ending of Mass Effect 3. Nobody has any idea how hard that is for me to say.

How about you? How does the latest news at BioWare affect you? Do you still feel hopeful for the future of the Mass Effect series and other franchises at BioWare? Let us know below in the comments or on social media. I'll be sure to check out the conversation as the situation at BioWare seemingly continues to unfold.

What you need to know

• A Mass Effect TV series is in development at Amazon MGM Studios, according to a report from Variety.
• This report comes three years after a Deadline report alleged Amazon was working on a deal with Electronic Arts for a Mass Effect series.
• Michael Gamble, the director of the next Mass Effect game at BioWare, is reportedly attached to the series as an executive producer.
• Amazon MGM Studios has worked with Bethesda and Kilter Films on the acclaimed Fallout TV series, and is currently working on a second season.

A report is bearing fruit three years later.

Electronic Arts and BioWare are partnering with Amazon MGM Studios on a Mass Effect TV series. That's according to a report from Variety, which fittingly dropped on November 7, or N7 Day. The report also reveals that Michael Gamble, creative director on the next Mass Effect game, is attached to the TV series as an executive producer. This comes almost three years after a report from Deadline initially indicated that Amazon was close to a deal for a Mass Effect TV series.

Reportedly attached as writer is Daniel Casey, who has worked on the Fast and Furious franchise, as well as helping with rewrites of 10 Cloverfield Lane. Avi Arad and Karim Zreik, who have both worked on numerous Marvel films and shows, are also reportedly involved as executive producers on the series.

Outside of this, there's little known about the plot or how the series will adapt the games. Mass Effect is a role-playing game series, with the first three games putting players in the boots of Commander Shepard as decisions ripple across the games, while Mass Effect: Andromeda told a separate story in the titular galaxy. BioWare is currently working on a fifth Mass Effect game, though little is known right now.

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Amazon continues to invest in game adaptions for TV

Amazon previously partnered with Bethesda Game Studios and Kilter Films on the Fallout TV series, which arrived earlier in 2024 to critical acclaim and commercial success, winning two Emmys and reaching over 100 million viewers. A second season is currently in production.

Amazon is also currently working with PlayStation Productions and Sony Santa Monica on a God of War TV series, with Santa Monica's Cory Barlog and Yumi Yang attached as executive producers.

I'm very curious how this Mass Effect show ends up working, considering that the focus on making player decisions matter and carry forward is such a big part of why those games resonated with myself and others.

In particular, I hope it doesn't make the mistake of trying to present a "canon" journey ahead of the fifth game, meaning what we did doesn't end up mattering. It's fine if this series ends up being one version of events, but I'm hopeful that the fifth game can be a reset, instead of something that ends up cutting off prior branches.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.

Two years after its introduction as "Dreadwolf" and a full decade after the release of 2014's award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition, we've finally gotten a follow-up in the form of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It's BioWare's first new single player RPG since the 2017's controversial Mass Effect: Andromeda, and also its first original title to follow the ill-fated multiplayer sci-fi game Anthem.

Thus far, The Veilguard has performed strongly, with the game passing Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 sales on Steam's Top Sellers chart and over 70,000 players kicking off their fantasy adventure in Thedas directly after its launch (console metrics aren't available yet, but I expect them to be similarly positive). I've gotten deep into a playthrough myself for coverage purposes, and while I agree with the general consensus that it's a good game overall (I love the combat), I have found one aspect of it to be quite disappointing: the writing.

I came into the game as a longtime fan of BioWare and its classics like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect trilogy, and above all else, what gripped me about those games was how deep and rich their stories were. Conversations with and between companions and NPCs could last upwards of 30 minutes and had wide varieties of dialogue options to pick from, with speech decisions having a major impact on everything from major plot developments to the way you're treated by individual characters. Their worlds felt dynamic, reactive, and alive — far more tangible and real than many RPG settings that came after, despite visuals considered dated by today's standards.

Not so with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. If I had to describe its script with one word, it would be "smooth" — devoid of friction, rough edges, and interesting texture. It calls your average Marvel film to mind, giving players lots of banter to smile at, flashy action to enjoy, and vibrant high fantasy landscapes to bask in, but very little narrative depth beneath its flashy surface.

Two elven gods threatening to end the world seems like something that should drive some tension, but you'd hardly know it's happening with how aggressively positive most of your party members are, with moments of gravity or conflict between characters often resolved in what feels like the blink of an eye. It's as if the game is afraid to let you engage with strife of any kind and is hellbent on making sure you like everyone. And I do! I like all of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard companions, because they're very nice. But because they never really push back against you, each other, or the world around them, they're dreadfully boring and woefully static, and I haven't developed a meaningful connection to any of them.

It's an issue made glaringly apparent by the Baldur's Gate 3 replay I'm 60 hours into right now. In that game, characters like Astarion, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart aren't afraid to question decisions and often react to events that occur around them, leading to worldview debates and insightful discussions about their beliefs and pasts. Those dialogues kickstart lengthy character arcs that culminate in instances of significant change or growth, and that's the kind of richness I crave in RPGs; playing through The Veilguard just made me hungry to get back to Faerûn, as a result.

The problem extends to Rook — the character you play through the game as — as well. Each dialogue choice presents you with a handful of different options, including optimistic, emotional, witty, aggressive, and gruff responses. The overarching tone of all your speech, though, is heroic, which makes it hard to actually roleplay in the roleplaying game if you want to be anything other than a generic Good Guy™.

To be clear, I don't think The Veilguard's writing is bad; it's certainly a big step up from the cringey campiness of Andromeda, and it does a great job of making lots of your plot-relevant decisions — both big and small — actually have a lot of impact on how the story unfolds. But while it may be decent, it doesn't live up to the lofty expectations many (myself included) have for BioWare.

Perhaps some of my feelings stem from the fact that I'm coming into Dragon Age as a newcomer with The Veilguard, and don't have a connection with its returning characters. I've seen similar criticisms come from big fans of the series, though, and I'd argue these issues are independent of having legacy context, anyway.

Ultimately, there's just not much in the writing you can really sink your teeth into, and that's a bummer considering this is BioWare we're talking about. I've stopped trying and have opted to just enjoy it for the playable action-packed popcorn flick that it is, but I hope future titles like the next Mass Effect can satisfy on a deeper level.

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What you need to know

• November 7 is known as N7 in the Mass Effect player community, fittingly named in honor of the N7 designation in-game.
• For N7 Day 2023, development studio BioWare shared a quick teaser showing an unknown character walking down a hallway while wearing an N7 jacket. 
• Binary code was hidden in a blog message from BioWare discussing the franchise, with the code spelling out the word "Epsilon," which could be the name of the next game. 
• The next Mass Effect is still years away from being released. 

Role-playing development studio BioWare had a few interesting teasers for this N7 Day. 

November 7, also known as N7 Day by the Mass Effect player community, always brings some new merchandise reveals (there are some fun statues this year) and there's sometimes even a small teaser for the future of the franchise. This year was no exception, with BioWare revealing a new character for the next Mass Effect game. You can check out the teaser below:

All we see is a quick character design, which BioWare also posted in full detail. The unknown character is likely the main protagonist of the next game, or at least a major supporting character. 

That design isn't all however, as there's also a hidden message. Buried in-between parts of BioWare's message are 1s and 0s of Binary code. Put together, it spells out a single word: Epsilon. 

Epsilon is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, and the next Mass Effect game will be the fifth mainline entry in the franchise, so the implication here is fairly obvious. While not technically confirmed, the next game is almost certainly titled Mass Effect: Epsilon. 

N7 day through the years

N7 Day has played an important part for the Mass Effect fanbase, and BioWare smartly used it from time to time to drop reveals big and small. N7 Day 2020 was a particularly memorable event, as BioWare revealed the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition trilogy remaster pack and confirmed that development was beginning on the next Mass Effect game. 

How far off is the next Mass Effect?

Unfortunately for players, the next Mass Effect game is a long ways off. BioWare is primarily focused on delivering Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, sequel to the nine year-old Dragon Age: Inquisition. On top of that, publisher Electronic Arts recently laid off around 50 staff from BioWare in a shift to try and make the studio more "agile," a shift that has caused multiple team members to be pulled off of Mass Effect and help finish the next entry in the Dragon Age franchise.

Former Dragon Age quality assurance testers who were laid off after unionizing also chose N7 Day 2023 to picket BioWare and protest the layoffs.

Back in 2020, even before the effects of the pandemic on game development were well-understood, sources told me that the next Mass Effect wouldn't be here before 2024, and that's certainly shifted even further now. I wouldn't expect to see this game before 2026 at the absolute earliest.

Analysis: A fun teaser for something years away

The Mass Effect games mean a lot to me, so yes, I'm happy to see this teaser. It's a great character design, and my mind races with possibilities at what's in store based on what little we've seen and the things I've heard from sources. 

At the same time, this day is bittersweet. It comes months after some of BioWare's veteran team members were laid off, and this game isn't even remotely close to being ready. I still hope to see BioWare succeed, and I hope these events serve to help galvanize the gaming industry to unionize, as everyone who works on games deserves the ability to join a union.

In the meantime, if you haven't played them yet, grab all the Mass Effect games right now at a discounted price on Xbox and Windows PC, where you'll have fun defending our galaxy and exploring a new one.

In talks about the best RPGs of all time, BioWare's prestigious sci-fi series Mass Effect is all but guaranteed to come up in the discussion. Its deep, choice-driven narratives, stellar characters, and engaging third-person shooter gameplay all make it one of gaming's top franchises for fans of single-player roleplaying. Notably, thanks to the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition in 2021, you can experience the beloved original trilogy of games with stunning remastered visuals optimized for 4K. And if you've never played before, there's never been a better time to jump into what are undoubtedly some of the best Xbox games and best PC games.

That's because right now, both Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Mass Effect: Andromeda (a follow-up sequel to the aforementioned trilogy) are on sale for N7 Day, which falls on November 7 and references the in-universe designation for the special forces branch that series protagonist Commander Shepard is part of. For Mass Effect's developers and fans, this day is a day to celebrate the franchise, resulting in the galactic discounts you can take advantage of currently.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is normally $60 and Andromeda goes for $30 or $40 depending on which edition of it you buy, but thanks to N7 Day deals, the former is available for about $10 on Xbox and PC and you can get the latter for just $6. These are some of the lowest prices we've seen either game go for, so if you're interested in checking them out, you shouldn't sleep on these discounts.

Series newcomers will want to play Legendary Edition first, which bundles all three of the original Mass Effect titles and their single-player DLC in one package and modernizes them with gorgeous remade graphics. No spoilers here, but to give you an idea of what to expect, the story begins in 2183 and focuses on humanity's political relationships with various alien communities — all while a threat to the universe as you know it looms in the background. As Commander Shepard, you lead a tightly knit team across the galaxy in an effort to bridge relations and investigate some disturbing discoveries.

Then there's Mass Effect: Andromeda, which takes place in 2185 between the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3 and follows the Andromeda Initiative, which is a plan developed by the Milky Way Galaxy's races to settle on new worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy. It's similar to the first three games, though the open world-nature of most planets means there's more of an emphasis on exploration and the game's combat is more vertical and fast-paced. Most fans agree the story and characters aren't as good as the trilogy's, but there's still a lot to enjoy.

Note that while the discounts for these games last until November 14 on Xbox, you only have until November 9 to take advantage of them on Steam. Therefore, you shouldn't wait too long to pull the trigger if you're a PC player.

What you need to know

• BioWare is laying off 50 employees as part of a transition to become a more "agile" studio. 
• The studio will be trying to find places for as many employees as possible at other Electronic Arts studios. 
• The next Mass Effect game is still in pre-production. 

We've learned some unfortunate news surrounding the future of BioWare. 

BioWare shared on Wednesday that the studio is evolving in order to become a "more agile and more focused studio" in the in gaming industry. As part of that process, 50 employees at BioWare are being laid off. BioWare and Electronic Arts are trying to find places for the affected employees at other Electronic Arts studios, but there are no guarantees how this will play out.

BioWare also shared that the next Mass Effect game is still in pre-production, while development on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is continuing so that it can be a game "worthy of the Dragon Age name."

This news comes months after Electronic Arts laid off hundreds of employees as part of a broader restructuring. According to a report from VentureBeat, this move also came as Electronic Arts has decided to not to continue working with unionized quality assurance employees at Keywords.

Keywords provides support for numerous games across multiple disciplines, with employees who had been helping on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for some time unionizing back in June 2022. 

Analysis: Layoffs suck, and Mass Effect is still far off

These layoffs are disappointing to learn about. I can certainly understand a studio deciding to become more agile and flexible, something that's often not possible as a larger team, but the fact is making that decision has a human cost.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf's release timing will probably not be affected by this move all too much, but the fact the next Mass Effect is still in pre-production is something of an eyebrow raiser to me. I don't expect we'll see that game before 2026 now, and I wouldn't rule out it launching even further off than that. 

BioWare is one of the most well-known RPG developers in the business, being behind the legendary fantasy Dragon Age and sci-fi Mass Effect series of video games. For many years these two franchises have attracted millions of fans, and now you have the opportunity to own the complete collection of games for less than $20 on Steam.

The BioWare Mega Collection is the ultimate bundle for BioWare fans (or gamers looking for a reason to become a BioWare fan), as it includes every mainline Dragon Age and Mass Effect game in its greatest form, including:

• Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition
• Dragon Age II Ultimate Edition
• Dragon Age Inquisition Game of the Year Edition
• Mass Effect Legendary Edition
• Mass Effect Andromeda Deluxe Edition

That's a total of seven incredible games and all of their DLC and expansions for one ridiculously low price. Mass Effect Legendary Edition by itself is often as expensive as this entire collection put together, actually, as it's a recent release that includes remastered versions of the original Mass Effect trilogy. This is an unbeatable deal for some of the very best PC games of all time, as it's massively discounted.

Is it nearly $200, which is the cost of everything included here? Absolutely not. Is it even $100, near where the bundle is normally discounted? Still not close. No, the BioWare Mega Collection is currently on sale for just $19.73, a few cents under a crisp $20 bill. For that price, you'll have plenty left over to invest in a new SSD for your PC, which might be necessary to store all these brand-new games.

If you need to add some fresh cash to your Steam Wallet, you can find gift cards below, or deals on Mass Effect and Dragon Age games for other platforms.

What you need to know

• The January 2022 games for Xbox Game Pass have been revealed.
• One of the standout games is Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which is being added to EA Play.
• EA Play is included in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass.

A new year means new games for Xbox Game Pass. Kicking things off in January 2022, the big highlight per Xbox Wire is that Mass Effect Legendary Edition is being added to EA Play. Since EA's subscription service is bundled in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, this means any subscribers for those tiers will be able to access the full remastered trilogy.

There's some other standout games though, such as the return of indie darling and space loop adventure Outer Wilds and the arrival of platformer Spelunky 2. Regardless of whether or not you managed to snag a new console like an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S over the holidays, there's something for everyone.

Coming soon

You can check out all the games coming to Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming below.

Gorogoa (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Jan. 4

Olija (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Jan. 4

The Pedestrian (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Jan. 4

Embr (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Jan. 6

Mass Effect Legendary Edition (Xbox Series X|S Optimized, Xbox One & PC) - Jan. 6

Outer Wilds (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC & Xbox Cloud Gaming) - Jan. 6

Spelunky 2 (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One & PC) - Jan. 13

The Anacrusis (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One & PC) - Jan. 13

Leaving soon

You can check out all the titles leaving Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming below.

Jan. 15

• Desperados III (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Ghost of a Tale (PC)
• Kingdom Hearts III (Console)
• Mount & Blade: Warband (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Pandemic (Console and PC)
• Yiik: A Postmodern RPG (PC)

This is also the last opportunity to grab the Pass Tense bundle for Halo Infinite, a Perk being offered for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.

We all have comfort games. Everyone has those games that are mired in nostalgia and can be replayed time and time again. However, even if we've played them multiple times, they still get added to the dreaded backlog until we can actually play through it properly. Whether it's being too busy with work, or dealing with some kind of stress, you realize that you're not in the right headspace to play something and need to leave it alone until you can actually give it the attention it deserves.

That's how I was with Mass Effect Legendary Edition. I think it was a combination of factors — stress from work, family issues, the loss of a beloved pet — and so for one reason or another, I wasn't able to carve out the time to play through the three games again, despite really wanting to, especially after rewatching the teaser for the next Mass Effect multiple times.

Even still, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was one of my favorite games to talk about in 2021. It not only reignited my love for the franchise, but also helped me understand that you don't need to play a game in order to enjoy it.

Despite the ubiquity of the franchise in gaming circles, many people I know who picked up Mass Effect Legendary Edition were experiencing the games for the first time. My mom, for example, actually decided to play through them for the first time. I'd asked her to give them a try in the past, knowing her burgeoning enjoyment of narrative-driven games, but it was with the announcement of the collection that she finally decided to jump on board and play through the trilogy. She wasn't alone, given how Mass Effect Legendary Edition exceeded Electronic Arts' expectations.

Needless to say, she absolutely loved them. And it was through conversations with her over the course of the two months she spent playing them that I got to re-experience those games all over again, despite not personally playing them. I've played the original games multiple times (the first game more times than I can count) and I've gone through all the DLC packs at least once, if not more. I know the story beats, conversations and characters as well any other basic facts.

And yet, at every point, I found myself surprised. I was surprised at some of the choices she made or contemplated making (Kaidan? Really?), but more surprised because it gave me a newfound appreciation for all three games. It was the closest thing I've ever experienced to going through a piece of media for the first time over again. Those conversations, daily or weekly, became a driving force for me as much as my own time with games, in my spare time or for work.

As early as the first Mass Effect, I had to stay updated on how things were going. I had to know what her theories were ahead of the iconic reveal of Sovereign, who she left behind on Virmire (it was Ashley), who her favorite teammates were (Garrus and Tali), and what she thought of the conversation with Vigil. It went into overdrive with Mass Effect 2 — the best of the trilogy still, let's get that squared away — and knowing the inevitable suicide mission was coming up.

Like the majority of the characters in the second game, she was initially wary of Grunt, but after talking with him repeatedly ahead of his loyalty mission, she came to view him as a heavily-armored, 400-pound son, with Shepard as Grunt's surrogate mother. Many people (myself included) definitely picked up on that family relationship building throughout the game, but she identified a lot of the issues Grunt was facing even before anything was brought up or revealed in dialogue.

"He's hit puberty," I recall her wrily noting when watching him stalk back and forth across the Normandy, talking about wanting to kill things.

I've always been interested in what others thought of games that I also enjoyed, but this was something different. It made me appreciate more than ever just how unique the Mass Effect games are, flowing from one title to the next. It's not really three separate games so much as it is Mass Effect: Part One, Part Two and Part Three. That unique progression meant I was able to re-experience the trilogy through someone else's eyes. In the hellish year that was 2021, it was a special experience.

When I asked her why she enjoyed the Mass Effect trilogy so much, she said it was just everything, and how it all came together in the closure of the trilogy as different cultures butting heads came together under the right leadership. "The size of the world, the cultures, the depth of the characters, romances, side quests, mining," she said. The last of those might seem out of place, but she loved the mining. She spent hours strip-mining the galaxy for resources. I think she spent more credits on probes than all the other upgrades put together.

Interestingly, one of the strongest aspects of Mass Effect 3 for her was, essentially, a reflection of my own experience this year. Javik the Prothean unexpectedly shot up as one of her favorite characters, as she appreciated experiencing the universe through him and how differently he saw things.

It helped us bond in a way we never really have before, despite playing and talking about games together since I first owned the original Xbox 15 years ago. It's one thing to ask someone's thoughts on a story. It's another to see a journey beginning to end through a completely different lens, removed from your own opinions on something.

I may not have had time to play through these games like I wanted through 2021, but I still went through them all over again, even if I had to relive that story through someone else, while growing closer and better understanding who that person is. It's been one of my favorite, strongest experiences of the year. Ten years after finishing Mass Effect 3 for the first time, I have a newfound appreciation for just how special these stories and characters truly are.

Maybe I'll even play the trilogy over my holiday break.

What you need to know

• BioWare is currently working on the next Mass Effect game.
• According to a Twitter post by producer Brenon Holmes, the game is being built using some form of Unreal Engine.
• Mass Effect: Andromeda used Electronic Arts' Frostbite engine.

The next Mass Effect game appears to run on some version of Unreal Engine, according to a post on Twitter by Brenon Holmes, a producer working on the game. This was previously implied by a BioWare job description, which asked for experience with Unreal Engine 4, or newer versions of the engine.

Job descriptions do sometimes ask for experience with engines that won't necessarily be used on a game, since there can be overlap in sets of skills. With that in mind, the continued focus on Unreal Engine in BioWare's hiring makes it fairly clear the game will use some form of Epic Games' engine.

BioWare is also currently working on Dragon Age 4, which is rumored to be aimed for a launch in 2023. The next Mass Effect is earlier in development than Dragon Age 4, with sources close to the production telling Windows Central the game is likely to arrive in 2024 at the earliest, with a launch further out being more likely. As such, it's fairly likely (though still unconfirmed) the game will specifically use Unreal Engine 5.

The original Mass Effect trilogy used Unreal Engine 3, as does the recent remaster collection, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. For Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare swapped to Electronic Arts' Frostbite engine as part of a push on the behalf of the publisher to have every internal studio using Frostbite. The team's lack of familiarity with the engine was cited as a reason for Mass Effect: Andromeda's troubled development cycle.

This corporate push is no longer in place, largely due to the efforts of developer Respawn Entertainment, which used Unreal Engine 4 to develop Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which reached over 10 million players as of May 2020.

What you need to know

• Amazon Studios is reportedly close to a deal to work on a Mass Effect series for Prime Video.
• Amazon is currently working with other major franchises, such as The Wheel of Time and Fallout.
• BioWare is currently working on the next mainline Mass Effect game.

Amazon Studios is working to develop a Mass Effect series for Prime Video, per a report from Deadline. According to the report, the deal nearing completion, though it isn't quite finalized yet.

Amazon is working to increase the content available on Prime, recently launching The Wheel of Time, based on the book series of the same name. Amazon is also working on other video game properties, with a series in development based on Bethesda Game Studios' Fallout.

A recent trilogy compilation of the first three Mass Effect games, titled Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, launched earlier this year for consoles and PC. Publisher Electronic Arts (EA) noted that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition sold "well above" expectations, though no hard figures were given.

Meanwhile, EA-owned development studio BioWare is currently working on the next Mass Effect, as well as Dragon Age 4. There's no official timeframe for either game, though reports indicate that Dragon Age 4 might be launching at some point in 2023. The last games in both franchises were 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda and 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition.

What you need to know

• Bioware and Electronic Arts are currently working on a brand-new entry in the long-running Mass Effect franchise.
• In a job listing seeking a Franchise Technical Director for the new Mass Effect game, experience with Unreal Engine is listed as an asset.
• While this doesn't tell us a ton about the next Mass Effect game, it does indicate the title will be built using Unreal Engine.
• It should be mentioned that Frostbite Engine is also mentioned in the job listing introduction, but as one of EA's "innovative" tools.

The Mass Effect franchise is one of the most infamous sci-fi RPG franchises in the world, and has enjoyed a long life with millions of fans. It's well-known by this point that Electronic Arts and Bioware are currently working on the next Mass Effect game, which should continue the universe with an all-new story for players to follow. There's not a lot that's currently known about the next Mass Effect game, so every detail is valuable to the Mass Effect community.

A new job listing for a Franchise Technical Director at Bioware, to help work on the next Mass Effect game, appears to provide such a clue. In the job listing, "Experience with UnrealEngine4+" is listed as a valuable asset, strongly indicating that the mysterious Mass Effect title could be built on Unreal Engine 4 (or even Unreal Engine 5).

It's worth mentioning that nothing is absolutely confirmed, here. The job listing still lists the Frostbite Engine in the introduction (as one of EA's technologies and tools), which was used for Mass Effect: Andromeda. That being said, while the Frostbite Engine is famously powerful for certain genres (like first-person shooters), it reportedly was related to a ton of technical challenges and issues when building Mass Effect: Andromeda. A return to Unreal Engine for the next Mass Effect game, which is in use in the original trilogy and the remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition, would make a lot of sense.

Hopefully, we don't have to wait too long to hear more about the exciting next Mass Effect game. In the meantime, those seeking another injection of Mass Effect content should strongly consider the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which is one of the best Xbox games for its faithful remaster of the original trilogy.

BioWare recently revealed certain stats about the players of Mass Effect Legendary Edition and what choices they made while playing the game. It turns out gamers have big hearts after all, because most of the choices that BioWare showed that involve making kind or compassionate decisions versus cold or ruthless choices will see players heavily selecting the former over the latter.

Mass Effect is a series all about player choices, and offering players the chance to shape the galaxy around them, for good or for ill. The number of potential options is broad, but you might not know that if you looked at the amount of players who made the same or similar choices while playing the game. For a number of potential choices, the ratios are hilariously skewed in favor of one decision or another.

The most skewed of those decisions are the ones that involve the option to either protect Shepard's friends and companions or to turn against them or commit an offense to them. It seems gamers — or at least Mass Effect gamers — will, when given the choice, go for the "nice" choice before anything else.

We're counting on you, Cmdr. Shepard

As an example, one of the most momentous choices in the first Mass Effect game is whether to spare or kill the rachni queen, the last remaining progenitor of a race that once nearly wiped out galactic civilization. The queen is completely at Shepard's mercy and, even though she makes a case for why she should live, accepts that Shepard would be justified in killing her. It's a hard choice, right? Well, apparently not, as 93% of players chose to let the queen go. While there is a chance many Mass Effect veterans spared her because they knew she'd be a valuable ally later in the game, that doesn't seem sufficient explanation for that kind of unanimity. Perhaps, when it comes down to it, gamers are just not going to commit genocide even when given the justification.

For a more personal example, Tali's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2 is one of the most heartbreaking in the game, as she is on the verge of being exiled by the Quarian people and may never see her home again. Players who follow all the steps of her loyalty mission have the option of using either a Paragon or Renegade choice to talk the Quarian Admiralty Board out of persecuting Tali, or even the neutral option of rallying the crowd. Any of these choices will accomplish the job and earn Tali's loyalty. However, you do have the option of allowing Tali to be exiled — but, according to BioWare, only 4% of players could bring themselves to let that happen.

Similarly skewed stats include: 94% of players kept Wrex alive during the Virmire mission in Mass Effect, 96% of players chose to cure the genophage rather than sabotage it in Mass Effect 3, and 80% of players made peace between the Quarians and the Geth when given the option. That's a consensus even the geth would be proud of, and there's no way it happened by accident.

You have to allow about 1-2% for players who have probably already completed their first playthrough and are going back to see what the "alternative" options are. It's not an uncommon thing, as the writing in the best RPGs offers players variety and wildly differing paths. Given the number of potential choices, it wouldn't be an unfair assumption that at least that percentage of players went back on a second playthrough to do all their second-favorite options (I did).

Saving as many as possible

There are other stats that are missing from this layout that would be very informative: For example, how many people chose Morinth over Samara in the latter's loyalty mission? Also, how many people didn't take the paragon interrupt to hug Tali during her loyalty mission? Judging by the exile statistics, probably very few gamers could bring themselves to turn away from Tali in her time of need. There is one stat where it seems gamers prefer violence to niceties: When being questioned by Khalish Al-Jilani, the annoying reporter who confronts Shepard on the Citadel in all three games, 68% of players chose to punch her in the face rather than calmly answer her questions.

Given that some of these outcomes aren't exactly easy to achieve, it's amazing to see how many gamers were in consensus on those decisions. It's very easy to lose Wrex if you don't say the correct thing, but so few gamers did that I can only conclude they made certain they wouldn't. You don't get to that high of a percentage by accident.

The only one of these choices that's not hugely skewed in favor of one option is the choice of who to save on Virmire, Ashley Williams or Kaidan Alenko. 60% chose Ashley, while 40% chose Kaidan. Some less momentous choices were also listed — well, less momentous when it comes to the story — and those were more balanced. For example, while the choice of Shepard's class was more evenly distributed than others on the list, there was still a disproportionate amount of players who chose either the Soldier or Vanguard class. When asked to choose a military history for Shepard, 43% chose War Hero, while 44% chose Survivor, leaving 13% to choose Ruthless.

And, of course, this list leaves off the most important choice by far: Who was romanced by the most players? I want to see that pie graph, and if the biggest slice doesn't go to Garrus, I call shenanigans on this whole thing.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition has been out long enough that I presume everyone's had the chance to get as far as the third game in the trilogy. With that understanding that I won't be spoiling anyone, I say the final game in the trilogy is the one that had the best combat — the one where the developers finally found a way to make the core gameplay loop fun, fast-paced, and explicable within the story.

The art of war

As much as I love the Mass Effect games, I've always had a nit to pick with the combat in the first two games. Namely that it's just … not fun. It's not bad, but the leveling system is confusing and inconsistent. And it doesn't make sense within the world of the game.

For example, in Mass Effect 1 you have to carry weapons from every class but, depending on your class, you can only level up in some of them, and the effects of a level up are difficult to detect. Having the ability to swap out and mod your guns was great, but it still felt odd to me that my Vanguard Shepard had to carry the exact same loadout as my Infiltrator, when she couldn't level up either assault rifles or sniper rifles.

In the second game, you have the opposite problem — you can carry only the guns appropriate for your class, but now the level-up system feels vestigial. You would level up your powers, and you'd get better guns over the course of the game, but it didn't feel like the leveling process made a huge impact on your gameplay. The movement also felt sluggish and methodical at best.

The combat in Mass Effect 3, however, is faster and more fluid. Shepard is much more nimble on the battlefield and more visibly adept with their weapons and powers. I'm not usually a fan of Gears of War-style cover shooting, but then again I was a Vanguard on my Insanity playthrough — I never used cover for anything less than a Colossus.

Combat is not what anyone plays a BioWare RPG (among the best RPGs) for — they are most loved for their story and characters. But still, it's what we're going to spend a good portion of the game doing. It's the means by which the game tells its beloved story. And it wasn't until Mass Effect 3 where it felt like the developers got it right.

Lean, mean, space marine

I understand the idea of weapon and skill leveling in principle. It's a holdover from the more classic RPG formula, to have more skills in a certain weapon over another. My complaint stems from the fact that it doesn't always make sense for the characters.

Every character in the games — with the possible exceptions of Tali or Kasumi — is a trained soldier or mercenary who's presumably had combat training. Shepard, in particular, is a marine who's undergone the most intense training program a human soldier can undergo. You'd think they would be very proficient with most weapons and powers at the start of the first game.

But in the first game, every character starts out ungainly, both in the use of weapons and their powers. Even while playing the Legendary Edition, I noticed that my Vanguard Shepard handled her pistol in a very ungainly fashion on Eden Prime, and would frequently misfire her biotic powers — the latter particularly annoyed me because the recharge time on those is brutal. The Hero of Elysium/Sole Survivor of Akuze/Butcher of Torfan just doesn't play like an experienced soldier.

The third game changed this just by steering everything away from leveling or weapons restrictions in favor of a weight-based system. You were allowed to carry as many weapons as you pleased, but they would weigh you down so much you wouldn't be able to use your tech or biotic powers. Leveling up powers can decrease their recharge time (in addition to upgrading their damage or radius, etc.), making them more practical in combat situations. It felt more like something Shepard would consider when fine-tuning their loadout.

It was, in short, something that felt like it was made in service to the game's story and characters, not just a holdover from an old RPG mechanic. That's why the combat in the third game feels so enjoyable.

Last month, before the game launched, I lamented the loss of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3, and part of the reason was because the combat of the game is so fun. The multiplayer provided a way to enjoy the combat without having to deal with the overwhelmingly dark and brutal story. I still feel that loss playing the game now, because this game is just so fun to play and yet the story makes me so upset and stressed. Here's hoping there's some credence to the rumors that the developers are considering bringing the multiplayer back if the fan demand is big enough.

As far as remasters go, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is one of the best in recent memory. With significantly upgraded textures, more detailed models, wider range of colors, some new lighting effects, multiple quality of life gameplay enhancements, and support for 4K resolution, this remaster is nothing short of extensive and impressive. There's not a doubt in my mind that it's easily one of the best Xbox One role-playing games available.

However, some of the realism-focused changes that the developers have made in the game — especially when it comes to the original Mass Effect — bother me considerably. To be clear, I'm not saying that the changes look bad. They look gorgeous. The problem I have with many of these changes is that they feel like a departure from the tone and mood of the original games, as opposed to a modernization of them.

Realistic graphics that don't set the mood

The most obvious example of the updated graphics ruining the tone of a scene is the overhauled version of Mass Effect's Eden Prime, which trades the ominous blood-red skies of the original game for a bright and warm sunset vista, complete with a giant lens flare. This makes the location look more realistic based on its in-game description, but it also makes the game's opening level feel much less nerve-wracking and tense. There was something distinctly terrifying and downright intimidating about how the Sovereign made a paradise world known across the Milky Way for its lush beauty look like a hellscape. That has been lost in the remaster.

Noveria, the freezing, barely-habitable planet where Commander Shepard and crew discover the Rachni species, is another good example. In the original game, the path to the labs where the Rachni are located is characterized by its cold blue color scheme, dim lighting, and dark haze. In Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Noveria is much brighter overall, featuring more realistic white snow and more authentic whiteout. It's true that the remaster's version looks a lot more like an actual snowstorm, but the original version felt much harsher and more frigid. This, I think, was a much better fit for the wider context of Noveria itself — the dark weather set the mood for players perfectly as they prepared to venture into creepy, alien-filled laboratories.

It's not just skyboxes and weather effects, either. One of the largest and most noticeable differences between the original releases of all three games and the remastered editions is that the new versions feature much lighter environments and fewer deep shadows, which is due to how the lighting feels more natural. Some people may view this as a good thing overall, and this is understandable; after all, there are some new details in the series' worldspaces that were harder (or impossible) to examine closely without more realistic lighting.

However, I think the loss of Mass Effect's darker, moodier lighting has a net negative impact on the atmosphere. Thematically speaking, Mass Effect is quite a "murky" series. Widespread political corruption, oppression, racism, and other types of social issues are all threads frequently woven throughout its narrative. The original visuals complimented these types of story beats well, giving these sensitive topics a fitting backdrop. A more realistic approach is certainly beautiful and impressive on a technical level, but is it worth sacrificing the original's distinct look and feel, ruining any possible environmental additions to the tone?

Final thoughts

As I said previously, some may think the changes are beneficial, but I feel that when a game is remastered, steps should be taken to preserve its style. The point of a remaster should be to elevate an older game to modern standards with things like new textures, better lighting effects, and gameplay tweaks. To its credit, this is largely what Mass Effect Legendary Edition does, but by overhauling the actual style of the lighting and the skyboxes to make them more realistic, the game goes a bit too far.

Overall, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is still an excellent remaster, and despite my gripes, I'd still argue that it's the definitive version of the trilogy thanks to its more positive visual changes and its numerous quality of life enhancements. I just wish that the developers at BioWare had chosen to modernize the atmosphere that was present in the original games instead of significantly change it.

What do you think of my argument? Do you agree that Mass Effect Legendary Edition should have preserved the atmosphere of the original games more, or do you like the changes the developers made? Let me know.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available now for $60 on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One consoles, PS5, PS4, and Windows 10 PCs. For more on the game, check out what we feel the 5 things the next Mass Effect could learn from the Legendary Edition as well as our revisiting of Mass Effect 3's ending.

What you need to know

• No Man's Sky is in the middle of its Beachhead Expedition, which has players all over the world solve puzzles and uncover hidden goals.
• The community has finally uncovered what lies at the end of the expedition: the SSV Normandy SR1 ship from Mass Effect!
• This crossover between No Man's Sky and Mass Effect lets players add the iconic frigate to their fleet if they reach the end.
• If you want to add the SSV Normandy SR1 to your frigate fleet, you have until May 31, 2021 to finish the No Man's Sky event.

No Man's Sky is in the middle of its Beachhead Expedition update. The update, one of many for No Man's Sky, has players solve a series of complex puzzles and uncover encrypted goals. The community has finally reached the end of the event, and No Man's Sky players were shocked to discover the addition of a ship from the Mass Effect series to their frigate fleet. That's right, the legendary SSV Normandy SR1 can be found in No Man's Sky for a limited time in celebration of the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

From now until May 31, players can still complete the event to add this legendary ship to their frigate fleet, which looks quite striking in No Man's Sky. What made the addition even more special is that it was up to the dedicated No Man's Sky community to make it happen by solving encrypted puzzles and unraveling the overarching mystery.

No Man's Sky is nearing its five-year anniversary, and apparently has some surprises for all the players that have stuck around to watch the game evolve and grow over time. If you haven't experienced No Man's Sky for yourself yet, it's currently available through Xbox Game Pass on consoles, PC, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition, on the other hand, is newly available to purchase and lets you revisit Mass Effect 1 through 3 with a ton of remastered visuals and modernizations. For Mass Effect veterans and newcomers alike, the Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the best way to play the epic RPG series.

Both No Man's Sky and Mass Effect Legendary Edition make claims to a spot on our list of best Xbox games, so it's truly awesome to see No Man's Sky pay tribute to Mass Effect in such a cool way for players.

We live in an era of remakes and remasters. Some of them have been incredible, such as the full Resident Evil 2 remake. Others have been less than stellar — the Silent Hill HD collection comes to mind. The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S have the capability to automatically enhance previous games too, with Auto HDR and FPS Boost technology, giving older games a fresh coat of paint. Some games deserve a little more oomph though, particularly beloved franchises like Mass Effect.

Mass Effect is an incredible video game franchise, arguably among the top 5 of all time. The epic space opera charts three games, hundreds of hours of content, with an unprecedented branching narrative that moves your decisions between titles.

While I've always held that Mass Effect 2 and 3 hold up relatively well even today, the first game has certainly started to feel incredibly dated. That's one game I was hoping would get the full remaster treatment at some point, but perhaps it also makes sense to preserve it as it is; it's not that old after all. Regardless, there is a range of small issues in Mass Effect 1 that made it fairly tough to play by modern standards, until now.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is here, and so far, I adore it. I've been going back through Mass Effect 1 for the Nth time, playing the game on "Insanity" difficulty to hunt down that one final achievement that always eluded me from the original. Mass Effect Legendary Edition has a range of improvements for all three games, but the more I play, the more I'm enjoying the vast collection of smaller tweaks BioWare has injected into the game. Here are some thoughts on what you can expect if you jump in to save the galaxy, one more time, and why once again, Mass Effect remains one of the best Xbox games of all time.

Welcome visual enhancements

I've seen a whole bunch of criticism for the lighting in Mass Effect 1's remaster, but I can't help but feel like this is purely a case of rose-tinted SDR glasses. Mass Effect introduces a huge amount of dynamism with the new version, which moves far beyond the bump in resolution and frame rate.

Mass Effect's Legendary Edition sports rebuilt skyboxes, which add a new dimension to some of the original games biggest setpiece moments and vistas. The first glimpse at the Reaper ship just soars with foreboding beauty, as it ascends from the destruction wrought upon the defenseless Eden Prime colony. Indeed, thanks to boosted draw distance and resolution, I noticed details in the environment I simply missed on previous playthroughs, despite probably completing Mass Effect more than any other game in my life.

4K resolution with HDR is just what Dr. Chakwas ordered for Mass Effect. Backward compatibility on Xbox does offer some enhancements, but when you combine this with new volumetric lighting, improved texture resolution, boosted shadows, it coalesces into something far grander. Mass Effect 1 was the entry I was most concerned about since the original had aged the worst by far. It was BioWare's first outing with the Unreal Engine, and it really showed. Many aspects of the original game were creaking at the seams, despite having some of the best character work and world-building in the history of the medium.

Even Mass Effect's barren side mission planets got a bit of a facelift. Mass Effect had a strangely ambitious feature that lets you land on empty planet landscapes, dotted with the occasional enemy outpost or resource to collect. Many reviews described this as tedious, but it really did add some otherworldly mystique to the game that is hard to put into words. The lonely trek across barren planetoids in the rover-like Mako really did make you feel like a pioneer of sorts, charting unknown worlds.

I thought these parts of the game would be something BioWare would leave behind, but no. I was surprised to discover alien sunsets cutting across the horizon, creating tons of opportunities to dive into the game's new photo mode. The landscapes have also been enhanced with denser ground clutter, modernizing them without removing that mysterious barren alien frontier aura.

The visual improvements would have been enough by themselves to sell me on another journey across the stars, but BioWare wasn't done there.

Huge combat boost

Quite arguably, the worst thing about the original Mass Effect was its combat. The delta between gameplay quality between Mass Effect 1 and 2 is quite stark, and honestly, remains so. The Legendary Edition bridges the gap, however, with some much-needed polish.

Playing the original Mass Effect on Xbox 360 was, at times, a huge chore. It was BioWare's first outing with the Unreal Engine and it really shows. The frame rate was a big systemic issue with the original's combat experience. Completing the game on "Insanity" is the only achievement that eluded me in the past, due to the frame rate tanking in certain fights. Battling Matriarch Benezia, while being ragdolled through the floor at 15 FPS is enough to make anyone rage quit. Naturally, the Mass Effect Legendary Edition sings on Xbox Series X, up to 120 FPS, eliminating performance degradation-related mishaps.

There are also a bunch of small improvements that elevate combat. The UI is improved, giving you a better overview of your party, your health pool, and so on. The Mako combat has been boosted too, with new sound effects, improved aiming, and lower HP on some targets that were just tedious and slow to fight previously.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition also polishes up some of the game's combat gameplay design decisions. Mass Effect 1 erred more towards RPG than shooter, but that doesn't exactly make for a great experience for a solid 90% of the game. For example, weapon sway and accuracy are lower at the start of the game, and increase as you get more points. It's only really by the end of the game your shots actually line up with your aim, which makes playing weapon-oriented glasses a bit annoying and unrewarding. Thankfully, the Legendary Edition fixes that, giving you proper aiming accuracy from the start of the game, with weapon damage increasing by progression rather than shot precision.

The boost to performance also improves certain abilities, particularly physics-based biotics. The ability "Singularity" which creates a black hole-like storm used to introduce a huge amount of performance degradation if there were lots of objects being sucked into the gravity well. Thanks to modern hardware, that's no longer the case.

Generally speaking, everything just feels more punchy. The Legendary Edition adds a range of new weapon sound effects too, coupled with hit markers for headshots and the like, really gives gunplay an edge. While still not perfect by modern standards, it brings it far closer to Mass Effect 2, eliminating any sense of it feeling too dated.

All the little things

Mass Effect Legendary Edition also tweaks a variety of smaller things here and there, adding polish and improvements, while incorporating some features from popular mods on PC. Tali's photograph in Mass Effect 3 was famously derided, simply for being a model's photograph with a purple hue. The Legendary Edition replaces it with something a little more sensical. You can skip those long elevator rides, too, by hammering the "A" button. Thanks to SSDs, you no longer need to wait for the elevator ride to fully play out before the next scene has loaded.

Some odd bugs from the original have also been fixed up, I've noticed. A nearly 15-year-old bug that prevents you from completing one of the early side quests has been fixed — no more invisible keepers. The backward rotating Earth from Mass Effect 2 has also been fixed, alongside the backward Earth graphic in the moon's skybox in Mass Effect 1. BioWare even updated the Pluto image to a more recent one based on photographs from NASA. Vistas shine in the new Photo Mode too. There are just so many small details tweaked or smoothed out, that it makes discovering the galaxy all over again that much more rewarding.

I'm still plowing through the entire trilogy, really taking my time savoring every detail and feature before I put out a full review. But so far I've just been reminded all over again why I love this series.

They just don't really make games like this anymore, and it's sad. Mass Effect: Andromeda wasn't even a bad game, per se, it just didn't live up to what fans ultimately want from this franchise: decisions that actually matter, a storyline that feels personal to our choices, set in a vast space opera the likes of which feel quintessentially BioWare. After Anthem, the long, slow development of Dragon Age 4, alongside EA's reputation for mismanaging franchises and studios, my optimism for the future of Mass Effect isn't exactly great. No matter what EA does to the franchise in the future, the Legendary Edition is a worthy send-off for one of the industry's greatest high points, and I urge everyone, returning fans or new, to give it a try.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a galaxy to save, making all the same decisions I did through my previous 15 playthroughs.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is launching as I write this, bringing Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 into one glorious remastered package. I've been playing through the original Mass Effect on Insane difficulty, and the new lighting, combat mechanics, and polished UI are surprisingly transformative. What is less-than-transformative is this annoying bug, though.

As acknowledged on EA's support forum, Mass Effect Legendary Edition has a strange crashing bug on Xbox, which is reportedly triggered by wireless headsets (like these from our awesome best Xbox wireless headsets post which you should definitely read.)

EA recommends a range of workarounds while they work to fix the issue.

1. Make sure your wireless headset is turned off.
2. Launch Mass Effect from the dashboard.
3. Enter one of the games from the launcher menu.
4. Once you're on the title screen of any of the three games, you can now turn on and connect your headset.

If you return to the launcher with a wireless headset connected, it will cause the game to crash.

I have no idea what could possibly cause this bug, but it may be to do with the launcher system that allows you to install each game separately. Not many games have this feature, so perhaps there are still some strange anomalies Microsoft needs to address.

Either way, follow the steps above and you should be good, until they fix it up properly. For more details on what enhancements the Mass Effect Legendary Edition has head over here.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

I'm really excited for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. BioWare's iconic sci-fi trilogy being gathered together in one package, taking advantage of the hardware in the newest systems (including a 120 FPS mode on Xbox Series X), and complete with all of the DLC? It's the kind of thing fans have dreamed of for years. The Mass Effect games are technically all playable on PC but the first game, in particular, is an infamously poor port. Backward compatibilty is a welcome option on Xbox but it doesn't help PS5 players, nor do the Xbox 360 versions of the game really hold up that well.

All together, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is promising a complete story for multiple playthroughs where I fool myself into thinking I'll make different decisions than the last time. It's also set to complete the best Xbox games available catalog. With the Mass Effect trilogy seeing this kind of love and care, I'd like to see BioWare's other big role-playing franchise get the same kind of attention.

Why Dragon Age needs a remaster

I love the Dragon Age games. Even Dragon Age 2, for all its faults, has the classic BioWare banter and character building I find key to the studio's legacy. In years past, I've replayed Dragon Age: Origins more times than I can count. So it brings me absolutely no joy to admit a simple fact: Dragon Age games don't hold up well.

The combat in Dragon Age: Origins is clunky at best on a modern PC. The game is riddled with bugs that require numerous mods and fan patches, especially the otherwise-great Awakening expansion. A remaster is the perfect excuse to make the game more enjoyable for long-time fans and intrigued newcomers alike. I can't count the number of friends I have who listen to me speak highly of the story and characters in Origins, only to bounce off of it when they try it and find out how it looks and, more importantly, plays in the modern age.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition compiles all three games with almost of the DLC, but BioWare has been very upfront about most of the work going into the very first game. The character creator has been expanded, numerous glitches were fixed, visuals were improved, and the art direction across different planets is closer to the original concept art thanks to improvements made in the engine. These kinds of valuable lessons could and should be applied to Dragon Age: Origins.

Meanwhile, the more action-focused and almost anime-at-times Dragon Age 2 is more playable, though there are still some problems to fix. It introduces a major new issue, however: It doesn't look like it's in the same series as Dragon Age: Origins. For that matter, the problem continues with Dragon Age: Inquisition, which again changes the visual direction well beyond simple technological improvements. The simple fact is, the visual styles of Dragon Age games aren't even remotely consistent with each other. All three mainline games look wildly different!

Source: Electronic Arts

Based on the tiny snippets and teasers we've seen so far, I assume that the next Dragon Age game will be similar in artistic tone and visual style to Dragon Age: Inquisition. If that's so, there's even more of a case to be made for bringing the former games in line with where the series is right now and is headed in the future.

A remaster doesn't just provide the opportunity to fix bigs and and tweak controls but to unify the three original Dragon Age games as a complete package, with visuals that look like the games all belong in the same franchise. While carrying decisions over to change the state of the world isn't quite as meaningful in the Dragon Age games as it is in the Mass Effect trilogy, since the lead characters change and former important players are usually recuded to smaller roles, it's still important for new players ahead of the next game. That's only going to happen if the games can easily be accessed in some kind of remaster.

I'm going to have a lot of fun revisiting the Mass Effect games very soon. I hope that sometime in the future, I'll be saying the same about Dragon Age.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode was something of an oddity. It was tacked onto the final entry in a trilogy that had been strictly single-player up to that point, it featured none of the characters who'd become so beloved by gamers, and it had microtransactions (a sketchy feature even in 2012). EA was infamous at the time for tacking mediocre multiplayer modes onto every game, and it seemed like Mass Effect 3 wouldn't be any different.

Even so, I will defend it to the end, and I'm sad that it won't be included in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. The Mass Effect multiplayer was fun and crazy and silly in a way the single-player game was not, and it was a wonderful place to blow off some steam with fellow Mass Effect fans.

What was the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer mode?

You'd be forgiven for forgetting that Mass Effect 3 had a multiplayer mode. Even though it was touted in the game's marketing and augmented by post-launch DLC, Mass Effect 3's multiplayer is hardly its most memorable feature. It still has its dedicated community of players, but interest in it was low enough that the developers of the Legendary Edition remaster excised it from said remaster completely.

Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode is allegedly the product of corporate meddling on behalf of new publishers Electronic Arts. The game was released during a time when EA was attempting to make all of its games into pay-to-win microtransaction machines, a practice gamers now mostly abhor. There was even a time when EA wanted to make a first-person multiplayer ME game called Mass Effect: Team Assault, though that was never released.

Given all of this, it would have been easy for the multiplayer to have been borderline unplayable or otherwise not fun. But there's a reason so many players have stuck around and kept playing the multiplayer modes in the almost 10 years since Mass Effect 3 was released.

"Adrenaline's better than oxygen any day."

The gameplay of Mass Effect 3 is quite different from Mass Effects 1 & 2. Those games played more like RPGs, with your effectiveness based on how high your skill level was with any particular power or gun. Mass Effect 3, however, was built more like a shooter: It was fast, fluid, and brutal. It was less about raising your skill in any particular area, but about finding your balance between weapons and powers.

For example, if you wanted to invest more in guns instead of powers (meaning tech or biotic abilities), you could load yourself up with as many guns as you pleased. The extra weight meant your powers would recharge slowly, but you could just load yourself up with ammo augmentations and grenades and neglect powers completely. You could also limit your weapons to a single pistol or submachine gun, and make use of your absurdly short recharge times to spam the battlefield with neon-blue biotics or gnarly tech powers.

In short, it felt so much better than the perfunctory gunplay and powers of its predecessors. Granted, it wasn't to everyone's taste — I'm sure there were many people who wondered if they'd accidentally put a Gears of War disc in their consoles when they started this up. I loved it though for the simple fact that the combat made every playable character feel and look like the seasoned soldiers and warriors they're supposed to be.

"If this is a war, I'll need an army. Or a really good team."

The other saving grace for the mode was the fact that you could play as many of the different alien races you'd seen in the story. While Commander Shepard is a good player avatar, it gets a little samey being stuck in the body of a boring old human, especially when Shepard has such a diverse crew with talents that Shepard doesn't have.

In ME3 multiplayer, you could be an Asari, Turian, Krogan, or even a tiny Volus — I'm sorry, "Biotic God." You'd even get your shot at playing a Geth or a Collector, characters that are usually villains in the series. Granted, you would have to unlock them via the aforementioned microtransaction system, but even so, the opportunity was there. You could customize your alien character, giving them a name and armor colors. For someone who'd been playing these games for years and had long wanted to play these races, it was just so cool.

There was also how these characters got powers that Shepard and company never did. The N7 characters, human graduates of the elite N7 training program, all had wild and useful powers that you never saw in game (not amongst your squadmates anyway). The Slayer vanguard's little flip before he sets off a blue biotic sword slash that sweeps the battlefield? Amazing. The Shadow teleporting behind enemies and slashing them in half while completely invisible? Absolute gold. The Demolisher throwing so many grenades she's practically carpet-bombing the battlefield on foot? How could anyone dislike that?

"Don't stand there looking pretty. Kill something!"

In fact, that's the essence of what made the multiplayer so enjoyable. It was cool, guiltless fun with the game's third-person shooter mechanics, and offered the chance to enjoy them in an arena setting without any of the baggage that comes with almost every mission in the campaign.

Mass Effect 3 is a heavy game. All of the previous games' dark foreshadowing and grim warnings of things to come paid tragic dividends. Even Commander Shepard is constantly tired and emotionally strung out during the events of this game. Almost every time they and their team left the ship to go out and shoot some baddies, they're reminded that there were millions suffering across the galaxy and they're the only ones who can stop it. That's exactly what gamers wanted and expected from Mass Effect 3, given how the Reaper threat had been hanging over our heads for over 100 hours of gameplay.

But such a heavy story can take its toll. That's why when I felt like playing a little Mass Effect 3 but didn't feel like getting my heart broken, I would fire up the multiplayer and go a few rounds, either with my friends or like-minded strangers. It was a great way to enjoy the gameplay and the universe — and given that multiplayer rounds could even shift the balance of power in favor of the good guys, it had a positive effect on the grim single-player campaign.

There won't be any multiplayer in the Legendary Edition rerelease, but we'll still get to enjoy the gameplay of Mass Effect 3 with new graphics. That will have to be enough. Mass Effect Legendary Edition will launch on Xbox One, PS4 and PC (and Xbox Series X, Series S, and PlayStation 5 via forward compatibility) on May 14.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

BioWare's epic Mass Effect series is being remastered for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Mass Effect Legendary Edition compiles Shepard's trilogy and all of its DLC into one package, now with visual enhancements and quality of life improvements to make the experience even better. Some of the changes made between the original and this remaster are instantly noticeable in screenshots, while others are more subtle. We'll run through all of the changes you can expect to see when you pick up Mass Effect Legendary Edition on May 14, 2021. The Mass Effect trilogy by many is considered to be some of the best Xbox games you can play, so fingers crossed the remaster doesn't disappoint.

Original vs Mass Effect Legendary Edition Visual and performance enhancements

I promise there's more to its visual enhancements than lens flares. The entire Legendary Edition will support 4K resolution and feature improved visuals, textures, models, and more. The greater level of detail makes environments look fuller and denser, and characters look better as well. The games' color grading, along with lighting and shadow effects, has received a facelift too.

You'll also notice that the default Femshep from the first game has been replaced with her iconic look in Mass Effect 3. This change also carries over into the second Mass Effect, so the default character model is consistent across all three games — of course, you can still choose to customize her look, and the character creator has been overhauled extensively. Speaking of consistency, the UI for each game will now be consistent across the board, in line with what it looked like in Mass Effect 2 and 3.

BioWare will also be adjusting some cutscene angles; one, in particular, will no longer focus on Miranda's butt during a very serious conversation.

In terms of performance, Mass Effect Legendary Edition will feature quicker loading times and can be played at 60FPS. Overall the experience will be smoother than the original.

Original vs Mass Effect Legendary Edition Gameplay changes

A controversial change, the Mako's controls have been updated. You either love to hate it or hate to love it, but the Mako's janky controls were a staple of Mass Effect. BioWare implemented some quality of life improvements in the Legendary Edition that update the physics to make it feel more weighted, smoother camera operations, and HUD adjustments. Overall this should have the vehicle feel more realistic and less sluggish. For those who don't like this change, BioWare revealed that there's an option to choose the Mako's original controls in all of their janky glory.

The long elevator rides, designed to mask loading screens, were another staple of the series that have been changed this time around. Due to new technology, loading screens aren't as long as they used to be, meaning this cuts down drastically on the time our characters spend in elevators. To keep some of that witty banter in place, however, the dialogue will now be sped up so that it triggers quicker. Once the level loads in, you'll be given a choice to listen to the rest of the dialogue or skip it.

Mass Effect 3's multiplayer also won't be returning. Given the logistics and time it would have taken to bring multiplayer to the Legendary Edition, it was eventually decided that it wouldn't make the cut. Considering most fans play Mass Effect for the single-player anyway, I think it was the right decision to make.

Other gameplay changes include weapon balancing, more forgiving morality checks, squadmate/enemy AI enhancements, boss fight rebalancing, a dedicated melee button in ME1, and tweaking the cover system to work with ME1.

Combat tuning appears to be a large part of the overhaul BioWare worked on, with some of the following changes:

• Shepard can now sprint out of combat
• Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved
• All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game
• Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game
• All weapons can be used by any class without penalty
• Medi-gel usage has been improved
• Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect
• Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2

All of these changes were detailed over on EA's website.

Original vs Mass Effect Legendary Edition Story changes

This isn't so much a change, but the Extended Cut of Mass Effect 3's ending will now be the trilogy's default ending. When Mass Effect 3 first launched, its conclusion was derided for not living up to expectations, notably invalidating all of the player's choices until that point, being asked to essentially choose which ending of three you'd prefer. The Extended Cut didn't drastically change this so much as it extended upon it to give the ending and your choices more weight.

Though the Legendary Edition is set to feature all of the games' DLC, it will not include Pinnacle Station from the first Mass Effect. As it turns out, the source code from the DLC was lost. When BioWare contacted Demiurge Studios, the original developer behind the DLC, they found their code was corrupted and beyond salvaging. The only way to get the Pinnacle Station into the Legendary Edition would be to remake it from scratch, and BioWare did not have the resources to do this.

How do you feel about these changes?

What do you think of the changes BioWare is making? Sound of in the comments below. It seems most of these are being made for the better, though I can't help but feel that some of the color grading and visual changes will change the feel of certain scenes.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is almost here. While replaying these games will be an exciting time for Mass Effect fans, myself included, I also think it's a great time to reflect and ponder on what the franchise did to become so beloved. While it's certainly a ways off, BioWare has confirmed that the next Mass Effect game is in development, so these are the five things the next Mass Effect could learn from the Legendary Edition.

Focus on the team

BioWare is known for writing fantastic characters, so of course part of what worked so well for the original trilogy was the intimate focus on Shepard's squadmates. Everyone has their own favorites and rankings, but at the end of the day, the team is what mattered. When people remember Mass Effect, they remember talking Wrex down on Virmire, or comforting Tali learning of her father's death. They remember making it through the gauntlet of the Collector Base, and who perished or, against all odds, made it out alive.

BioWare's bread and butter is storytelling and characters, so I'm confident this can be done well, but the next Mass Effect simply has to have a fantastic team fans will find memorable.

The promise of the unknown

One of the greatest things that made all three Mass Effect games so special was the mystery of being up against a threat you didn't understand. From finding and confronting Saren, unaware of his manipulation at the hands of the Reapers, to learning the truth of Sovereign, to building up your team in order to take on the Collectors, to attempting to unite the galaxy, with uncertainty at to how it will all play out. It's a lot, but it kept you intrigued over three hours-long games. Whatever the next Mass Effect touches on, mystery has to be a huge part of it.

Provide wonderful exploration

While the planets were often barren, limited by the technology and hardware of the time, exploring uncharted worlds in the original Mass Effect was key to crafting the fantasy of being an explorer in the stars. This is something that the oft-maligned Mass Effect Andromeda actually did a good job with. It allowed players to roar, run, and jump pack across ice worlds and alien forests alike.

While open-world fatigue can be real and there's no reason to bog the map down with dozens of items to check off, making sure the next Mass Effect feels and looks great to explore, with reasons to explore it, will make it far more memorable.

More Krogan Love

Of the three original games, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 had the best lineup of squadmates, in no small part due to having a Krogan squadmate. Krogan squadmates are great. You're originally presented with the idea of a mono-minded race that's spread in propaganda in the world of Mass Effect. The Krogan you travel with — Wrex in Mass Effect, Grunt in Mass Effect 2 — are warriors, yes, but beneath their blunt honesty and love of battle is a poetic side, one mired in tragedy and loss that culminates in one of Mass Effect 3's greatest moments should you choose to cure the Genophage.

As such, a Krogan squadmate is not only needed but Krogan romance options are as well. Whatever your preference or gender, no one should be left out here. Everyone deserves Krogan loving and this a must-have for the next game.

Decisions matter

While I'm not going to rehash the controversy born out of Mass Effect 3's ending, the fact is, player decisions mattered in the trilogy. The best RPGs allow the actual role-playing apsects to matter. The small ripples and repercussions of choosing how long to prepare for the assaults on the Collector Base, as well as how prepared the team is, are memorable to this day. Going into Mass Effect 3, the fate of all civilization seemed to rest on Shepard's shoulders.

Concessions will have to be made in terms of finding a common ground story for the next Mass Effect to build upon and that's okay, as long as the game is built around new challenges and new tough choices to confront players with.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

BioWare cinematic designer John Ebenger tweeted last year that about 92% of Mass Effect players went full Paragon. Despite all the work the developers put into plotting out and designing Renegade options, most players never took advantage of them.

It makes sense if you think about it. Mass Effect's morality system rewards you for being as good (or bad) as possible, making you more charismatic or intimidating during pivotal scenes. So gamers typically go all-in on Paragon or Renegade, and it turns out more people are comfortable with being "good" in games.

We're all eagerly anticipating Mass Effect: Legendary Edition's improved graphics and mechanics — plus the chance to romance a new crewmate or rekindle an old flame — once it launches on May 14 for the Xbox One/ Xbox Series X, PS4/ PS5, and PC. But I have a hunch that many of you will end up making most of the same choices as in previous playthroughs. Why switch things up when you know what works?

Because of that, you'll miss out on some pretty epic scenes. And I'm not talking about hilarious Renegade interrupts like shoving enemies through a window or headbutting some jerk krogan — even paragons can do a few of those for fun. There are some genuinely emotional, painful, or shocking Mass Effect moments that most of you never saw because you'd have to make difficult or bizarre choices to encounter them.

Here are 11 rare Mass Effect scenes most players never encountered in their own playthroughs. New players, be warned: beware major spoilers from all three Mass Effect games.

1. Liara almost dies of dehydration (Mass Effect 1)

Summary: After completing your missions on Feros, Noveria, and Virmire, you (Shepard) finally go to Therum, where Liara has been trapped in a protective barrier the whole time. Exhausted and dying, she believes you're a hallucination until you free her. Once you return to your ship, you tell Liara all about the Reapers, and she's devastated that she wasn't there to help study any of it.

Why you missed it: If a game gives you a recruiting mission, most people do that first. Anybody on their first playthrough isn't going to miss the chance to add a Prothean scientist to the team, and anybody replaying ME1 is obviously going to rush to get Liara.

Why it's impressive: Full props to Bioware for thinking to add this variation that almost no one would ever see. Poor Liara is trapped with no one but Geth for company for weeks, then finds out the story of the Reapers when normally she'd have discovered it with you.

2. Legion crashes Tali's Geth treason trial (Mass Effect 2)

Summary: Tali has been charged with treason due to her father's alleged experimentation on the Geth. You make the ridiculous decision to bring Legion along with you to her trial, leading to some tense confrontations and unique dialogue.

Why you missed it: You most likely completed Tali's loyalty mission before boarding the Derelict Reaper and recruiting Legion. After recruiting it, you typically only have time to complete its loyalty mission before the game wants you to start the final mission. Also, bringing a Geth along to a Quarian meeting seems needlessly risky and confrontational.

Why it's intriguing: Bioware programmed dialogue for Legion in almost all of the ME2 loyalty missions knowing that most people would never hear them. However, it's especially worth bringing Legion along for this mission. The Quarians' terror at its presence helps illustrate why their society would be so willing to go to war with the Geth, even in the midst of a Reaper invasion. It also gives more context to the admirals' opinions on the Geth, particularly Xen's disturbing plans for enslavement.

Alternative rare scenes: Geth VI, Legion's replacement if he dies in ME2, has all kinds of alternative dialogue that most people never saw.

3–4. Mordin lives... or you kill him (Mass Effect 3)

Summary: Mordin realizes the Salarians sabotaged the genophage cure and that you're letting them do so in exchange for aid. He wants to correct his mistakes, but you convince him that Udrnot Wreav will use the cure to conquer the galaxy once the Reapers are gone. Mordin reluctantly agrees to keep up the facade and go into hiding.

Why you missed it: To get this scene, Wrex must die in ME1, and you must destroy Maelon's data in ME2. Most players keep Wrex alive; plus, most save the data to have the option to use it later, thus preventing Mordin from seeing your side of things.

Why it's interesting: Wreav is the worst, and Bioware made sure that mattered. Other replacement characters for dead companions (like Mordin's substitute Padok Wiks) are stand-ins that don't change the story much, but Wreav's inferiority to Wrex as a moral leader makes it more plausible that Mordin the pragmatist could be talked down. It's just too bad that Mordin's survival doesn't really affect the story afterward.

Alternative rare scene: Padok Wiks fantasizes about how krogan mate. It's... awkward.

Summary: Wrex and Eve are alive and ready to rebuild the Krogan people, but Mordin discovers your sabotage plans. He shouts that he made a mistake by helping to perfect the genophage, and that he won't go along with this. You shoot him and throw your gun away in disgust, while Mordin crawls to fix the sabotage but dies right before he can.

Why you missed it: You probably didn't get this because adding the Salarians doesn't have a major impact on the Crucible project, and because betraying Mordin and Wrex is a bridge too far even for some Renegade players.

Why it's (painfully) awesome: Mordin's heroic sacrifice scene is powerful in its own right, but Mordin's pain-filled "I made a mistake!" speech takes many of the same lines you know and adds so much more emotion behind them. You see how his decision to sterilize the Krogan people has grown to haunt him and how even the threat of death won't stop him.

Alternative rare scene: Here's a palate cleanser for that painful scene: Mordin singing "Krogan Queen", which most players missed unless they visited him in the Medbay several times.

5. Shepard kills Wrex (Mass Effect 3)

Summary: Wrex discovers your betrayal and confronts you. You can try to justify yourself or gaslight him, but he isn't fooled and attacks you. Either you or Citadel security kills Wrex.

Why you missed it: Assuming Wrex didn't already die in ME1 (a more common occurrence), most Paragon players wouldn't have the heart or stomach to betray Wrex and trigger this moment.

Why it's what Renegade players deserve: Tricking the Krogan to throw their lives away to save Earth with no chance of repopulating is monstrous, no matter the justifications, and Bioware provides a fitting punishment for your pragmatism by making you kill Wrex.

Alternative/ awful rare scene: Tali commits suicide as the Quarians are wiped out. Feel free not to watch it unless you want to cry.

6. Major Kirrahe gives an inspiring speech on Earth (Mass Effect 3)

Summary: Before the final battle on Earth, Major Kirrahe speaks to Salarian troops, imploring them to fight. He tells you they will hold the line.

Why you missed it: Wrex must survive ME1 and Thane must survive ME2. Then, you must sabotage the genophage cure, killing Mordin/ Padok and Wrex in the process.

Why it's awesome: Kirrahe gives good speeches, and this one lives up to "Hold the line." Getting to hear it almost makes up for the series of betrayals it took to get Salarian aid. Almost.

Alternative rare scene: Wreav "jokes" before the battle on Earth that he plans to own Australia.

7. A small romantic moment with Samara (Mass Effect 3: Citadel)

Summary: After saving Samara at the Ardat-Yakshi monastery, you invite her to your apartment to reminisce. You declare that you still have feelings for her, and despite her fears, you can kiss or hold her.

Why you missed it: In ME2 (assuming you didn't recruit Morinth), you can attempt to woo Samara, but she mostly rebuffs your advances. She wasn't a romance option in ME3, so rekindling the romance only became an option with the Citadel DLC, at which point most people had moved on to other characters.

Why it's sweet: The Citadel DLC gave plenty of fanservice to players who romanced ME2 companions that didn't return as squadmates in ME3. This small scene rewards Samara fans for their patience. While its short length may be disappointing, it nails the justicar cautiously, finally opening up to you, and is pretty touching.

Alternative rare scene: Shepard slaps Jacob for cheating on her.

8. Engineer Shepard isn't some stupid grunt (Mass Effect 3: Omega)

Summary: Cerberus eneral Petrovsky uses Omega's reactor to power force fields protecting his troops. Shutting it down will also shut down life support for Omega citizens. If you're playing as an engineer class, you bypass this tough decision and immediately reroute the power while shutting down the force fields. Aria praises your quick thinking.

Why you missed it: In theory, 1 in 6 players would choose Engineer out of the other classes. In practice, more players chose other classes that give you biotic abilities, cloaking tech, or improved shooting.

Why it's bittersweet: This scene shows the missed role-playing potential of the Mass Effect series. In most action cutscenes, you just run and shoot. You never use your biotics to freeze a hostage-taker, activate camo to sneak behind monologing enemies, or bull-rush Kai Leng with a Vanguard charge. Your pre-service background as an orphan or colonist also never comes into play for dialogue options.

That's why this small cutscene reward for Engineers is a welcome exception.

Alternative rare scene: Shepard touches an orb that transports you into the mind of a Cro-Magnon hunter.

9. Renegade Kaidan breaks up with you (Mass Effect)

Summary: If you're a Renegade FemShep who romanced Kaidan while criticizing the council at every opportunity, you've convinced him that the Alliance should be in charge. If you change your tune and say that's too extreme, he questions how honest you are and decides to take a step back from your relationship.

Why you missed it: Even if you romanced Kaidan and played as a Renegade, most people would keep choosing Renegade options all the way through, not suddenly switch tracks.

Why it's unexpected: Like the variation with the trapped and exhausted Liara, this dialogue shows how much effort Bioware put into ME1 to make sure you could make even the most nonsensical of choices, resulting in real consequences for your character.

10. Hook up with Javik or James (Mass Effect 3: Citadel)

Summary: As FemShep, you've made it through all three games without any romantic partners. That sort of ends after the party at your apartment in the Citadel DLC, where you have a drunken one-night stand with Javik or slowly corner James into sleeping with you. (Here's the link to the James scene)

Why you missed it: You need to be single during the Citadel DLC, by which point most people have chosen a partner. You may also need to use Javik or James as your squadmate more than any other teammate to trigger the option, then hold an energetic party. You can flirt with James at the party to trigger things, but the Javik scene just sort of happens.

Why it's bad: The James "romance" involves repeatedly flirting with him while he's clearly uncomfortable and uninterested, before he eventually gives in to his superior officer. Yikes. As for Javik, his scene triggers automatically without any "We'll bang, okay?" dialogue choice, so someone playing Shep as asexual could be in for a rude surprise. These are rare scenes that I'm glad most people never had to see.

11. Everybody except Joker dies (Mass Effect 2)

Summary: You travel through the Omega 4 relay, but through a series of bad decisions, all of your teammates die one by one. As you rush to the ship, you have no teammates to defend yourself from the Collectors, and you fall to your death. The Illusive Man speaks to Joker about the coming attack. Joker supposedly prepares to take Shepard's place in ME3.

Why you missed it: To get this scene, you have to avoid loyalty missions, refuse to upgrade your ship, wait to go through the relay so the crew dies, and neglect to recruit either Zaeed or Kasumi. You also have to make bad tactical decisions like taking Jacob up on his silly offer to be an engineer. If you get this ending, you meant to get it.

Why it's so hardcore: Bioware gave us its opinion of speedrunners with this absurdly bleak ending. Ignore the needs of your crewmates for the sake of the mission and everyone dies. There's no way Joker unites the galaxy to rebuild the Crucible, so the Reapers win by default and you can't continue this playthrough. You likely never saw this outside of YouTube, but the fact that you could trigger this ending is pretty great for adding tension.

Alternative rare scene: Shepard, an idiot, decides to embrace eternity with Morinth.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

Mass Effect is full of lovable alien creatures... and some not so much. In honor of Mass Effect Legendary Edition coming out, I've rounded up some of the best alien creatures that would be pets. Best, of course, is a subjective term, because as you'll see on this list, I definitely don't recommend some of these as pets. But that doesn't mean they aren't cool and wouldn't be the perfect pet for someone out there in the galaxy. (Except maybe the Thresher Maw. Good luck with that one).

Keep these creatures in mind when you're booting up your Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S because they're bound to look a whole lot better in the Legendary Edition. And without further ado:

Space Hamster

Shepard's space hamster is iconic, so much so that the lovable creature made a reappearance in Mass Effect Andromeda (it may not be the exact same one, but still). You can pick up the cute furball from the souvenirs shop on the Citadel, and it'll stay by your side on the Normandy until the end of its days. Google says hamsters can live for 2-3 years, but I like to think this space hamster is a little bit hardier than most. Surely we've found a way to extend their lifespans by 2185. Advances in tech mean nothing if our fur babies can't live as long as we do.

10/10: How could you look at this and think it's anything less than cute?

Varren

How can you look at a varren and not fall in love with it? These little guys hail from the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka, and as savage as they may seem, they can make for some pretty cute pets. Just look at Jack in Mass Effect 3, who lovingly adopts one who's developed biotic powers, and tell me you don't want one of your own.

Are they the perfect pet? Probably not. This one's best for experienced pet owners, but you're effectively getting a space dog who's loyal to a fault. In the famous words of Rosa Diaz, "I've only had (this varren) for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself."

8/10: This is like the equivalent of a space dog and if you train it right it'll be like a loyal pittie.

Pyjak

One look at a pyjak and I have mixed feelings. The eyes? Cute. I get a Baby Yoda vibe from them. The ears and mouth? Funny looking, but cute. Its pattern and markings? Exquisite. The long arms and legs? Less cute, more creepy. Still, a lot of people have a soft spot for monkeys, and pyjak are basically a form of space monkeys. You can find them across multiple different planets, and to prove they can make decent pets, you can even adopt one in Andromeda. It may not be the best pet for your ship, but it's small enough and can take care of itself... for the most part.

5/10: Points for the Baby Yoda eyes but the mouth creeps me out.

Shifty Looking Cow

What a jerk; this dude will rob you blind the moment you turn your back. I hope you didn't like those credits because they're gone. That cute face and stubby arms are just an act. Under no circumstance should you adopt it as a pet. Although, if you're a pickpocket or looking to make some extra change, this could be the exact pet you want to do your dirty work for you. No one will suspect a thing. The only reason it gets a 2.5/10 is because real-life cows are cute and I'm being generous.

2.5/10: Love the name but it ends up stealing your money.

Thresher Maw

I don't even know where to begin with this one. Too long. Too many legs. Giant worm. I've seen Tremors and I don't need this in my life. This thing is big enough to take down a Reaper. Even the smaller ones are pretty intimidating. I'm adding this to the list because I don't know your lives, and maybe you do need a Thresher Maw for whatever reason. Just be careful with it, they're difficult to tame. And honestly, where would you even keep it? Good luck finding a leash big enough.

-10/10: No.

There are plenty more alien creatures in Mass Effect, but these felt like the best to make up this list. We've got a mix of cute and cuddly to scary and intimidating, and the in-between "is it cute or is it creepy?" Be on the lookout for these when you're jumping into the Legendary Edition. Mass Effect is by far one of the best Xbox games to ever release, and it'll play even better now on Xbox Series X.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

Commander Shepard is returning this month to chart the course of the galaxy in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and there are no doubt going to be a number of returning players ready to chart it all over again.

You, as Commander Shepard, will make a number of choices in the game, whether you're resolving centuries-old conflicts or settling personal disputes. Choosing the destiny of everyone in the Milky Way is practically the central mechanic of the series! There are lots of these choices that are designed to spark debate, to challenge perspective, and to get you to see the world from a different point of view.

That said, not every choice you make in the game is a good one. Some of them are arbitrary, are presented too suddenly, or are so obviously skewed in one direction that it boggles the mind. With that in mind, here are the best and worst choices you'll make as Commander Shepard.

5th Best Mass Effect Decision: Save hostages or kill Balak

Bring Down the Sky is a Mass Effect story DLC that's built around a single, challenging choice, the two outcomes of which almost perfectly illustrate the differences between Paragon and Renegade, the two moral alignments for Shepard. A Batarian terrorist named Balak is planning to crash an asteroid into a very large human colony to reignite war between the two species. When Shepard thwarts his plan and catches up to him, he gives you the option of either rescuing a roomful of hostages but letting him go, or killing him but sacrificing hostages.

Both choices have their pros and cons. What can you live with more easily: Saving several innocents but letting a terrorist go free, or killing the terrorist but dooming the innocents? It's neither the first nor last time Shepard's called upon to make hard choices, but this is one of those that sticks with you precisely because neither way is right or better in the game. The only determining factor is what you, personally, think is the right thing to do.

5th Worst Mass Effect Decision: Cure the genophage or sabotage it

I'm starting the worst list with a choice that's confusing under a particular set of circumstances, albeit ones that I think most players will be likely to have for their playthroughs. Depending on whether you save Wrex on Virmire, either he or his brother Wreav will be the krogan leader on Tuchanka who demands you cure the genophage to earn the Krogan's help. A Salarian leader (who you don't know, by the way) contacts you and offers you help if you instead sabotage the cure so the genophage remains.

Now, if you're only doing this because you want to save Mordin in a playthrough with Wreav, taking this option is a bit more forgivable. However, if either Eve or Wrex are alive, then the only way you can sabotage the cure is to kill Mordin yourself — and Wrex later discovers your subterfuge, forcing you to kill him as well. It's a horrible, messy way to end this mission chain and I don't see what incentive any player who was attached enough to Wrex to save him on Virmire would have to take this path.

4th Best Mass Effect Decision: Rewrite or destroy the heretics

One of the most interesting things about Mass Effect is how it treats the alien races around humanity. They each have their own values and culture, and the series repeatedly gives the player the option to meet them on their own terms. One of the most obvious instances of this is in the Geth Legion's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2. Legion has discovered the home base of the faction of its people that sided with the Reapers, and tells Shepard they can either destroy them or, with a software patch, get them to rejoin the peaceful majority of the Geth.

Shepard immediately characterizes the latter as brainwashing, but Legion points out that they're seeing it as if the Geth are human, which they're not. It even says "Treating every species like one's own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphism." So you have the opportunity to look at the issue separated from humanity. It's an interesting decision to contemplate for that reason alone, and especially so because of how the Geth as a race see themselves. It's not something that'll challenge you on an emotional level, but it does provide a good thought exercise.

4th Worst Mass Effect Decision: Kill or spare Falere

Shepard, being the arbiter of life and death in these games, has the capacity to kill a lot of people. I don't just mean within the bounds of gameplay; there are several NPCs that Shepard can execute or spare at their discretion. For some, it makes sense, and there is a case to be made that it's safer to kill them — see, for example, Shiala, Fist, or Helena Blake. For others, it seems unnecessarily cruel to do so.

Falere is one of the daughters of Samara, and unlike her sister, has been living a quiet life until the Reapers show up to harvest her and her convent. Shepard and Samara (assuming Samara survived the events of ME2) rescue her, but are too late to save her sister Rila. As Falere is sobbing over her sister's death, Samara tries to commit suicide so she won't be forced to kill Falere. You can allow her to do so, then execute Falere yourself. It's one of the saddest and most pointlessly nasty things you can do in the game, and feels entirely unnecessary.

3rd Best Mass Effect Decision: Save Ashley or Kaiden on Virmire

This list of the "best" choices doesn't always mean the easiest or the one with the best outcome. These are sometimes the decisions that truly make you stop and think. The decision to pick either Kaiden or Ashley was a tricky one to include on this list because for many people I've spoken with, it wasn't a difficult decision at all. I've seen so many people who chose to not save Ashley because she's xenophobic, or Kaiden because he's "boring," or didn't feel strongly about them either way.

It'll all come down to how well you've connected with the characters, but if you had come to love them as your friends and members of your squad, then realizing you can't save both comes across like a punch to the gut. While there are other big choices later in the game, this feels like the one big choice the entire game was building towards.

3rd Worse Mass Effect Decision: Kill Samara or Morinth

There are some decisions in Mass Effect that appear to have been thrown in for no apparent reason than to have a choice exist, to remind players now and then that this isn't intended to be a strictly linear action-adventure story. The rather sudden choice at the end of Samara's loyalty mission, in which Shepard is offered the choice to kill either her or her daughter Morinth, feels like one of those.

It's worth pointing out that Morinth is a serial killer with 400 years' worth of victims to her name. Luring her out and then killing her is the entire point of the mission, and you get to see firsthand how nasty she is. So why would Shepard, who is on a mission to save the entire galaxy and who already has a powerful Asari they can actually trust sworn to their service, choose Morinth? I've heard some say it's in keeping for a Renegade Shepard's character, but I've always thought of Renegades as ruthless-but-pragmatic, and there's nothing pragmatic about Morinth.

2nd Best Mass Effect Decision: Save the Council or the Alliance Fleet

During the final battle on the Citadel, Shepard has to make a snap decision to either save the Destiny Ascension, which has the Citadel Council aboard, or to let the ship be destroyed by telling the human fleet to focus on destroying the Reaper Sovereign. It's a decision with galaxy-wide consequences, which can affect humanity's place in the political order for decades to come.

This choice is especially tricky because, unlike the others on this list, you can choose an outcome based on pure spite. The Council have been consistently uncooperative towards Shepard, refusing to listen to their warnings or help humanity unless there's a clear benefit to them. So when the Council's necks are on the chopping block, Shepard can turn their back for that reason, choosing to save their fellow humans instead. Do you want to be the bigger person, or do you want to save the people more likely to have your back?

2nd Worst Mass Effect Decision: Anderson or Udina as Councilor

The very, very last decision you make at the end of the first Mass Effect is who will take a spot on the Citadel Council to represent humanity's best interests. Your options are Donnel Udina, a stuffy career politician who is kind of a toolbag, or David Anderson, a morally upright military officer and one of the few people who trusts and respects Shepard without question.

I don't mean to be rude to Udina, but Anderson is Shepard's former CO, meaning the player has spent more time with him, and he's gotten the lion's share of positive characterization. Also, he's voiced by Keith David. He's just too appealing a choice. But what makes this choice extra questionable is that it ultimately makes no difference: Even if you choose Anderson, Udina is the councilor by the third game.

Best Mass Effect Decision: Kill or spare the Rachni Queen

If Mass Effect is about challenging your perceptions about what's right and what's just in a world of complex political and social situations, then this decision is practically the game's thesis statement. Shepard meets the Rachni Queen, the last potential mother to the dying Rachni race, who've been built up as this galaxy-threatening menace who had to be put down in the ancient Rachni Wars. The Queen, who's effectively confined to a gas chamber, gives you two choices: kill her then and there and end the Rachni threat for good, or let her out and trust that the race she intends to rebuild will be peaceful from that point on.

The best decisions in the series are the ones where there's no obviously "correct" or favorable answer. There are multiple things at play: Do you believe the Queen when she says her people are naturally peaceful and won't hurt anyone? How comfortable are you committing genocide with the touch of a button? Shepard gains nothing from this decision: It's all on you and what you think is right. I've often heard choices in games referred to (sometimes derisively) as morality systems, but this is one of the few times in a game where a decision has truly felt like a question of morality.

Worst Mass Effect Decision: The final choice

If you've played the games, you probably knew this was coming. The endgame choice in Mass Effect 3 was infamous at launch, and it's still infamous today. After spending a whole game constructing the Crucible weapon, risking life and limb to point it at the Reapers and press the big button, Shepard is suddenly transported into a dreamy, heretofore-unseen area and told by the space-ghost of a child that they actually have three options: destroy the Reapers (the red ending), control them (the blue ending), or synergize all life in the galaxy by fusing organic and synthetic life (the green ending).

The problem with this final outcome is that there's no real case made for any of these three endings. If the game had established early on that these were your choices, and you had the characters you've grown to love and trust — Anderson, Liara, Garrus, Hackett, all of them — giving you input on what each choice would mean, then it might, might feel like a choice with some philosophical weight behind it. Instead it boils down to what you, in that moment, think sounds the least objectionable. It's a huge letdown for the series.

New and returning players have the chance to carve their legends across the Milky Way when the Mass Effect Legendary Edition launches on the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One on May 14. Let us know if any of these choices stuck with you. Who did you save on Virmire? Who did you choose to romance (an underrated by still important decision)?

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

However you pronounce the Mako in Mass Effect (it's a soft "A" in case you wanted to know), it's not the only Mako out there. There's Mako from The Legend of Korra and a good ol' mako shark. But which one is better? Who would win in a fight? To celebrate Mass Effect: Legendary Edition releasing soon, we've decided to put those questions to the test.

If I did this Deadliest Warrior style, I think we all know the Mako (Mass Effect) would win by a landslide. Mako (Legend of Korra) might be a great firebender, but he's no match for a machine that can bounce across lava. And a mako shark would get squished. So instead, I'm going to rate them based on a few different categories.

Absolutely 0% of this is based in science, but this is my article and I'm taking it by the horns.

Strength

Nothing is going to beat the sheer strength of the Mako (Mass Effect). It can survive hazardous environments and treacherous landscapes, and it can handle a pretty decent beating from any threats it encounters. It's not going out of commission any time soon, no matter how janky the driving controls may be.

As for a mako shark, it definitely has the biting force, but its limited mobility on land makes me hesitant to call it strong in a way where it could win in a fight against non-sea dwelling creatures. It'll be as effective as a beached whale, without the threat of rolling over and flattening you. And Mako (Legend of Korra) may be a professional fighter and firebender, but he's known to lose fights from time to time. Plus, he definitely can't survive on a harsh alien planet like the Mako can.

Winner: Mako (Mass Effect)

Charisma

I think the winner in this category is obvious. The Mako (Mass Effect) is about as charismatic as a rock, and I'm not sure how interesting a mako shark is if you stayed with it for longer than an hour — this isn't My Octopus Teacher, after all. Mako (Legend of Korra), on the other hand, seems like a sweet guy, and he was an integral member of Team Avatar. And there's the fact that he's the only human on this list who can possibly have charisma. But if you want to follow a mako shark, I won't judge.

Winner: Mako (Legend of Korra)

Intelligence

OK, the Mako (Mass Effect) is only as smart as the driver behind the wheel. It's not an AI and can't think for itself, so it loses points in this category. Mako (Legend of Korra) is smart, but he can be a bit oblivious and doesn't always make the best decisions. (He joined the Republic City Police Force, come on). A mako shark, however, is considered to be one of the smartest shark species, with "extremely impressive critical reasoning and social skills" (via Sharksider). Those funny faces can be hiding a big brain. Some makos have even been able to determine whether or not researchers posed a threat to them.

Winner: Mako shark

Adaptability

Playing into its strengths, the Mako (Mass Effect) can adapt to most environments and to most situations. It has eight independently reversible wheels, canons, micro-thrusters, and can be air-dropped safely from hundreds of yards. Not to mention, the armored shell encompassing the beast. A mako shark is about as useful as wet cardboard if it's on land, so it loses adaptability points there. Mako (Legend of Korra) comes in at a close second. We've seen how he evolved over the course of the series, in no small part due to his adaptability, but he just can't compete with a tank.

Winner: Mako (Mass Effect)

Ultimate Winner: Mako (Mass Effect)

The Mako in Mass Effect is a legendary vehicle fit for the Legendary Edition of the series, what are considered to be some of the best Xbox games ever released. And none of this is to say you can't love Mako (Legend of Korra) or mako sharks. For the purposes of this article, the Mako (Mass Effect) had to win, but by all means argue away as to which Mako is truly the best.

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

In my last semester of college, I had a sci-fi English class with a few fellow Mass Effect uberfans who were all so hyped for Mass Effect 3. We made plans to hunt down the Space Edition balloon that ended up stuck in a tree. We messaged one another about our favorite epic moments like the thresher maw attack. We built up our galactic readiness together in multiplayer.

Then, we reached the ending, and it felt a bit like our balloon of Mass Effect passion had been popped and was slowly, noisily fizzling out around us on the internet. There was a collective disappointment bordering on rage that players' 200ish-hour playthroughs had ended in such a confusing, unsatisfying way.

Gaming forums and blogs went into full-on fury mode. YouTubers started trying to salvage the ending with elaborate theories. Bioware released ending DLC to counter some of the criticisms, and people slowly moved on.

Now that the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is shipping on May 14 with the Extended Cut DLC as the default, with no way to choose the original ending, we decided to revisit the original ending and all its controversies and fan reactions. And as you play through the series again and prepare to make your choice, it's time to decide if Mass Effect 3's ending deserves the vitriol or deserves a second chance.

Beware spoilers for the Mass Effect ending below. Do not read on until you've completed the trilogy.

How the Mass Effect 3 leak affected the ending

Similar to how the Last of Us II leaked before launch and sparked fan outrage, a version of the Mass Effect 3 script leaked a few months before launch with some controversial scenes players didn't like. Unlike Naughty Dog, which stuck to its guns, Bioware allegedly changed major story beats of the final game so that players wouldn't know what was coming.

That script is hard to find online these days, but thanks to Redditors we know some fascinating details of what (allegedly) could have been in Mass Effect 3:

• Javik wasn't just a Prothean survivor; he was the Catalyst to the Crucible. When he awakes on Eden Prime, he causes so much chaos and death that Shepard is blamed and loses their spectre status.
• Kai Leng frames Shepard for the murder of a spectre, turning Kaidan or Ashley against you. During the Thessia confrontation, you must choose to save either Liara or the Virmire survivor.
• After the Citadel coup / saving the council again, Shepard is given the title "Lord Protector of the Galaxy".
• Zaeed infiltrates Cerberus to assassinate its leaders and learn more about how the troops are being augmented with Reaper tech.
• The final Priority: Earth mission, like the ending of Mass Effect 2, would have had more interactivity and consequences. As Lord Protector, you would have to order ships and troops to protect the Crucible's approach, sacrificing troops and potentially fan-favorite characters in the process.
• You sync the Crucible to the Citadel as per the original ending. You learn revelations from the Starchild, then must choose to destroy, control, or "become one" with the Reapers.

This truly only scratches the surface. Old Mass Effect 1 and 2 characters like Emily Wong, Kal'Reegar, and the Consort had major roles that were cut, benched Mass Effect 2 characters like Thane and Kasumi had longer missions, and villains like Udina were given more context for their actions. But a rushed production schedule and the leak caused Bioware to abandon many plot threads and push out a more streamlined, simplified plot.

Concerning Mass Effect 3's ending, it's intriguing how little changed, despite how many differences there were in the story leading up to it. It's also true that the leak didn't really reveal many details about the ending aside from the final choice.

One of the big criticisms of the Mass Effect ending is that none of your prior decisions or morality really affect it. Based on the leak, I can't help but wonder if Bioware had to make the ending isolated from the rest of the game out of necessity. It didn't know how many plot points it would be able to squeeze into the final product or what they'd have to change, so they made an ending with a single, solitary choice.

The original ending, the Extended Cut, and the indoctrination theory

From the moment Shepard and the surviving Earth troops start charging towards the Citadel sky beam, things get confusing and depressing in the original Mass Effect 3 ending.

When Harbinger blasts you, survivors on the radio declare your whole team dead and retreat; it's heavily implied that your squadmates and assault team all died, including Captain Anderson. You warp into the Citadel, where Anderson informs you that he entered the beam right behind you but is somehow ahead of you. After the Illusive Man confrontation, Admiral Hackett suddenly contacts you to inform you that the Crucible isn't working — even though he has no reason to know you're still alive.

You encounter the mysterious Catalyst (aka Starchild). He informs you of your choices to destroy, control, or synthesize with the Reapers, arguing that organics and synthetics are doomed to kill one another. You accept his claims without protest, despite your friendship with EDI and your work to unite the Geth and Quarians against all odds.

After you choose, the mass effect relays all blow up — which, according to Mass Effect's own codex entries and the Arrival DLC, would obliterate any habitable planets within range, killing billions of sentients no matter which ending you chose. The Normandy barely escapes the blast, which implies that the rest of the fleet you recruited all died in the explosion. Then, the game ends.

All of this combines to make the ending seem like a horrifying fever dream rather than a coherent narrative or triumphant victory. And that's why so many people gravitated towards the indoctrination theory, which suggests the ending is an elaborate mental test for Shepard, whose mind Harbinger is attempting to "assume direct control" over.

Choosing destroy meant you fought off Harbinger's influence — which is why it's the only ending where Shepard can survive — while choosing synthesis or control means you fall for the same temptation that corrupted Saren and the Illusive Man. It may sound far-fetched, but the above video shows enough in-game evidence that you can understand why gamers embraced the theory.

Was this intended by the developers? Almost certainly not. In an interview with The Gamer, Bioware writer Chris Hepler said that while he's a fan of the theory, the developers: "made some of the ending a little trippy because Shepard is a breath away from dying and it's entirely possible there's some subconscious power to the kid's words, we never had the sort of meetings you'd need to have to properly seed (the Indoctrination Theory) through the game...We weren't that smart."

The ending's vagueness was either a stylistic choice or one born out of a rushed production schedule. Either way, the developers responded by releasing the Extended Cut, which focused on removing the above plot holes and giving you more information about the impact of your choices.

The Mass Effect wiki has a great summary of the changes. For starters, you see firsthand whether your squadmates survive or perish. You learn that only the Normandy is caught in the blast because Joker didn't want to leave you behind. Bioware also retconned the relay explosions to say they were only damaged, among other changes of that nature.

Most importantly, it added a fourth ending option where you refuse to use the Crucible, allowing Harbinger and friends to harvest the galaxy. Most players who wanted to beat the Reapers in a straight fight saw this option as a slap in the face more than an olive branch.

The Extended Edition cleaned up plot holes but didn't change the fact that the Reapers really were too powerful to be stopped. You had to use the deus ex machina of the Crucible to defeat them, and in-game actions like saving both the Geth and Quarians only mattered because they slightly raised your Effective Military Strength. You could do the same by playing a few rounds of multiplayer.

Alternative Mass Effect endings

People have talked for years about Mass Effect 2 writer Drew Karpyshyn's alternative ending to the series, where the Reapers were "wiping out organic life because organics keep evolving to the state where they would use biotics and dark energy and that caused an entropic effect that would hasten the end of the universe."

Mass Effect 3 writer Chris Hepler, meanwhile, told The Gamer that he wanted to turn the Crucible into a specialized Reaper-killing nuke based off of a superweapon in a sci-fi novel he liked, but that he never had time to pitch the idea before Bioware leads chose the current ending.

It's tempting to think about the what-ifs of how different the Mass Effect ending could have been. However, the dark matter ending, where you would potentially have to sacrifice organic life to stop the universe from dying, could have been just as bleak and isolated from your past in-game decisions (dark energy is also barely mentioned in ME1 and ME2).

Hepler's ending, meanwhile, would have felt just as much like a deus ex machina, with a superweapon that conveniently only hurts reapers but doesn't hurt people. It also could have led to Bioware getting sued for plagiarism, by Hepler's own admission.

Bioware didn't lay the groundwork for any specific ending in its first two games and made the Reapers too powerful to beat conventionally. I'd argue that no matter which galaxy-saving superweapon you used — or justification the Reapers used to harvest organic life — no ending was going to feel entirely earned or natural.

Reactions to the final Mass Effect 3 ending

In the most notorious reaction to the Mass Effect ending, one superfan sent 400 cupcakes to Bioware's offices; all of them were vanilla flavored, with red, blue, and green frosting on top to represent the three endings. The implication was that the different colors (or endings) couldn't mask that the cupcake tasted bland and identical no matter which you chose.

Players also lamented the lack of a final boss battle, noting that the last enemy you fight is a single shielded Marauder that automatically shoots you as you walk towards the sky beam. It eventually became a meme that a Turian named Marauder Shields had tried heroically to stop the player from experiencing Mass Effect's "terrible" ending.

Fans' disappointment and emotional responses at the time were at least understandable. But now that we're far enough out to think rationally and critically about the ending, I asked my colleagues for their thoughts. Here were their responses, condensed for brevity:

"None of the three main endings are particularly 'good.' Destroy is probably the least problematic ending since you can rebuild AI after the Crucible destroys them all. If you want to play a Shep who wants to maintain her sense of control, Refusal is a fun way to go, but I can't see a world where Shep just outright doesn't deal with the Reaper threat. Overall, the main problem with the endings isn't that it doesn't take into account your choices, but that none of them are satisfying for the player. Either Shep gives up control over her own being or commits genocide. Nobody wins." — Carli Velocci

"I think the criticism about the ending was very overblown, and I think it overshadowed everything else that was great about ME3. Even if the ending wasn't great, the rest of that game still had a ton of emotional and satisfying conclusions to story arcs." — Brendan Lowry

"None of the options in that final choice are set up for Shepard. Every other time there's a big decision in the series — like with the Rachni queen — other characters comment to present the pros and cons. This is necessary because it establishes the consequences of each choice. With the finale, you pick an ending and boom, cutscene. There's no emotional investment, no real feeling of weight to the choices. When I can pick the ending of a game with less passion than I have for picking a flavor of ice cream, something is wrong." — Rachel Kaser

"At the time, I thought people's response was completely overblown. What I realized was that the endings themselves weren't necessarily the issue. It basically didn't matter what you did throughout an entire series that was supposed to evolve with your choices; your actions in the game end up being almost meaningless. With that said, I actually loved the destroy ending and felt it made the most sense in the story's context." — Nick Sutrich

I generally agree with both sides of the debate. On the one hand, I found it melodramatic when people said the ending ruined the entire series. ME3 still had satisfying payoff moments like the genophage cure that culminated from all three games' storylines. I still replayed it with my other Shepards and enjoyed the main story beats every time.

On the other hand, I can't deny that the ending is incredibly unsatisfying and gives you a series of deeply unpleasant options.

Choose Destroy, and you commit genocide against the Geth and the previously harvested civilizations kept within the Reapers. Choosing Control preserves the status quo in the galaxy, but converts you into a synthetic consciousness that subsumes the other Reapers, then isolates you in deep space away from your friends and loved ones — making it unclear how much of your identity will survive centuries later to stop the Reapers from returning.

Synthesis, despite being the "best" solution according to the Catalyst, converts the galaxy into a giant hive mind without anyone's consent, removing people's privacy of thought and possibly their individuality. And Refusal, of course, means standing and watching as everyone dies.

Which Mass Effect ending is your favorite?

We're all excited to replay the original trilogy, even if the ending may leave a sour taste in our mouths. The original Mass Effect is getting the biggest gameplay and graphical overhaul, Mass Effect 2 is one of the best Xbox games ever, and Mass Effect 3 has the Citadel DLC: the amazing, fanservicey ending to the series that diehard fans deserved.

In my case, I'm much more excited for the next Mass Effect, whether it turns out to be a sequel to the original games, Mass Effect: Andromeda, or both.

Whenever it is set, the new game will have to address the elephant in the room: which Mass Effect 3 ending Bioware decides is canon. The differences between them are far too drastic to let players have a choice between the three.

So, which ending do you hope Bioware will extend into the next game? Did you have a more positive (or negative) reaction to Mass Effect 3's ending than we did? Let us know in the comments!

Learn more secrets and tips for Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

• Mass Effect 3's ending revisited
• The ultimate Mako showdown
• Best and worst decisions you can make
• Can these aliens be pets?
• Rare scenes you probably missed
• What the Mass Effect Legendary Edition enhances
• What can the next Mass Effect learn from the remaster?
• Why we'll miss the multiplayer
• Now it's Dragon Age's turn

What you need to know

• Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy for current-gen consoles and PCs.
• EA has released details on the Legendary Edition's performance on each of the consoles.
• The Legendary Edition will come with two gameplay modes: One favoring quality, and the other favoring framerate.

Electronic Arts released performance details of the upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition, including what kind of framerate and output resolution to expect from each console version of the game. There are two kinds of gameplay modes you can switch between at any time: Favor Quality and Favor Framerate.

These two modes appear to correspond roughly to the "Performance" and "Quality" modes we've seen in other games. Favor Quality gives you "the highest visual fidelity possible," while Favor Framerate, as the name suggests, "prioritizes the highest framerate possible." EA gives a table that shows how each of those plays on each of the consoles.

On PS4 Pro, for example, Favor Quality mode offers "up to 30FPS @ 4K UHD," while Favor Framerate mode offers "up to 60FPS @ 1440p."

The Xbox One X and the Xbox Series S will have a comparable level of performance. The most powerful version of the game on offer, going by this table, appears to be the Xbox Series X version, but only by a slim margin: Its numbers are almost the same as those for the PS5, but the Favor Framerate mode on Series X offers "up to 120FPS @ 1440p," where the PS5 version of the mode only goes up to 60fps.

The list also mentions PC almost as an afterthought. PC gamers can play at up to 240fps and on monitors supporting refresh rates up to 240 Hz. EA adds, "Additionally, players can tweak several graphics options at any time to finetune the preferred balance of graphics and performance."

EA has shown multiple screenshots and trailers that demonstrate how much more intricate and detailed the graphics in the updated games are compared with the original. So we know the games are going to be pretty regardless of what console you play them on. We can also already glean that the remastered trilogy is going to be a powerhouse on console. Leaked news about the game's Day One patch shows that it's allegedly bigger than any of the original games at 11.8 GB.

What you need to know

• Electronic Arts is releasing a remaster of the Mass Effect Trilogy, called the Legendary Edition, on May 14.
• The Legendary Edition is getting a number of quality of life updates to fix problems and improve gameplay.
• It's released a new trailer showing off the visual makeover it's given to the characters and environments.

EA and Bioware today released a new trailer showing off the updates to the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, along with a blog post detailing the visual and graphical overhaul coming with the remaster. From the looks of things, the update is very noticeable, and will make some of the locations and characters look almost unrecognizable.

Naturally, given its age, most of the examples of the improvements are shown with the original Mass Effect for the sake of contrast. And it is a big contrast — the character models from the first game look practically primitive by comparison. You can make out the hex pattern on Tali's environmental suit, the details in Liara's eyes, every one of Ashley's eyelashes.

Most of the character models appear to have been given subtle tweaks to look a little less odd — for example, Liara's aforementioned eyes are less wide and spaced slightly further apart, and her skin is bluer and more consistent with her character model in the third game. Commander Shepard's appearance has also been

There have also been updates to the world and lighting. Scenes are no longer lit so dimly you have to squint to see what's going on. The artists gave the game's environments a new look: "New environmental particle effects were added throughout the trilogy to better enhance the mood and a space's sense of life." Everything's been "beautified," as well — their word, not mine.

The blog post gives full details on how this was done, including how much foundational work had to be done before the actual makeover could begin. Several of the changes were made not just for beauty, but in service to the lore — Eden Prime was reworked in the first game to look more like the "verdant paradise planet" it's intended to be.

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition launches on May 14 for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It'll also be available on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 via those consoles' backwards compatibility.

Bioware revealed in a post about the upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition remaster that, among its other gameplay tweaks, it'd be making adjustments to the Mako, the vehicle Commander Shepard drives over the small, open-world planetary surface maps that dot the various systems. The Mako is well-loved by Mass Effect fans despite its infamously poor handling. The reasons it's so highly regarded wouldn't make a lot of sense — and it's almost disappointing to see Bioware "fix" this lovably broken tank.

To give some context, here are the adjustments the developers of the Legendary Edition plan to make to the Mako: * Improved handling * Improved camera controls * Shields recharge faster * New thrusters added for a speed boost * Shields recharge faster * New thrusters added for a speed boost * 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

Not a single one of these changes is undeserved. The Mako in the original Mass Effect was incredibly frustrating to control, and it would frequently perish when traversing lava. It definitely didn't feel like the feat of engineering you'd expect the Normandy's ground vehicle to be.

And yet, the Mako is one of the most strangely loveable elements of the original Mass Effect. For all its objective "badness" as an element of the first game's design, it has a silly charm, this personality that sticks in your memory for good or for ill. As much as these changes are probably necessary, it'll be sad if the Mako gets all of its charm sanded off in the name of "better" gameplay.

What's to like about the original Mako?

The Mako's appeal is by no means universal; there are plenty of gamers who will be happy to see this chunky beast retooled to be more manageable. But it does have its fans, so what to do they see in the Mako?

There's something about gaming that breeds fondness via exposure. We get more attached to annoying things in games the longer we're around them, and we become almost protective of them when someone else points out how annoying they are. It's why, after 200 hours playing as my Warden in Dragon Age Origins, I will defend to my death the line, "Can I get you a ladder so you can get off my back?"

I think that's part of the Mako's appeal. Even the Mako's diehard defenders won't tell you it's a good or reliable vehicle. Like the Legendary Edition notes point out, "the physics tuning for the Mako made it feel too light and bouncy, even at times becoming uncontrollable." It also only had jump jets, so the only way the player could get momentum if they became stuck — say, by trying to climb a steep hillside — was by firing the jump jets, which would frequently send them away from the very ground upon which they were seeking purchase.

But after hours of driving, shooting down thresher maws and navigating rocky landscapes, the player learns the Mako's quirks. You develop a way of handling it through familiarity, and after a while it becomes less of a nuisance and more of an amusement. Again, your mileage may vary, but it's an explanation of why some people might be fond of the Mako while others want to break their gaming keyboards over it.

Related to the above, however, is another reason the Mako was likeable: It was interesting. Traversal in open worlds is rarely the most exciting part of any game. Either what breaks up the traversal makes it fun, or the developers have to make traversal itself fun in some way. The latter is the case with the original Mako, though I don't think that was the intention. Whether you were grappling with the Mako's handling or driving it off cliffs, the Mako was at least a diversion. If the Mako were as reliable a gameplay staple as, say, its successor the Hammerhead, it'd make exploring Mass Effect's vast, mostly empty landscapes kind of boring.

For what it's worth, the developers promise that they're not removing that element of chaotic fun that makes the Mako and the parts of the game where you drive it so memorable: "This legendary vehicle from the first Mass Effect has been "calibrated" to perform better than ever… it's now a much smoother ride while still being "loveable" like before. (Yes, you can still drive off cliffs to your heart's content)."

What you need to know

• Bioware and Electronic Arts are releasing an updated remaster of the Mass Effect trilogy called the Legendary Edition.
• The developers have released details on the specific gameplay changes you can see in the Legendary Edition, most of them being to the first game.
• The biggest changes will be making the combat more like it is in the second and third games, and the Mako vehicle is easier to drive.

Bioware today released a new blog post revealing more details about the upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition — more specifically, details about how the gameplay will differ between this remaster and the original games. It seems that, for the most part, changes have been made to the first game, and they include updates to the rocky combat and the clunky Mako vehicle.

The gameplay (can it wait for a bit? I'm in the middle of some) calibrations listed centered mostly around Mass Effect's combat, which was significantly different from its two predecessors. The developers recognize that "weapons in Mass Effect often felt less accurate and reliable than the gunplay in Mass Effect 2 and 3." To combat this, they've rebalanced the weapons for better accuracy and you'll no longer have the reticle widen wildly after you take a couple of shots. In addition, weapons in the first game — which ran on a heat system rather than ammo — will cool down much faster.

Another major change is to the Mako, the vehicle which Shepard and company used to explore planetary surfaces. The Mako was known (infamous, really) for being very difficult to control over the often rocky landscapes on which the player had to drive it, and doing so was often a frustrating, if amusing, endeavor. Now Bioware proposes to fix the Mako by improving its handling, giving it thrusters for speed (before it only had those for "bounce") while improving the physics around it.

There are a handful of other updates, including the character creator now being consistent across all three games, with Female Shepard's default face being her appearance in Mass Effect 3. New achievements have also been added, and the settings are now universal across all three games. A big change to Mass Effect 3 is tweaking the Galaxy at War feature, which was originally influenced by the multiplayer mode that won't be in the Legendary Edition.

The game launches for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on May 14, 2021, with the Xbox Series X and PS5 getting it via forward compatibility.

What you need to know

• Anthem Next was a planned overhaul of Anthem's many gameplay mechanics, such as the loot system.
• Anthem Next has been canceled according to an update shared by BioWare.
• The studio is now shifting to focus specifically on the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games.

Anthem Next, the planned overhaul for Anthem that would see the game's systems evolve in response to player feedback, has been canceled. This news comes straight from BioWare, who shared a blog post from studio director Christian Dailey on why the decision was being made.

Dailey explains that the resources needed to properly develop Anthem Next, combined with BioWare shifting into work-from-home mode because of the global pandemic, a difficult call had to be made.

"I know this will be disappointing to the community of Anthem players who have been excited to see the improvements we've been working on. It's also disappointing for the team who were doing brilliant work," Dailey writes. "And for me personally, Anthem is what brought me to BioWare, and the last two years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my career."

Daily also states that moving forward, BioWare is completely pivoting to "laser focus" on the next Dragon Age and the next Mass Effect games.

More immediately, BioWare has Mass Effect: Legendary Edition coming on May 14, 2021, bringing a remaster of the first three Mass Effect games to modern platforms, with a whole host of differences.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a remaster compilation of the first three classic Mass Effect games.
• EA has shared multiple screenshots showing the kinds of enhancements players can expect.
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is set to release on May 14, 2021.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is on the way, with a new gameplay trailer, tons of information and more. Additionally, if you want an idea of just how much work has gone into remastering these titles, EA and BioWare have shared a handful of screenshots from the first game.

In addition to the shot above of Sovereign on Eden Prime, you can take a look at some comparisons for the planet Virmire below. The original version of the game is on the left, while the Legendary Edition is on the right. You can tap or click the images to enlarge them.

Source: EA (screenshot)

Here's another set of comparison shots, this time on Feros:

Source: EA (screenshot)

The original Mass Effect had the most changes in this remaster, with the UI and controls changed to match later titles more closely. Over 40 DLC packs are included in this remaster, with the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer and Pinnacle Station not being included.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is coming to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, PS5 and PS4 on May 14, 2021. BioWare is also working on a new Mass Effect game altogether but it's along ways off.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a remaster compilation of three classic Mass Effect games.
• There's a whole host of improvements, especially to the first game.
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is set to be released on May 14, 2021.

After months of rumors and speculation, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was announced on N7 Day: November 7, 2020. Now, BioWare and Electronic Arts have shared exactly when we'll get to play this remaster collection. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition's release date is set for May 14, 2021.

You can check out the reveal trailer for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition below:

Across all platforms, textures have been reworked and over 40 DLC packs are included, with the Extended Cut endings now the default, while the promo weapons and armors among those DLCs addded. Everything is filed under a single launcher, while fans of the Mass Effect 3 FemShep will be happy to know she's now the default female appearance for all three games.

BioWare has done additional work to "unify" the three games, with better UI and controls for the first Mass Effect, as well as new character creator options, though the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer unfortunately is not included.

When Mass Effect: Legendary Edition releases on May 14, 2021, It'll be available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC, PS5 and PS4. It's enhanced for the higher-end consoles, running at 4K 60 FPS on Xbox Series X and PS5.

The next Mass Effect game is a long ways off but is being built by a team of veteran developers at BioWare. It's still a long ways off but there's a few things we can glean about where the series might be going.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• BioWare's Mass Effect 2 released in 2010.
• One of the squadmates, Jack, is available as a romance for male Shepard but not female Shepard.
• According to one of the writers at BioWare, Jack was meant to be available as a romance option for female Shepard.
• This was cut due to fears of backlash like from Fox News.

The Mass Effect games are notorious for their many romance options but one particular romance in 2010's Mass Effect 2 may have been cut for reasons other than development constraints. Tattooed biotic prodigy Jack is available for a male Shepard to romance but not female Shepard. Speaking with TheGamer, Brian Kindregan, writer at BioWare for portions of Mass Effect 2 including Jack and Samara, says that Jack wasn't available for female Shepard to romance for fear of backlash like from Fox News.

"Mass Effect had been pretty heavily and really unfairly criticized in the US by Fox News, which at the time... maybe more people in the world thought that there was a connection between reality and what gets discussed on Fox News," Kindregan said.

Fox News held an infamous "discussion" around the dangers of a game like Mass Effect portraying realistic sexual intimacy. As a result of this backlash, elements around the possible romance options were altered. Kindregan notes the team was trying to handle this with care, and that "it wasn't like some anti-gay person high up on the Mass Effect 2 team saying, 'we're not going to have that'."

Actress Courtenay Taylor who portrayed Jack said she was always of the belief that Jack was meant to be pansexual, saying "It's funny to me because my understanding was always that she was pansexual. So I don't know if that's just something I inferred from the character or something that she said that maybe got cut. I was surprised there wasn't a female romance possible because that was my understanding. I think it was the time, you know? That was, what - 2008/2009? The industry has changed exponentially since then, and BioWare was leading the charge on that."

Mass Effect 2 is included in the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remastered collection, which is meant to release sometime in Spring 2021. Additionally, a new Mass Effect game is in development, with work being done by a "veteran team." Platforms have not been announced but considering how far out that game is, we can safely expect it to be available on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PS5.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Mass Effect is a legendary sci-fi RPG series that dropped off the map slightly with its last controversial release, Andromeda.
• It's only fitting, however, that the legendary series get a Legendary Edition, with the original trilogy being remastered for modern platforms.
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition includes the first three Mass Effect games and all released DLC and updates, with improved textures, resolutions, and performance.
• Now, thanks to two separate retailers, we may have a previously unknown release date of March 12, 2021, for the Mass Effect collection.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is bringing back the much-beloved sci-fi RPG series with modern graphics, performance, and features and is currently available for pre-order. However, until now, we had no clue when the game collection would officially release. Thanks to a new report from Eurogamer, there's a good chance that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be launching on modern gaming platforms, including Xbox, Playstation, and PC, on March 12, 2021. Two separate retailers, Shopitree from Singapore and GSShop from Indonesia, have Mass Effect: Legendary Edition listed with this release date, solidifying the rumor.

Of course, this is still a rumor, as EA hasn't confirmed an official release date, so take this with a grain of salt. If this is true, however, players won't have long to wait before they can jump into the original Mass Effect trilogy all over again, this time with improved textures, resolutions, framerates, technical features, and more. It's not clear how dramatic of a remaster the Legendary Edition will be, but it's still exciting for all Mass Effect fans. The game collection will include Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3, as well as all previously released DLC and game updates for the series.

When the series was announced, Casey Hudson from Bioware had the following to say:

We'll have to wait longer to see if this leaked release date is actually real, but either way, interested players can pre-order Mass Effect: Legendary Edition right now on Amazon for Xbox One and PS4, and the collection is also dropping on PC. There will also be specific enhancements for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

Prepare to jump into Mass Effect's incredible original trilogy all over again by upgrading your TV with one of the Best 4K TVs for Xbox Series X|S. A remaster of one of gaming's legendary franchises deserves the best to show off its shiny new graphics.

A new Mass Effect game is coming. For countless players, those words alone are enough to bring back exciting memories and inspire hope for what could be next in this franchise. It's still very early days for this role-playing title, but BioWare released a trailer during the Game Awards 2020 that gives us some interesting clues as to just what is in store.

Here's everything you need to know about the next Mass Effect.

What is the next Mass Effect?

The existence of a new Mass Effect game was first confirmed back in November 2020 on N7 Day, with BioWare stating that a team of veterans were working on the next entry in the series. A teaser trailer was then unveiled during the Game Awards 2020.

This title doesn't even have a proper name right now, with the first trailer instead simply opting to say "Mass Effect will continue."

While you wait, you may want to try out the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which is a collection of the first three games remastered with various improvements and over 40 DLC packs.

Next Mass Effect trailers

The first ever trailer for the next Mass Effect game was revealed during the Game Awards 2020. You can check out the teaser trailer above.

Is the next Mass Effect set after Mass Effect: Andromeda?

We don't know exactly when this game is set but at first glance, it appears that the next Mass Effect game is set sometime after the events of Mass Effect 3 in the far future. We see dead Reapers, or at least frozen and immobilized, as well as what appears to be an older Liara T'Soni.

It could be set after Mass Effect: Andromeda but at the moment, there's not enough evidence to say for certain.

Does the next Mass Effect feature Commander Shepard?

During the teaser trailer, a fragment of N7 armor is picked up, identical to the iconic gear worn by Commander Shepard. With that said, if this game is long in the future, there's no way Shepard is alive.

When is the next Mass Effect's release date set for?

This game won't be ready for a while. It doesn't have a name or release window, with the next BioWare to be released likely Dragon Age 4. Years from now, when the next Mass Effect game is released, it could very well end up as one of the best Xbox RPGs available.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Geoff Keighley capped off The Game Awards with a cryptic teaser from BioWare.
• Mass Effect is set to "continue" in some form, according to the video.
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is still set for 2021.

In a surprise and very cryptic announcement at the end of The Game Awards, host Geoff Keighley introduced a teaser that just said "Mass Effect will continue." This was followed by a tweet from the official Mass Effect Twitter that a new chapter in the series is now in early production.

There wasn't much else in the teaser. We saw a glimpse of a few planets and stars as the camera zoomed throughout the galaxy. A hooded figure is then seen climbing up a snowy, windy mountain where they uncover a piece of armor with the N7 emblem on it. Then, it's revealed that the hooded figure is an Asari and there's a dead Reaper in the background. It's unclear if the Asari is Liara, but it appears to be.

Michael Gamble, project director at BioWare, adds even more to the mystery in a tweet that tells people to listen closely to the audio in the teaser (which we will be doing momentarily).

It was previously announced that a new Mass Effect was in develpoment with a "veteran team," but now we know it's moving forward.

BioWare fans were spoiled this year for announcements. The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, which will include remastered versions of the three original games in the series, is set to come out in Spring 2021 and was officially announced during N7 Day celebrations this year. It's set to release for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, PS4 and PS5.

Also, during the Game Awards this year was a new Dragon Age trailer, which showed off everybody's favorite problematic romantic interest Solas and some snappy-looking graphics.

It's also been an interesting year for the studio as a whole. Anthem, which debuted last year to mixed results, is set to get a huge overhaul called Anthem Next. Just last week, Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah, veterans of the studio, announced they were leaving after decades with the company.

What you need to know

• Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah both have a long history at BioWare.
• Having formerly left BioWare before returning and becoming studio head, Hudson is now leaving.
• Darrah, executive producer on the Dragon Age franchise, is also leaving.
• Electronic Arts is now looking for a new head of studio for BioWare, while a new Dragon Age producer has already been chosen.

Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah, GM of BioWare and executive producer of Dragon Age games, respectively, are leaving BioWare. This news comes from a new blog post that also confirms the studio's existing projects are continuing, including the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remaster, Dragon Age 4 and a new Mass Effect game.

Samantha Ryan will be overseeing BioWare for now until a new studio head is selected, while Christian Dailey, formerly of Blizzard Entertainment, is taking the role of executive producer on the next Dragon Age game currently in development, on which Matthew Goldman remains creative director. Mike Gamble is leading the team working on the recently-revealed new Mass Effect game.

Hudson worked at BioWare on games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect until 2014, when he joined Microsoft Studios. He then rejoined BioWare in 2017 as the new studio head. Darrah, another longtime veteran, worked on the Baldur's Gate franchise before eventually becoming executive producer on the entire Dragon Age series.

It'll be interesting to see what projects both Hudson and Darrah work on next. Several former members of BioWare, including James Ohlen and Drew Karpyshyn, have begun a new studio under Wizards of the Coast called Archetype Entertainment. This team is now working on an untitled multiplatform science-fiction role-playing game.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Today is N7 Day, an annual celebration of all things Mass Effect.
• BioWare and Electronic Arts announced the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remaster collection today.
• Additionally, Studio GM of BioWare Casey Hudson confirmed that a new Mass Effect game is officially in development by a "veteran team."

While the announcement of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition remaster coming in Spring 2021 is some of the biggest news for N7 Day, it wasn't the only thing BioWare had to share. Studio GM Casey Hudson confirmed that a new Mass Effect game is being developed by a "veteran team." You can read his full statement below.

BioWare was teasing a new entry two years ago. Meanwhile, Jason Schreier reported that a new game was in early pre-production last year. so after the reception of Mass Effect: Andromeda and the closure of BioWare Montreal, it'll be interesting to see where the series goes next. With Dragon Age 4 also in development, it's likely a long ways off.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is a remastered package of the first three Mass Effect games.
• It includes all DLC, with improved textures, resolution and framerates.
• Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is set to release for consoles and PC at some point in 2021.

For months, the internet has been ablaze with the rumors of the Mass Effect trilogy being remastered for modern consoles and PC. The existence of this remaster collection was first leaked months ago thanks to Jeff Grubb at VentureBeat. Now, Electronic Arts and Bioware have officially announced Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition includes all three games and while it isn't a complete remake, the games now feature better textures and shaders alongside higher resolution and framerates. All the DLC packs are also included, even promo items, so you can experience every bit of side content the galaxy has to offer. The timing of the announcement is perfect as the Mass Effect community is celebrating N7 Day.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is set to release for Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, PS4 and PS5 in Spring 2021. BioWare also confirmed it is developing a new Mass Effect game.

Xbox Series X/S

Main

• Xbox Series X: Everything we know
• Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
• List of Xbox Series X specs
• What is the Xbox Series X release date?
• How much does Xbox Series X cost?
• Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
• Best Xbox Series X Headsets

What you need to know

• Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda have both been brought to Steam by EA in a surprise move.
• Originally, both games were exclusive to Origin, EA's PC gaming distribution platform.
• All DLC for both games is available as well.
• Both games are on sale for 50% off until July 9, 2020.

In a surprise move, EA has brought both Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda to Steam. Previously, both games were exclusive to Origin, which is EA's own distribution service. The DLC for both games is available on Steam as well. All of Mass Effect 3's singleplayer expansions (including the Extended Cut ending) are sold as part of a bundle, while Mass Effect: Andromeda's multiplayer DLC packs are sold individually. Now that all of Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda are on Steam, fans can now enjoy the entire Mass Effect franchise in one place instead of having to swap between Steam and Origin.

Both games are also on sale for 50% off on Steam until July 9, 2020 as part of a promotion. This sale extends to Mass Effect 3's DLC bundle, but it doesn't apply to Mass Effect: Andromeda's multiplayer packs. Still, it's nice that Steam users will be able to get Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda for a great price right away.

Will you be getting these games on Steam? Let us know. Mass Effect 3 and Mass Effect: Andromeda are available for $15 right now on Steam. On Xbox One, the games are even cheaper.

Affordable accessories that'll pair perfectly with your PC

Every one of these awesome PC accessories will enhance your everyday experience — and none cost more than $30.

KLIM Aim RGB gaming mouse ($30 at Amazon)

Whether you're a gamer or not, this is an absurdly good mouse for the price. It's ambidextrous, has a responsive sensor, a braided cable, tank-like build quality, and, yes, it has RGB lighting, though you can turn it off if that's not your thing.

AmazonBasics USB speakers ($16 at Amazon)

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Mass Effect: Andromeda was supposed to be the definitive Mass Effect experience, as it moved towards an open-region structure. While the exploration and combat were great, the basic plot and performance issues heavily detracted from the experience. Even months later, it still stuttered on Xbox One. However, what was most upsetting to gamers was that fact that it left a lot of plot points unresolved.

Ever since Mass Effect: Andromeda failed to generate critical acclaim and sales, it seemed as though EA had placed the franchise on hold. However, it seems like that hold has just been lifted and we may see another Mass Effect game sooner rather than later. Today, on N7 Day, BioWare discussed what was next for Mass Effect.

Towards the end, Casey Hudson teases the future of the franchise and lifts up a mug that has Commander Shepard's catchphrase "I should go" on it. It's unclear what this means, but it could point towards Mass Effect 4, and not a spin-off like Mass Effect: Andromeda. Will we see the return of Commander Shepard after he's been reconstructed again like the beginning of Mass Effect 2? Only time will tell.

Mass Effect: Andromeda follows a group of human explorers as they try to find a new home in the Andromeda Galaxy. However, there are other beings on the journey too as each species has its own space ship, known as an "Ark." If you haven't played Mass Effect: Andromeda yet, be sure to check out the game at retailers.

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A year ago, EA surprised everyone by revealing Anthem for Xbox One and other platforms. The game is an upcoming shared world third-person shooter from BioWare. BioWare is the studio behind famous franchises like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Anthem is expected to launch on February 22, 2019, but that hasn't stopped the developer from releasing new details about the project.

As reported by VG247, at PAX West 2018, Lead Producer Michael Gamble said that development of the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect games would be heavily influenced by Anthem. Gamble clarified on Twitter, "Anthem has a main story and that story concludes. But it also allows us to continue the storytelling soon after launch, and keep the world alive and changing and fresh. New adventures, characters, and fun."

It's great to see that BioWare will adopt this approach to its next projects. Hopefully they'll be as addictive as Destiny 2 which — despite its flaws — is a great example of how you keep players coming back for more.

According to Game Rant, unlike Destiny 2 though, all of Anthem's story DLC will be free for players. It's unclear if there will be other multiplayer expansions, but we'll let you know as soon as the developer shares more details.

Hopefully Anthem will be a polished experience when it launches next year. The game was supposed to come out in 2018, but was pushed back by a few months to make it better. At E3 2017, BioWare said that Anthem was being developed with the Xbox One X in mind. Hopefully this means that the title will be a visual showcase on Microsoft's new platform.

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Ever since Mass Effect: Andromeda launched, the future of the franchise has been in peril. The game was panned by critics and consumers alike for its numerous bugs and other performance issues. Even EA refused to comment on when we would see another game in the franchise. All future Mass Effect: Andromeda expansions were eventually cancelled and developer BioWare Montreal was disbanded.

Everyone assumed — what was only logical — that that was it for the Mass Effect franchise. However, it seems that aside from working on Dragon Age 4, BioWare is also developing another Mass Effect title.

In the "Mid-Summer Update" post on BioWare's blog, General Manager Casey Hudson said, "we hear loud and clear the interest in BioWare doing more Dragon Age and Mass Effect, so rest assured that we have some teams hidden away working on some secret stuff that I think you'll really like — we're just not ready to talk about any of it for a little while."

Hopefully the next Mass Effect will be a polished experience this time around. Mass Effect: Andromeda's semi-open world layout pushed the franchise is a new direction, but its technical flaws were more noticeable than its improvements. In order to revitalize the Mass Effect franchise, BioWare needs to make sure the project is technically sound and tells a cohesive story.

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From Baldur's Gate to Dragon Age, role-playing games (RPGs) have always been a staple for game developer BioWare. Throughout the years, they've delivered a plethora of fantastic titles that have helped shape the genre and show the gaming industry what a truly well-made RPG is. It seems crazy to think that there's a game in their library that stands out above the rest, but if you ask, a common response from BioWare fans is that Mass Effect 2 is their magnum opus.

As BioWare now delves into creating a brand new universe with the upcoming Anthem, I think it's important for both them and us to take a look back at their most critically acclaimed game and take note of what made it so overwhelmingly successful. With the game reaching its eighth birthday yesterday, there's never been a better time than now to do so.

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Story: Unparalleled writing

A big aspect of any role-playing game is the storytelling, and Mass Effect 2's couldn't be better. The plot is rather simplistic, admittedly — form a team of various specialists and species in order to take down an alien foe that threatens the Milky Way — but there's nothing wrong with a simple plot if the characters within it are well-written.

This is, arguably, one of Mass Effect 2's brightest areas. The characters in this game, both allies and enemies, are the definition of compelling and believable. Each and every one of them has a different worldview and personality, and each one will make you think about your journey through the Mass Effect universe in a different way. Thanks to a talented cast of voice actors, their dialogue is just as pleasant to the ear as it is impactful on your thoughts.

World building: Crafting a universe

The first Mass Effect game excellently created an introduction to its detailed universe, but it was Mass Effect 2 that truly went in-depth with its portrayals. The amount of effort and time that went into creating the locations seen in the game is clearly evident after walking throughout areas such as the cultural melting pot of the Citadel, or the capitalism-driven business world of Illum.

It's almost as if the game can read the questions in our minds, and actively seeks to answer them. How do all of these aliens interact with humans? Each other? What is a galaxy-wide economy like? What about cuisine? All of these things can be observed at great lengths if you take your time and see everything the title has to offer. Though the hub worlds you visit between missions may not be exceptionally large, they are extremely deep and rife with detail.

Gameplay: A step up from the original

Though the first game's mechanics were generally well-received, BioWare aimed to make it feel more grounded and satisfying with Mass Effect 2. By making the cover system more reliable, adding in several new abilities for all the classes, and introducing heavy weaponry, they succeeded in this goal, for the most part. It is true that some RPG customization elements were lost from the first Mass Effect, but the pros definitely outweigh the con.

Mass Effect 2 also introduced a special quick time event system that allowed you to choose to perform special actions in story moments that contributed to your morality standing. Kind or generous actions would earn you Paragon (good) points, while "tough love" or questionable ones would net you Renegade (controversial) points. This mechanic allowed for players to make an active difference in cutscenes, as well as allow the morality scale to impact the game in a way besides dialogue choices.

Your thoughts

What's your favorite aspect of Mass Effect 2? Do you think it's BioWare's best game? Let me know your thoughts.

Mass Effect 2 is available for $19.99 on both Steam and Xbox.

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Even though the latest entry in the series may have turned out to be less than stellar, the Mass Effect trilogy turned out to be one of the biggest franchises of the last console generation. However, while the first Mass Effect was available both digitally and physically, anyone who may have missed out on the series and was looking to catch up would have to hunt down physical copies of the disc-only Mass Effect 2 and 3. That's now changed, however, as the latter two entries in the trilogy are now available to purchase digitally from the Xbox 360 Marketplace for the first time (via Reddit).

Remarkably, this comes more than seven years after the 2010 release of Mass Effect 2, and more than five since the release of Mass Effect 3. More importantly for Xbox One gamers, however, is that this comes a year after the full trilogy landed on the backward compatible list. That means you can now catch up on all three titles without the need for a physical copies.

The Mass Effect trilogy is a science fiction role-playing epic that has been largely praised for its narrative depth, bolstered by its branching conversation system. If you're looking to dive back into the series, you can pick up each entry now for $19.99 a pop on the Xbox 360 Marketplace.

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The Witcher 3 is my go-to title when it comes to comparing role-playing games (RPG) in 2017. Honestly, in my opinion, it's the best RPG that has been released for some time and still looks great today. When Mass Effect: Andromeda finally hit the Origin store, I was fairly excited to see what Bioware could do with a clean slate and the power of EA's Frostbite engine. Visually, Andromeda looks stunning, but one cannot simply overlook the sheer number of bugs, glitches and other issues that plague the game.

I've since stopped playing after around 26 hours (according to Origin) and have fired up a new game as Geralt to see how the 2015 title fares against what Bioware released in 2017. The results left me nothing other than stunned. Immediately, while both games are by no means similar, I noticed many differences that left me baffled as to how the company behind Knights of The Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect managed to miss the ball, even with a new team.

My Gwent is tired

It doesn't take long to spot just how much of a divide there is between those who rave and enjoy Andromeda and those who absolutely despise it. Whatever reasons either camp may have for their opinions, I'm still on the fence. I can't quite work out whether or not I like Andromeda. It's such a strange experience and is one that makes it difficult for me to continue through the main story. I highly recommend you check out our official review, in which Senior Editor Jez Corden picked up on a few points I raise here:

Andromeda is riddled with bugs, even after 1.0.5 was released. Honestly, I couldn't go for more than 20 minutes before noticing some form of glitch. I'm not talking about minor things like texture popping or basic oddities, but actual issues that take you right out of the pathfinding experience. Enemies levitate and remain in a pose, taking damage. Others are inside terrain, firing at you from rocks and seemingly immune to return fire.

Another major issue I had was the dialog, which pulled me right out of the immersion. You've already heard, read and seen the countless "My face is tired" memes, but there are other parts of the script that make you sit back for a second and think, what? Which leads me onto some of the bizarre political pushes that are placed throughout the game. I'm usually one who prefers to separate art from the artist when it comes to politics and beliefs. The same goes for video games.

That being said, something I liked about the older Mass Effect titles was the diverse characters and how players were able to go down the path they wished. Take romance, for example, which allowed you to engage in a variety of formats. Male-to-male, male-to-female, and female-to-female. I applauded the developer for including this functionality without hampering the overall story and dialog. This isn't how I feel about Andromeda, though.

Looking at various scenes and conversations online, it almost becomes awkward, and I don't understand why the developer would make such content appear forced. Some of the dialogs are downright awful and aren't limited to just the romantic paths. Take the following scene, for example:

Not only does it not flow well, I would be slightly concerned if this particular person was heading up a team to locate suitable planets for various species to survive on.

Then there are the animations, the facial expressions, and a strange representation of a human. It's just weird. And it's mainly the humans I have an issue with, while Krogans and other species appear to be just fine. Faces don't feel like they're properly entwined with the conversation, and expressions are sometimes simply blank. Some things have been addressed in a recent patch, and I'm sure Bioware will release a few more to tackle bugs and other issues players have raised, but I don't think any number of patches will fix this game for me.

The Crones of Eos

Returning to The Witcher 3, I'm reminded of the outstanding animation and conversation systems in place. The world feels alive and invites you to explore every nook and cranny. Non-playable characters are interesting, most with some sort of backstory or even a quest line. And all this is set in a war-torn land.

You get a sense of just how dire the situation is for civilians caught up in battle, ravaged by looters and bandits, or left baffled at what to do once The Wild Hunt leaves the village in ruins. When locked into a conversation, facial expressions, the tone of voice, the writing, it all creates a gloomy atmosphere that completes the experience. It feels real. The same can't be said for Andromeda.

I enjoyed the settlement deployment, as well as the mining and exploration in the Nomad, and thought the Scourge to be an interesting anomaly to uncover in the inevitable sequel. Some of the dialogs made me chuckle and a number of guests were thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding. I also loved the crafting system (excluding the UI). There are more than enough positive points about Andromeda. At the end of the day, it is a fun game.

I can't bring myself to hate the game, but I also can't love it. This is incredibly frustrating, and not only because I'm a Mass Effect fan, but because I was so intrigued by what could have been. Bioware had formed an entirely new galaxy, opening up the gates to endless creativity. I have hope, though. I'm certain the developer is taking in feedback about the game, and I'd wager we'll see a better second installment in the trilogy.

Further Reading

• The 6 biggest unanswered questions about Mass Effect: Andromeda's ending
• 5 things you'll love about Mass Effect: Andromeda — and 4 you'll hate
• Mass Effect: Andromeda romance guide — Flirt your way to intergalactic love