Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches on May 14 for console and PC

Barring a dodgy ending and the first game maybe not holding up as well as you remember it to, Mass Effect still makes for one heck of a fantastic trilogy of games. It’s getting a shiny new upgrade this year, and you won’t have long to wait to hear Commander Shepard talk about their favourite shops on the Citadel.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 14, adding a number of substantial tweaks and enhancements to the beloved sci-fi games. It’s as complete a package as you could hope for (minus Mass Effect 3’s horde mode multiplayer), and includes a ton of content: All three games, over 40 pieces of DLC such as special weapon and armor packs, and campaign expansions, and one heck of a glow-up. Each game will be playable in 4K with HDR options, character models have been significantly spruced up, and other new-gen bells and whistles can be found all over the galaxy.

“It’s been an incredible journey revisiting the stories, characters and iconic moments of the Mass Effect trilogy, enhancing the experience for modern platforms while staying true to the spirit of the original,” said project director Mac Walters in a statement.

Remastering a game, let alone three, is a huge undertaking as there’s over 100 hours of gameplay included, but we wanted to do this for our fans as well as a new generation of gamers looking to jump into the iconic story of Shepard.

While the remaster will launch on old-gen systems such as PS4 and Xbox One, the backward-compatible versions on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S will offer better loading times but no other additional optimizations other than what’s already been added.

This may be a blast from the past, but more Mass Effect is on the way in the near-future as well, as EA announced the existence of that project at The Game Awards 2020.

Until that game arrives, the original trilogy’s shiny new package will probably be my favourite Mass Effect experience on the Citadel. Provided that I can avoid killing Tali this time.

Last Updated: February 2, 2021