It certainly took a while, but after months of swirling rumors, fans finally know that Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is coming, and when it's coming.
Developer BioWare's popular sci-fi third-person shooter series has amassed a dedicated fanbase since the release of the first Mass Effect in 2007. The series has been lauded for its deep character development, choice-making, and romantic storylines, although recent information alleges some of these storylines were scrapped at the last second. Particularly with Mass Effect 2, animators who worked on the game have claimed that not only was Jack's sexuality censored, but also almost featured a gay romance option with Jacob Taylor.
While a recent IGN interview with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition director Mac Walters didn't confirm the restoration of said storylines, it did reveal plenty of other details. Walters spoke on the decision to include the additional fourth ending of the trilogy, stating the decision stemmed from a desire to include as much of the DLC content as possible within the collection. Walters explains that the Extended Cut content provides more context around the ending, and the Legendary Edition should be as if players had downloaded that content from the outset.
Mass Effect 3's infamous ending has been a huge point of controversy for the franchise, which led to widespread criticism. The reception was so negative at the time that the game's director publicly defended the narrative choice. The subsequent Extended Cut was released to add more content which, while not fundamentally changing the endings, but rather expands upon them in greater detail. However, a recent trailer for Mass Effect 4 potentially has huge implications for Mass Effect 3's ending.
Additionally, Walters confirms Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will also include several brand new tweaks to gameplay. The tweaks are almost entirely associated with boss fights, mostly having to do with providing players with a less frustrating experience. He gives the fight against Asari Matriarch Benezia in the first game as an example, explaining the addition of more cover and preventing the near-instantaneous immobilization that got under the skin of many players. Walters also discusses other various, quality-of-play features, such as adding more autosave points to prevent players from having to extensively backtrack and reportedly improved Mako controls.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition looks to be the quintessential experience of the Mass Effect series. While many fans are excited about the original trilogy's remaster, there are plenty of fans who want to see the story continued. Even though the series now has two sets of characters (a la the original trilogy and 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda), Mass Effect 4 could tie the trilogy and Andromeda together with Liara and Ryder, but only time will ultimately tell.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches May 14 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: IGN
