A new Mass Effect mod allows players to look behind the face-concealing visors of the Quarians, and even gives them a revamped appearance in the process. BioWare’s Mass Effect series contains plenty of memorable alien races, including the tech-oriented Quarians of Rannoch. These nomadic people were forced from their homeworld following a war with the synthetic Geth, and have since lived within a fleet of spacecraft made from technology salvaged from across the Milky Way. Due to both their biology and living in sterilized ships for the past three hundred years, the Quarian are required to wear protective suits outside of their Migrant Fleet.
Players were first introduced to the Quarians through Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a young traveler Commander Shepard meets on the Citadel in the first Mass Effect game. Tali would soon become a valued member of Shepard’s crew and a fan-favorite companion thanks to her technological skill and shy, charming personality, and the Commander can even form a romantic relationship with her from Mass Effect 2 onward. During most of this time, Tali’s true face remains concealed behind her protective facemask, but players can unlock a picture of her without her suit on if they play through her romance subplot in Mass Effect 3.
Now, a pair of Mass Effect fans by the handles of Mithran56 and naNuke have created a mod that lets players see Tali’s face from the very beginning, along with any other Quarian Shepard encounters in their battle against the Reapers. Titled “Children of Rannoch,” this mod replaces the Quarians’ opaque visors with transparent ones and gives their faces a more textured, alien look with unique facial markings and glowing silver eyes. So far, Children of Rannoch is only available for the Legendary Edition of the first Mass Effect, but its creators are planning to bring it to the other two entries in the main series.
Tali’s unmasked appearance in Mass Effect 3 was a source of much controversy, as BioWare simply used a stock photograph of a supermodel with some slight digital touches. This was changed in 2021’s updated Mass Effect: Legendary Edition collection, but some fans feel that the new face was still too human-looking for such a mysterious and fantastical alien race like the Quarian.
The new Children of Rannoch mod offers up a new take on the Quarian for players still disappointed over BioWare’s previous reveals, at least for the original Mass Effect. The following two games in the series took an increased focus on the plight of the Quarians and included many more members of their race, so implementing the mod will be a bigger challenge. Still, being able to see the faces of Tali and her fellow Quarians puts an interesting new spin on Shepard’s encounters with them in the original Mass Effect.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Nexus Mods