Mass Effect (2007) News

Mass Effect launched 13 years ago today

There's been a lot of talk about Mass Effect lately, and not just for the usual reason that Mass Effect is great. The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters are on the way, Mass Effect 5 is early in development, and times are looking good for fans of one of BioWare's biggest series of RPG games. Well, there's extra reason to celebrate today, friends: it's Mass Effect's birthday.

Yes, the original Mass Effect first launched precisely 13 years ago in North America, on November 20, 2007. Australian and European launches for the Xbox 360 version followed a few days later, but it wasn't until May 28, 2008 that the PC version became available. (Remember the days of having to wait months for not just some, but most PC versions of major games?)

The Mass Effect remaster has been rumoured for the better part of a year, and fans have been clamouring for it even longer - and it's easy to see why. BioWare's shooter-RPG hybrids have some intricately detailed sci-fi world-building, a cast of lovable recurring characters, and enough controversies to ensure there's enough bad to make us treasure the good.

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BioWare reveals "a look at the next Mass Effect" in its new book

In addition to the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters, BioWare has confirmed that it's working on the next entry in the Mass Effect series - and even shared a bit of concept art to prove they've got more than 'Mass Effect 5' written on a whiteboard. Now the studio is revealing even more early glimpses at the next Mass Effect in a new book.

In BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development, the studio shares a few more bits of art from the new Mass Effect - and there are a surprising number of connections to the oft-maligned Andromeda. Scans of the art quickly hit the internet via sources like Tumblr, and fans have been poring over them for clues.

In image, we see a number of silhouettes standing near the same 'mud skipper' ship shown in the previous concept art. As Eurogamer notes, another piece of art shows some massive buildings similar to those built by the Remnant - a group first introduced in Andromeda. A third image shows the construction of a new Mass Relay labelled 'MR 7'.

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What choices will you make differently in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition?

BioWare's making a new Mass Effect with a "veteran team"

A new Mass Effect game is in development, featuring some tenured developers. Developer BioWare confirmed the news as part of this year's N7 Day.

In a BioWare blog post announcing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remaster of the first three games in the RPG game series, BioWare general manage Casey Hudson offhandedly states a new adventure's in the works. "A veteran team has been hard at work envisioning the next chapter of the Mass Effect universe," Hudson says. "We are in early stages on the project and can't say any more just yet, but we're looking forward to sharing our vision for where we'll be going next."

A piece of concept art, viewable in the header, is shared, showing a ship and a crew on some alien planet or other. The last Mass Effect game was 2017's Mass Effect: Andromeda, which got a lukewarm reception. BioWare put out Anthem last year, a multiplayer action-adventure game that didn't fare much better and struggled to hold onto an audience. The studio has since spent much of this year working on a relaunch.

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Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters original trilogy, coming early 2021

At long last, the Mass Effect trilogy remastered has been officially announced. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition contains the first three RPG games in a handy trilogy, updated for modern hardware.

In a post on the BioWare blog, the studio has confirmed that Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 have been remastered, and will be widely available on all platforms, including PC, early 2021. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will have the base games, and single-player DLC and promo weapons, armour and packs. Everything, the "textures, shaders, models, effects, and technical features", has been remastered and optimised for 4K Ultra HD, with better resolution, and improved frame-rate.

"Our goal was not to remake or reimagine the original games, but to modernize the experience so that fans and new players can experience the original work in its best possible form," Casey Hudson, general manager at BioWare, writes. "It's been amazing to see the adventures of Commander Shepard take on new life in super-sharp resolution, faster framerates, and beautiful visual enhancements."

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