Mass: Effect Legendary Edition May Release Date Announced

For those looking to re-experience the acclaimed trilogy or jump in for the first time, EA and BioWare have announced that the Mass Effect Legendary Edition collection will be available worldwide on May 14 for PC via Origin and Steam, PS4, and Xbox One. While there won't be specific next-gen versions available, the Legendary Edition will be available to play on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S via backward compatibility. EA has confirmed that the Legendary Edition includes the single-player content for Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3, along with more than 40 pieces of downloadable content, including story expansions, weapons, and armor packs, and all the content will be playable in 4K Ultra HD with HDR according to EA. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/12/30/mass-effect-legendary-edition-is-now-available-for-preorder"] The entire collection includes "remastered character models and tens of thousands of up-rezzed textures. Improvements to shaders and VFX, updated lighting and improved dynamic shadows, volumetrics and depth-of-field" according to the announcement, with pre-rendered cinematics also enhanced. Specifically for the original Mass Effect, EA announced it will have "comprehensive world-building enhancements with added detail and depth to locations like Eden Prime, Ilos and Feros," alongside improved interfaces and UI, plus a ton of quality of life additions. EA has also confirmed that the original Mass Effect's combat and exploration have been "modernized" with better aiming, squad controls and behavior, Mako handling, and cameras. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=every-ign-mass-effect-review&captions=true"] Character creator options will work across all three games, and those creation options include "improved and expanded selection of hair, makeup, and skin tone options," with Female Shepard from ME3 becoming the default female Shepard option for all three games. For more on the Legendary Edition, find out why Mass Effect won't have dedicated PS5 and Xbox Series versions, and learn about how the devs are treating the canon ending of Mass Effect 3 in the Legendary Edition. The Legendary Edition previously went up for preorder early in January, following the Mass Effect trilogy's return announcement last November. And it's not the only project in the franchise in the works - alongside the Legendary Edition's announcement, BioWare confirmed a "veteran team" is working on a new Mass Effect, too. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior News Editor, host of Podcast Beyond!, and PlayStation lead. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.