Mass Effect Legendary Edition was finally confirmed in February 2021 for a 14 May 2021 release date. Now, EA and BioWare have unveiled the full details and information about all the upgrades and improvements incorporated into the remaster of the iconic trilogy (via a new blog post).

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Combat Improvements

In the first Mass Effect, accuracy (including reticle bloom and weapon sway) has been tuned across all weapons to allow players to maintain more consistent firepower while still managing their shots/overheat meter.

The aiming down sights (ADS) camera view has improved so that it’s more accurate (like the second and third games), and the aim assist has been improved to provide better precision. Abilities have also been rebalanced in the first game.

The following overview lists gameplay changes we made specifically to the first Mass Effect, with the goal of bringing it a bit more in line with the rest of the trilogy:

• Shepard can now sprint out of combat.
• Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy.
• Weapon accuracy and handling have been significantly improved.
  • Reticle bloom is more controlled.
  • Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles.
  • Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved.
  • Improved aim assist for target acquisition.
• All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game.
  • Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies.
• Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game.
  • Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels.
  • They are now also available to purchase from merchants.
• All weapons can be used by any class without penalty.
  • Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific.
• Weapons cool down much faster.
• Medi-gel usage has been improved.
  • Base cooldown reduced.
  • Levelling benefits increased.
  • Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns.
• Inventory management improvements.
  • Items can now be flagged as “Junk”.
  • All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once.
  • Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality.
• Some abilities have been rebalanced.
• Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:
  • Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases).
  • Heat now resets on power activation.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Gameplay Improvements

The first game has been brought in line with the second and third games, including the following updates:

• Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3.
• Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging.
• Cover has been improved across the trilogy.
  • Additional cover added to some encounters.
  • Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable.
• XP has been rebalanced in the first game (details below).
• Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (details below).

XP gained during the first game has been rebalanced for better consistency, especially towards the game’s end. Additionally, there is no longer a level cap on a first playthrough.

The ammunition in Mass Effect 2 has also been tweaked to increase the drop rate for ammo, particularly when using a sniper rifle since that had a reduced ammo drop rate in the original release.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Mako Improvements

If you’ve played the Mass Effect trilogy, you’ll know that the Mako is quite possibly the most frustrating part of the first game, making it hard to go back to. Due to that, it has been “calibrated” to perform better than ever.

Its function has also been improved with faster shield recharging and new thrusters added to the rear, allowing for a speed boost when you’re inevitably trying to scale up the side of a near-vertical cliff.

These are the calibrations you can expect to experience when driving the Mako:

• Improved handling.
  • Physics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less.
• Improved camera controls.
  • Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles.
• Shields recharge faster.
• New thrusters added for a speed boost.
  • Its cooldown is separate from the jump jets’.
• The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed.
• Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Shepard Improvements

As for Commander Shepard, BioWare has unified Shepard’s customization options in the character creator and even added some new options, like additional skin tones and hairstyles. You can use the same character creator code (seen bottom-left in the image below) across all three games, meaning your Shepard can now have a consistent appearance across the trilogy, or you can choose to change their appearance at the start of each title. Customization options and character appearances have also been improved with updated textures and hair models.

They have also added the Mass Effect: Genesis comics by Dark Horse into the base experience before Mass Effect 2 and 3 as an optional experience so players can make choices from previous games no matter where they choose to start.

Other upgrades include:

• New unified launcher for all three games.
  • Includes trilogy-wide settings for subtitles and languages.
  • Saves are still unique to each game and can be managed independently of each other.
• Updated character creator options, as mentioned above.
  • FemShep from Mass Effect 3 is the new default female option in all three games (the original FemShep design is still available as a preset option).
• Achievements across the trilogy have been updated.
  • New achievements have been added to the trilogy.
  • Progress for some achievements now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games).
    • Achievements that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed.
  • A number of achievements have had their objectives/descriptions and/or names updated.
• Integrated weapons and armor DLC packs.
  • Weapons and armor DLC packs are now integrated naturally into the game; they’re obtainable via research or by purchasing them from merchants as you progress through the game, rather than being immediately unlocked from the start. This ensures overall balance and progression across ME2 and ME3.
  • Recon Hood (ME2) and Cerberus Ajax Armor (ME3) are available at the start of each game.
• Additional gameplay & Quality of life improvements.
  • Audio is remixed and enhanced across all games.
  • Hundreds of legacy bugs from the original releases are fixed.
  • Native controller and 21:9 display support on PC, with DirectX 11 compatibility.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Galaxy At War Improvements

Last but not least, Mass Effect 3 features the Galaxy at War mechanic which puts you in the heart of the Reaper War from the Normandy’s Combat Information Center. It has been rebalanced in the Legendary Edition. For example, Galactic Readiness is no longer impacted by external factors that aren’t part of the collection, like multiplayer or the old companion app for ME3.

The more content you complete across the entire trilogy, the more likely you’ll be prepared for the final fights in its conclusion. If you only play Mass Effect 3, you’ll have to do just about every option available in the game to be eligible for an ending that doesn’t result in massive galactic losses. Playing the first two games and carrying over your progress is the most reliable way to get good results in the final hours of the Reaper War.

For comparison, if you previously played ME3 with the Extended Cut (which included Galactic Readiness rebalancing), fully preparing for the final fight will be more difficult to achieve in the Legendary Edition. And on that note: the Extended Cut ending is now the game’s default finale.

However, readying your intergalactic armies will be made a bit easier by a number of critical bug fixes and backend improvements made to the Paragon-Renegade system in ME2. They have resolved some legacy issues that inhibited accurate reputation stats from being displayed and outright prevented certain dialogue options from being selectable when they should have been. Because of this, key moments that have been notoriously difficult to achieve in ME2 (and impacted ME3) can now be completed more reliably, leading to better results in the story’s final act.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is slated to release for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC on 14 May 2021.