Mass Effect Legendary Editionreleased back in May 2021, but it’s built on a trilogy of a series released more than 10 years ago. In those 10 years, modders have spent a long while adding and fixings parts to the Mass Effect series. When the Legendary Edition was released, many of those mods were ported over to the newer version as well.
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Because of this, Mass Effect Legendary edition has a large library of mods all made for improving and customizing your experience. There are over a thousand mods to search through, some providing small graphical changes, others changing gameplay in a critical way. Here are 10 mods sure to improve yourMass Effectexperience.
10Community Patches
Despite being built off the bones of games a decade old or more, Mass Effect Legendary edition still has a fair share of bugs. Some bugs, such as Shepard not turning to match the camera in Mass Effect 1, date all the way back to the first game’s initial release. Modders have spent time since then going into the game’s code and fixing a lot of the bugs frustrating fans.
Community Patches exist for all three games in the Legendary Edition trilogy. On Nexusmods, the primary modding space for most games, These patches are among the most downloaded content for Mass Effect, and for good reason. In addition to providing welcome consistency throughout the games, many mods use these patches as requirements for their own use.
9Graphical Updates
This may be more of a catch-all, but it’s necessary due to the existence of hundreds of mods devoted to improving the textures of the game. Modders have constructed texture packs focused on bringing specific places to life with graphical changes to show what you might expect from a scifi setting. It may not directly impact gameplay, but the world around you feels more alive than ever before.
Other mods put their focus on characters, giving beloved characters of the series a new or improved look. This can even affect character customization to let you get the Shepard you want. These mods are a collection of small improvements that together will make the game feel like new.
8Galaxy Map Tracker For Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 1 arguably has the most side content of all three games. There are an absurd amount of side quests Shepherd can get involved in. Trying to keep track of them all and knowing how to complete them is very confusing.
The Galaxy Map Tracker fixes this by doing what should have been done in the first place: it adds objective trackers to the galaxy map. Though it’s a small change, it is incredibly nice. You can see where you need to go and what mission you’re doing. This helps completionists fulfill the obligation they said they would when they took on a quest. Given that Mass Effect carries over stats from each previous game, completing side quests have payoff down the line, but only if you complete them.
7One Probe All Resources
One Probe All Resources is a mod so simple, you know what it does by name alone. Instead of searching every inch of planets with your scanners, you get all planetary resources with a single probe. Simple as it is, the mod is a huge quality of life improvement.
Scanning planets was a necessary time sink in the original Mass Effect 2. You had to scan, because without the resources gained through this process, you couldn’t get vital upgrades for your ship and crew. Now, instead of buying probes and dragging yourself from planet to planet, you can launch one, and get back to the fun Mass Effect is beloved for.
6Mass Effect 2 Early Recruitment
The first third of Mass Effect 2 limits the squad mates you’re able to recruit to a pre-set few in the original game. While natural, this also locks out some fan favorites until you’ve progressed deeper into the game. The Early recruitment mod opens up more of the game’s characters from the start.
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The planetary hub of Illium is made available after Mass Effect’s Freedom’s Progress mission. This lets you travel there to recruit Thane and Samara early. You can also recruit Tali’Zorah before the Horizon mission. As it turns out, there is quite a bit of cut dialogue for having these characters in missions they shouldn’t be able to go on, and modders have re-purposed dialogue to fill in if there wasn’t.
5Nearly Unrestricted Weapons For Mass Effect 2
The weapon loadout system inMass Effect 2is perhaps the worst iteration in the trilogy collection. In Mass Effect 1, you could use all weapons, but you would only have abilities and improvements for those you were trained. In Mass Effect 3, you could bring whatever weapons you desired, but the more you carry, the longer your power cooldowns.
In Mass Effect 2, you were limited completely to what weapons your class allowed. It severely limited the gameplay options available to a player. This mod fixes that by letting you take whatever weapons you want. You’re free to experiment with all the weapons and find what you enjoy.
4Expanded Shepard Armory For ME2
Armor is Mass Effect looks cool. A lot of work went into designing the appearance of enemies and allies alike. Sometimes, though, you see an enemy with a really cool armor set and realize you’re able to’t wear it. It’s a bit disappointing, given that you’re a Spectre meant to have the best resources.
The Expanded Shepard Armory is fantastic for giving you control of your appearance. In addition to making a lot on in game armors available, modders have added in their own lore accurate armor. They have even made armor sets from the base game customizable. The only downside is this mod only affects Mass Effect 2. You’ll miss it in the other two.
3Audemus’ Happy Ending Mod
The ending to the Mass Effect trilogy has long been a source of controversy in the fanbase. Even with the extended cut’s additional information, many players felt unsatisfied that their time spent with this beloved series ends the way it does. This mod strives to fix much of the dissatisfaction left in the wake of the game’s original ending.
By using foreshadowed information from Mass Effect 2, and the idea of one of the game’s lead writers as a guideline, modders have reconstructed the ending to be a far more satisfying conclusion. Best of all: it makes sense. Added codex entries explain the changes you will see in this revision to a better conclusion.
2Pinnacle Station
This Mod is a strange one to categorize, as it’s not technically a mod. Pinnacle Station was a DLC in the original Mass Effect 1. During Development, the source code for this DLC became corrupted, and Bioware wasn’t able to include it in the game’s release.
Since then, modders have been able to reconstruct the DLC for the Legendary Edition as a mod. With it, you’ll be able to get the full Mass Effect 1 experience, and take on difficultalien foes. The team responsible deserves thanks, as now you’ll be able to test yourself in the combat challenges of Pinnacle Station.
1Trilogy Save Editor
One of Mass Effect’s best features is its carryover system, letting the choices you make in one game impact the next. There are dozens of different possible game states from playthrough to playthrough, and that’s only counting major decisions. Mass Effect has hundreds of small choices you make over the series.
With the Trilogy Save Editor, you can go in and edit save files to be in a state you want. Whether you’re looking for something you missed, or saving yourself time, this mod fulfills that purpose. Download it, and you can enjoy playing out those what-if scenarios you haven’t ever tried before.
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