Compiling the epic adventures of Commander Shepard and crew into a nearly-all-in-one package, Mass Effect Legendary Edition will also receive quite a few shiny coats of paint to bring the cosmic RPG up to snuff with modern hardware. Of the touted enhancements, the trilogy is confirmed to be remastered in 4K resolution, feature over 40 pieces of DLC, as well as a slew of graphically-overhauled textures and models. While the latter two entries are set to be scaled-up from the originals, it appears the original Mass Effect has actually received the remake treatment, at least partially.

As revealed in an interview with Eurogamer, BioWare’s Mac Walters and ​​environment/character director Kevin Meek detailed quite a bit about the design process of the Legendary Edtion, including the team’s approach with remastering the original Mass Effect. In addition to bringing about the aforementioned upgrades, several aspects regarding the now-13-year-old game were also overhauled to a significant degree to bring it in line with later entries in the series. We saw glimpses of these in the gameplay reveal trailer, but the final product appears to have gone even further.

Recalling the ‘Legendary’ project’s aim to stay true to the original experience, Mass Effect 1 included, Kevin Meek admitted the team “​​didn’t want to throw them out and start new.” To keep this belief in mind, the team brought on the original ME1 art director Derek Watts to design “new details and effects” for various locales such as ​​Ilos, Feros, and Eden Prime, with the latter seeing greatly updated lighting, smoke and debris effects, as well as a much fuller skybox. The stunning visual difference certainly likens more to the look of a remake rather than a remaster.

There’s even more to say with regards to overhauls in Mass Effect Legendary Edition, as BioWare also opted to make major improvements elsewhere. Each weapon from the inaugural title has been rebalanced, enemies and squad AI are vastly updated, and the love-it-or-hate-it driving physics of the Mako has been given a proper restructuring. The infamously-long elevator rides from the original are also confirmed to be significantly shorter, now only 14 seconds after lasting nearly a minute in the original.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition releases May 14th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with next-gen upgrades also confirmed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

What do you think? Are you glad to see the original Mass Effect get so such attention for the Legendary Edition remaster, or are you sad to see the original game’s rough edges smoothed out? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

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