Following months of rumors and speculation, EA finally announced Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remastered collection of the original Mass Effect games with enhanced visuals, all of the DLC, and a variety of other improvements. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is set to launch spring 2021 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and will be playable on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X thanks to those consoles' backward compatibility with PS4 and Xbox One games.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition was announced alongside a brand new Mass Effect game that is in active development at BioWare by those who worked on the original titles. More information on the new Mass Effect game is likely years away, especially with BioWare currently busy at work on Dragon Age 4. Regardless, fans will have Mass Effect: Legendary Edition to fill the gap in the meantime.
Mass Effect isn't the only dormant franchise that EA should revive, though. There are a number of other older EA games that are all deserving of the remaster treatment, especially if those remasters help usher in new entries for their series.
Dead Space
The original Dead Space was essentially Resident Evil 4 in space, taking the basic gameplay of Capcom's survival-horror classic and applying it to a sci-fi setting with a greatly increased focus on horror. Dead Space 2 dialed everything up to 11, with improved visuals and gameplay mechanics, culminating in the somewhat controversial Dead Space 3. Dead Space 3 was criticized at the time of its release for its use of microtransactions, but its co-op mode was praised by critics at the time, and it did bring a mostly satisfying conclusion to the story that started with the original Dead Space game.
Unfortunately, the Dead Space franchise has been dormant since then, with no sign of a comeback. Considering the visual prowess of modern gaming consoles, though, it would be a shame if the Dead Space games never get the visual upgrades that they deserve. Dead Space was already visually-impressive in 2008, just imagine what it could look like on the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X.
There were some high-quality Dead Space spin-off games that could be made part of a potential Dead Space collection as well to sweeten the pot. For example, Dead Space: Extraction earned strong reviews when it launched in 2009, and EA has already released an enhanced port of that particular game in the past.
Dragon Age
While Mass Effect fans wait for news on the new game, they can try Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and relive Commander Shepard's classic adventures. However, Dragon Age fans don't have something similar to help tide them over while they wait to play the highly-anticipated Dragon Age 4. To make up for that, BioWare and EA could release a collection of remastered Dragon Age titles in the same vein as Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
Dragon Age: Origins in particular seems like it is long overdue for the remaster treatment. As some may recall, the Dragon Age: Origins graphics on consoles were pretty bad when compared to the PC version, but the power of the new consoles gives BioWare and EA the chance to right that wrong. Of course, such a collection would also include Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition as well.
Mirror's Edge
DICE may be best known for its Battlefield games, but it also released Mirror's Edge to strong reviews back in 2008. Unfortunately, Mirror's Edge sales were lower than EA's expectations, immediately throwing its potential to become a franchise into doubt. Despite Mirror's Edge's low sales, DICE was still able to move forward with a reboot, Mirror's Edge Catalyst, though it was not nearly as well-received as the original game. A remaster of the original Mirror's Edge seems like it would go a long way in pleasing fans, and maybe it could even get some people who didn't play the original to see what it's all about.
Skate
For the longest time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was virtually unchallenged when it came to skateboarding video games. However, that changed when EA Black Box released the original Skate, which opted to be more of a skateboarding simulation game than lean into the arcade-style of gameplay found in the Tony Hawk titles. Skate was fairly popular at the time of its release, spawning a brand new sports franchise for EA in the process.
EA capitalized on Skate's popularity with spin-off games as well as two direct sequels, Skate 2 and Skate 3. Despite all of these games being well-received by critics and fans alike, the Skate series has been dormant since Skate 3's launch in 2010. Luckily, EA has finally confirmed that Skate 4 is in development, though it's unclear when exactly fans will get the chance to play the new game. While they wait, it would be nice for the original Skate games to make a comeback on the new consoles, similarly to how Activision revived Tony Hawk with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 earlier this year.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
There are plenty of BioWare games that deserve the remaster treatment, but perhaps the games that deserve it the most are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, The Sith Lords. Early precursors to the kind of gameplay found in the Mass Effect games, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic earned widespread acclaim at the time of its release and is often hailed as one of the best Star Wars video games ever made. However, there are some aspects about the game that haven't aged well, so a potential Knights of the Old Republic remaster could iron out those issues as well as improve the graphics to match modern standards.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launches spring 2021 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.