Franchise X meets Franchise Y has long been a mainstay of fan art and fan fiction. Sometimes the link is obvious, while others take a bit more creativity to put together. Mass Effect and Hollow Knight certainly seem like the latter category, one being a AAA shooter and the other a 2D indie platformer. However, at least one artist found a way to make it work.
Fan artist leafjuly took to Twitter to share their interpretation of how some Mass Effect characters would look in the insectoid world of Hollow Knight. Another user later uploaded the image to the Mass Effect subreddit, though moderators later removed the post.
The fan art shows Hollow Knight versions of 22 different Mass Effect characters. Leafjuly drew all party members from the original trilogy plus a Collector from Mass Effect 2. The piece also includes multiple versions of Commander Shepard and Saren, for a total of 25 Hollow Knight-inspired character designs.
Most are fairly recognisable, though a few might take a minute to click. Moving left to right, the firts row contains Female Shepard, Garrus, Tali, Wrex, and Liara. Ashley, Kaidan, and three versions of Saren make up the second row with Thane, Grunt, Legion, Mordin, and Samara in the third. Meanwhile, Male Shepard, Jack, Miranda, Jacob, Zaeed, and Kasumi occupy the fourth row, and Javik, a Collector, James, and EDI filling out the bottom.
Notably, leafjuly represented Jack’s shaved head and Zaeed’s scars as missing or damaged antenna. The insect version of Miranda from Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 also has unique antennas, which may reference her extensive genetic alterations. The artist also expanded the Asari “head tentacles” into their entire body. It ironically makes the very humanoid Liara and Samara the most inhuman characters in the piece. Still, the artist’s interpretation arguably sells the idea of an ancient, psychically gifted alien race more than the Mass Effect versions.
Mordin likewise makes sense as a dragonfly, and Wrex and Grunt fit right in as beetles. The appearance of Mass Effect fanart mainstay Tali is predictably obscured beneath a purple cloak. However, the artist depicted her attack drone Chatika as a small firefly or possibly bee. Speaking of flying insects, the artist represents Turians as wasps or hornets, which arguably fits their warrior culture. Garrus has also traded his rifle for a bow. Meanwhile, leafjuly drew Saren in his pre-indoctrination, post-indoctrination, and undead cyborg forms.
Notably, three characters changed very little going from one art style to another. Javik and the Collector were already basically bugs, so it makes sense that they’d look mostly the same. However, Mass Effect 3’s android companion EDI still looks more like a humanoid robot than a humanoid robot ant. It appears that the artist chose to represent her hair as either mandibles or downward swept antennas, but the effect isn’t quite pronounced enough to make that clear.
Still, that’s barely a criticism and doesn’t detract from the quality of the piece and the artist is clearly a talented and creative individual. The artwork is almost enough to make one wish for an official Mass Effect-Hollow Knight crossover.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Hollow Knight is available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.