N7 Day held a long awaited announcement for many Mass Effect fans, as the Mass Effect Legendary Edition was finally confirmed by BioWare. A remastered edition of the original Mass Effect trilogy had been a long time coming, and fans are already gearing up to get their hands on this game in Spring 2021. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will modernize all three original games for this generation’s consoles with forward compatibility for next-gen consoles, including all previous DLC and promotional content from the past games.
One of the trademark elements of the Mass Effect franchise is undeniably the choice aspect of the games, where the choices players make have a direct impact on the story and how it plays out. Among these choices, players can choose an NPC or squadmate to romance to add even more depth to their playthrough. Seeing these romance stories in 4k Ultra HD will already be exciting, but it’s possible that romance could change even more for the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
The Established Format of Mass Effect Romances
In past Mass Effect games, there are certain companions who can be romanced depending on whether the player is a male or female Commander Shepard. Some companions, however, can be romanced regardless of the Commander’s gender. Asari scientist Liara T’Soni is one of these companions, falling for both male or female Shepard if chosen as a romance option.
Other characters, like Garrus Vakarian and Tali’Zorah, were introduced in the original game but not available as romance options until Mass Effect 2. However, only female Commander Shepard can romance Garrus, and only male Shepard can romance Tali. In fact, the second game in the trilogy opens a much larger door for romance options for both Commanders, adding both humans and aliens as possible romantic interests. However, only three options are applicable to both Commanders, and only one of them will lead to the sentimental cutscene that players typically want out of their romance story.
How Romances Could Change in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
There is a slim possibility that the remastered edition of the Mass Effect trilogy could change the already established pattern of romance within the games. It’s been reported that there were originally no boundaries for romance options at the start of the game’s development. No matter what gender players chose, their Commander could romance whoever they wanted out of the romance roster. Obviously this idea was scrapped, but it wouldn’t be unheard of for the developers to get rid of the binary system that’s in place.
Something similar already happened with Mass Effect: Andromeda, where a patch was added to make Jaal Ama Darav a romance option for both male and female Ryder. The possibility for it here then is small, but not impossible. Along with slim but possible changes, players could see the addition of a romance with Garrus or Tali baked into the first Mass Effect game with the remaster instead of having to wait until the sequel to begin charming them. It wasn’t originally planned to add them as romanceable characters at the start, but now that BioWare knows how popular they are for romance options, it may just make that change for a more continuous romance plot.
It should be noted that again that there's a myriad of concerns here, but not least of all that this is a remaster and not a remake. While some content changes are possible, it likely wouldn't go too deep. These changes would be great, but fans who want to kiss on Garrus regardless of gender shouldn't get their hopes up.
Mass Effect: The Issue With Changing Romance Options
While changing the romance patterns to make it a free for all would be an exciting change to the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, it may cause some issues itself, beyond the simple limitations of a remaster. For most of the romance options, the implication of the characters’ sexualities don’t really impact the overall story, both in the main plot or romance arc. Changing these characters to be bi- or pan-sexual would have no negative effect on their stories at all.
However, this isn’t applicable to all possible romance options. For example, male Commander Shepard cannot romance human crewmate Samantha Traynor in Mass Effect 3 because she’s a lesbian. Making every character romanceable regardless of Shepard’s gender could seriously undermine some NPC’s inherent beliefs or sexuality. Alix Wilton Regan even opened up during the N7 Day voice actor reunion about how special Samantha and Commander Shepard’s conversation about white picket fences and living happily ever after was to her, not to mention so many other LGBT fans of the series.
Rerouting all romances to be available to both Commanders would downplay the importance of some character arcs and romance stories, and while it's not impossible this could just apply to the companions it makes sense for otherwise, it doesn't seem like the likeliest change. At this point, everything about Mass Effect Legendary Edition beyond the BioWare blog post is all speculation, though, and more will likely become available soon. Players are surely excited to be able to romance their favorite characters in high-definition when the remaster comes out in a few months, regardless of any potential changes.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition will be released in Spring 2021.