Many fans are excited for the highly anticipated Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. A few are doing more than just anticipating, such as recreating the original trilogy in in 90s-style pixel art.
A few years ago, a group of fans created a point-and-click Mass Effect adventure game. Now, inspired by the upcoming Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, they are embarking on a pixel art “demake” in the style of classic LucasArts adventure games.
Called The Full Adventures of Commander Shepard, the original 2017 fan game is an hour-long affectionate parody of Mass Effect and modern RPG tropes in general. According to its itch.io page, the project began with a group of fans who loved Mass Effect but were unwilling to let it go after Mass Effect 3’s disappointing ending. They started work on what they intended to be a short animated parody but turned into a point-and-click adventure game inspired by LucasArts classics.
Now, years later, the group is working on a remaster of their own. But rather than updating the graphics, they are rolling them back into 90s-style pixel art. Reddit user parabolee uploaded three screenshots showing off concepts for the new, older-style graphics.
The first screenshot shows off male and female versions of Commander Shepard, along with Tali, somewhere in the Citadel’s Human Embassy. The post cites LucasArt’s 1995 game Full Throttle as design inspiration. How much the characters and artwork resemble Full Throttle is a matter of debate. Still, the developers really showed their work with the quality of the sprites.
Meanwhile, the second and third screenshots draw inspiration from The Secret of Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Both depict a low-resolution Shepard sprite in the Citadel Embassies. The difference is in the interface. One sticks strictly to the early 90s aesthetic, while the other goes with a more modern-looking inventory menu. The latter lets players use a widescreen monitor while adhering to the game’s original screen size.
The reaction on Reddit was overwhelmingly positive. Some fans even remarked that it makes them wish for a Mass Effect game made by Telltale. After all, Tales From the Borderlands shows the leap from shooter to adventure game isn’t an impossible one. Sadly, that does not seem likely, although similar suggestions have popped up on various online forums for years.
Unlike the real Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the pixel art version has no set release date. However, the original version of The Full Adventures of Commander Shepard is still available for free download from itch.io. Fans might consider checking it out while they wait for Mass Effect’s official return in May.
The actual Mass Effect: Legendary Edition releases May 14th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: parabolee on Reddit