Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remasters BioWare’s original Mass Effect trilogy. In order to give you a better idea of just how much of a transformation we’re talking about, we’ve compiled several comparison screenshots.
As the original Mass Effect is getting the most out of the remaster in terms of updated character models and locations, you’ll likely notice the major differences in those screenshots. That said, there are noticeable improvements for Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 in the Legendary Edition as well–also, surprisingly, BioWare has changed the shot for certain scenes in ME2 and ME3. You’ll see what we’re talking about in the compilation below, with certain scenes being a lot more zoomed in than how they appeared in the original trilogy.
For the sake of convenience, all of the screenshots on the left side of the comparison are from the original trilogy (which were taken from the PC version of the game), while those on the right are from the Legendary Edition. We’ve listed the screenshots in order by which they appear.
Mass Effect
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Shepard approaching the deck of the Normandy–the first time in the game we see her.
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One of the first shots of Mass Effect is (thankfully) a clear view of Shepard, letting you decide pretty quickly whether you need to start a new save to go through the character creator again.
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Ashley is the first of several loyal crew members you’ll encounter and recruit on your journey through the Mass Effect trilogy.
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Hey, we can see our house from here!
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Just don’t look down Shepard, it’s a long drop.
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The Normandy SR-1 is both a feat of engineering and a symbol of human and turian cooperation.
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Yeah, the enemy’s flagship is pretty big.
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Damn, that foliage really adds a nice touch to this scene of Shepard getting choked out.
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Ensuring that Mass Effect 3’s iconic look for female Shepard was included in ME1 and ME2 was one of the first things BioWare implemented in the Legendary Edition.
Mass Effect 2
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The lighting in Afterlife looks to be a lot brighter.
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Oh yeah, give us that lens flare.
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Hey, Grunt.
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Whether it’s the original trilogy or Legendary Edition, Zaeed just looks tired.
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BioWare seems to have added a lot more detail to Kasumi’s suit.
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It seems like quite a few scenes in the remaster for Mass Effect 2 are a lot brighter than the original game.
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If you haven’t played the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, you need to fix that immediately.
Mass Effect 3
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Cool people don’t look at explosions.
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Looks like the architecture of the cities on Earth have changed slightly.
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Look at the DETAIL on that jacket.
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See what we mean? The remaster has zoomed in on this shot. We don’t know why.
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The robotic body of the Cerberus synthetic infiltration unit has a lot more detail in the remaster.
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Why is Shepard always crashing through stuff?
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Again, the shot is a little more zoomed in for the remaster. What’s up with that?
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Looks like the position of Javik’s eyes have shifted slightly in the remaster.
