Despite the mixed reception to Mass Effect 3’s ending, one of its more surprising successes was multiplayer. As a Horde-mode style mode where up to four players fought waves of AI foes, it offered numerous classes and races along with different objectives and weapons to earn. Sadly, despite Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remastering the original trilogy, it won’t see the return of Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer.
Speaking to Game Informer, environment and character director Kevin Meek said that, “I feel strongly that we’ve chosen the things that are what the majority of our fans were most passionate about. On the topic of multiplayer, it was just really hard. Getting all of the online systems working and functionality would have been another large chunk to do but at the same time, there are a lot of other logistics involved. The economy is built completely differently. Then questions came up like, ‘Do we support it post-launch? What about people who are still playing multiplayer today? Do we try to find a way to somehow do crossplay between the PS3 and PS4?'”
It may not sound like a big deal but there are issues that can arise from trying to get two different game clients to work together (like with Warcraft 3: Reforged). Since the overall project would have faced set-backs, BioWare ultimately made the decision not to include multiplayer.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is out on May 14th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC with compatibility for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 (which will offer better visual fidelity). Along with visual improvements to all three games, it will also have 4K resolution, 60 FPS and HDR support. Mass Effect 1 has also been heavily “modernized” with improved controls and expanded locations while character creation has been “unified” across all the titles. For a better comparison of the remasters versus the older games, head here.