Mass Effect mod finally rights a historic wrong and allows LGBT+ romances in original game
Shepherd and Kaidan in Mass Effect 3. (Bioware)
One of the joys of Mass Effect is romancing your crewmates, something we can all experience again in Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
Yet playing the first game in the trilogy again is both a nostalgic treat and a stark reminder of the lack of LGBT+ romance options.
Originally Mass Effect 2 was meant to include LGBT+ options in Jack and Jacob, but these were later written out to appease conservatives who (wrongly) criticised the first game for including nudity.
It wasn’t until the third game, then, that same-sex romance options were included in full.
Fans have been petitioning for Bioware to retroactively add these options across the trilogy in Mass Effect Legendary Edition but this sadly never happened.
Until now. It’s been less than a week since the release of the remastered trilogy, but already mods have been released to tweak the game.
That includes same-sex romance options in Mass Effect, thanks to Nexus Mods user Biganimefan2.
The mod allows male Shepard to romance Kaidan or female Shepard to romance Ashley, in addition to Liara T’Soni for both.
This only works with the default Shepard models at present and doesn’t include any cut dialogue – voice lines were recorded but never used in the final game.
“I have not tested the full game yet just to the point of confirming for my game that this turned femShep to maleShep and I am being referred to as she/her/ma’am which indicates that it worked like old ME1,” says Biganimefan2.
“I’m releasing this in the hopes that it will help others take it further possibly, so feel free to use just give me a credit 😀 if you do.”
Perhaps, then, we’ll see more mods in future to allow more romance options across the trilogy, perhaps reinstating those missing Jack and Jacob relationships? Or perhaps male Shepard can finally romance his bestie and one true love, Garrus?
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