Mass Effect remaster: 'Nostalgia is a powerful feeling'

Epic, captivating, breathtaking. That was the critics' verdict when Mass Effect was first released in 2007.

Now the game and its sequels have come to the current generation of consoles.

And just like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil, developers are trying to recapture the magic of the originals and wrap it in modern graphics.

The project's director has defended the trend of re-mastering and re-making, saying: "When you look at the fan reaction it was the right thing to do."

Mac Walters worked on the original trilogy as well as this re-master and says it's ok for gaming to look to its past - "as long as it's balanced with pushing new boundaries."

"If we're moving forward with new technology, new ideas and new stories as well - then I think it's totally viable.

"There's room for both, re-masters and new titles, I think."

Developers hope the upgrades visuals will introduce classic characters to a new generation of fans

Rather than a remake where games are built from the ground up, Mac and his team opted for a remaster, where the original source material is given an upgrade.

Kevin Meek, the game's environment and character director tells us: "With a remaster, you're taking what's there and you're building upon it.

"It's almost like a traditional game development cycle - but you somehow found this magical two years at the end of a project where you get to go back through and ask, what would you do to polish it up?"

Kevin says people won't necessarily realise how much has changed.

"People are going to play and be like well, what did they change? This is exactly how I remember it.

"They're not going to remember that there was a weird texture on some railing in the original, if we didn't fix stuff like that, they would have noticed.

"Honestly, a huge goal of ours was to get the games to a state where you're not distracted by things.

"We want people to think - 'this is how I remember it - with my nostalgia goggles on."

Mass Effect follows in the footsteps of other heritage gaming franchises like Final Fantasy and Resident Evil in returning to their original titles

The original Mass Effect trilogy saw players take the role of Commander Shepard in a futuristic science fiction action story with as many plot twists as Game of Thrones.

They resonated with so many players largely because of the amount of choice they gave the player.

Those choices came with consequences that had significant knock-on effects.

The storyline and what happened in the game changed depending on who was playing and how they were playing.

Award-winning at the time, this method of game design also influenced many successful titles that followed like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim.

Mac says he and the team wanted to create a definitive version of those experiences.

"If you look at Mass Effect two and three, they hold up really well gameplay wise. There's no real argument that I could think of to remake either of those at this point, let's just uplift them and make them shine.

"As for the first game, OK sure, maybe there's an argument there that it could be pushed a little bit more towards remake rather than re-master - but honestly, some of that game's rough edges have become endearing to players and is tied to the nostalgia."

Joining in with the trend of revisiting classics, and appealing to fans' nostalgia, is also a safer move financially.

The fourth game in the series was released in 2017 but wasn't a direct follow-on from the original trilogy.

Mass Effect: Andromeda had a lukewarm reception on launch with a mixed reaction from critics.

The franchise, that until then could do no wrong, lost a little of its sparkle.

The development team is hoping that re-releasing the series' greatest hits with updated graphics and gameplay will re-energise the fan base.

Kevin, who describes himself as a fan-turned-developer, explains that it's about getting the balance right.

"It's one of people's top five games of all time, they are incredibly invested. So it's just up to us to take what's there and polish it rather than try to fix something when there's nothing to fix.

"Being in that universe again, and seeing these characters and being in these levels is full of nostalgia - and that is a really powerful feeling."

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