A newly released mod forMass Effect 3 Legendary Editionturns the popular space-faring RPG into a much more hardcore experience by making players die at random times during high-intensity action set pieces. The self-explanatory Reduced Plot Armor mod even adds a special ending that can be unlocked by anyone unlucky enough to roll a death in the final stretch of the game, but also brave enough to survive all the previous fatality checks that its custom Hard Mode has to offer.
The mid-2021 release of theMass Effect Legendary Editiontrilogy gave the franchise a considerable popularity boost in the online modding community. Modding hub Nexus Mods currently hosts over 1,200Mass Effect Legendary Editionmods, with that figure dwarfing its mod databases for the original three games put together.
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As for this latest addition to theMass Effect 3 Legendary Editionmod pool, its creators decided to add a chance of random death for Shepard in any area of the game where they felt Bioware provided the protagonist with “too much plot armor.” Such situations are exclusively tied to cutscenes in which Shepard normally survives explosions, falls, or other extreme forms of damage, all of which can now end in their death. Should that happen, the modded game will inform players of the nature of their death with a custom fatality screen that will display messages like “you died in an explosion” or “you broke your spine.” The chance of rolling a death is never greater than 50% and no set piece contains multiple checks, according to the mod’s description.
The Reduced Plot Armor mod forMass Effect 3requires the LE3 Community Patch & Framework, which can be installed using the ME3Tweaks Mod Manager. It also adds a new Hard Mode option to theMass Effect 3settings menu. Enabling this feature will turn on additional fatality checks throughout the game—mostly near its very end—and also increase the deadliness of its existing checks. Dying due to reduced plot armor in the final area of the gamewith this setting enabled will even result in a brand new bad ending to the trilogy, makingthe “perfect” playthrough ofMass Effect 3 Legendary Editioneven more challenging.
The mod’s custom ending is more of an Easter egg than a serious attempt at wrapping up the original trilogy with fan fiction. For context, the conclusion ofMass Effect 3remains one of themost debated video game endings of all time.
Meanwhile, whileBioware continues to teaseMass Effect 4, the next main installment in the franchise is still without a firm release date or even a release window. Given that state of affairs, it’s unlikely that the game will hit the market prior to 2024, at the earliest.
Mass Effect Legendary Editionis available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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