Mass Effect Legendary Edition heads to Xbox Game Pass this week

Xbox Game Pass sweetens the deal for RPG fans a little more in the New Year as Mass Effect Legendary Edition heads to the service. As part of this month's lineup, subscribers to PC Game Pass or Ultimate with EA Play can start their remastered rendevous with Shepard this Thursday, January 6. 

Late last year, rumblings around a possible launch on the service for Bioware's beloved trilogy began when the Xbox Store made an error and posted Mass Effect's box art with the Game Pass logo. The image quickly came down, and neither Microsoft nor BioWare would confirm if November's mistake was an actual leak of what was to come. 

But now we've got our confirmation via Xbox, and the first three games in the Mass Effect series are headed to Game Pass along with almost all of the single-player DLC. BioWare's new package also includes a photo mode, cumbersome bug fixes from the original, and remastered graphics for 4K Ultra HD.

The Legendary Edition makes its debut this week alongside other titles like Embr, Outer Wilds, Gorogoa, Olija, and The Pedestrian. Additional RPG offerings may be a bit thin, but there's still a little something there for folks playing Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis with the monthly member bonus distributed to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. 

As for more Mass Effect, the series itself remains in the spotlight despite the Legendary Edition's launch being almost a year ago. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke recently mentioned they're nearing a deal with EA and BioWare for bringing the series to TV. There's also that untitled next entry that just promises "Mass Effect will continue." We don't know how or when, but new teases through posters and trailers stoke some new theories.