Mass Effect Legendary Edition appears to be a lavish pack that lovingly restores much of the spirit and content of BioWare’s beloved trilogy – except for one single player DLC that is missing.
Pinnacle Station, an add-on that brought a small hub and combat simulator to Mass Effect 1, is not included.
If you’re familiar with the story of the inclusion of this DLC in other versions of the game, you might know what’s to come, but if not, BioWare has now confirmed why.
Pinnacle Station was skipped when the original Mass Effect was late launching on PlayStation 3, some five years after it originally appeared on Xbox 360.
Then, BioWare admitted that the source code had become corrupted and it could no longer be worked on. Now, and despite new efforts by BioWare to revive the add-on, this is unfortunately still the case.
Speaking to Game Informer, Legendary Edition Project Director Mac Walters said that trying to get Pinnacle Station remastered was “an emotional rollercoaster” after contacting the original third-party developer.
Unlike most Mass Effect DLC, Pinnacle Station was built by a different company: Demiurge Studios, a small outfit from Massachusetts about 14 years later.
BioWare managed to contact Demiurge to retrieve copies of the original Pinnacle Station files – which Demiurge was able to find – but they were also found to be corrupt. It was also out of the question to create the add-on from scratch.
“It would actually take us another six months to do this with most of the team we have,” Walters told Game Informer. “I wish we could do it. Honestly, just because this has to be everything the team has ever made, brought back together – all the content for one player. And so, leaving everything on the cutting room floor,” it was heartbreaking. ”
For more information on Mass Effect Legendary Edition, including the Legendary Cache and our questions to Walters about returning to the franchise that many have feared will not continue, read our coverage of everything in the pack.