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Mass Effect Andromeda – Grab These Mods for a Smooth Playthrough

Mass Effect Andromeda will get Free Multiplayer Maps

Despite the overall unpleasantness, 2020 has been a great year for Mass Effect fans. During the annual N7 day celebration, the developers from Bioware have officially announced the long-rumored remaster of the trilogy coming in 2021. Additionally, in an unexpected move pulled during the TGA 2020, the team shared a teaser revealing The Next Mass Effect and simultaneously pulling at the heartstrings of fans everywhere.

There has never been a better moment to dive into the Mass Effect universe. With the remaster coming very soon, the best way to immerse oneself in the franchise – and not burn out before the Legendary Edition – is to hop into Andromeda.

Now, Mass Effect Andromeda has seen a rocky launch and has been dropped by Electronic Arts after a handful of patches despite the game’s hints at possible DLCs. Thankfully, the community continued to support the game through fan-made mods that can be found on Nexus. Below you can find a list of mods that will make your playthrough of Andromeda much smoother, whether you are trying it for the first time or returning in preparation for the upcoming Mass Effect releases.




General Fixes & Changes:

MEA Fixpack

MEA Fixpack addresses various issues in Mass Effect: Andromeda left unresolved by the developers such as fixing permanent unread mark on the journal caused by the quest “Cora Harper: A Foundation”.

Shorter Landing and Departure Cinematics

While your ship, Tempest, looks as cool as anything can get while it gloriously lifts above the planet’s surface, by the time you have seen the cinematic 5 times or so, you can get so over it. Enter Shorter Landing and Departure cinematics mod that cuts the said cinematics by 90% for all hubs and planets!

Faster Kadara Doors

Similar to the previous mod, this particular addition reduces the time it takes to interact with the doors on Kadara – and there are a lot of doors.

Shut Up SAM

Have you ever been racing through the planet in Nomad or trekking around with your companions and, just as the teammates start a dialogue, SAM pipes up and informs you of temperature or minerals, thus cutting it off? Or are you just sick of the talkative AI? Shut Up SAM is just for you!

The mod removes SAM’s comments about temperature, radiation, mining and life support being restored. It keeps the comments about life support being low/failing because they can be useful.

Dialogue Annoyances Removal

Coming from the same person that created Shut Up SAM, Dialogue Annoyances Removal cuts useless comments that would interrupt your teammates’ banter.

Mass Effect Andromeda review - softcore space porn

Visual Fixes & Changes: 

Turian Makeover

This mod overhauls textures used for male and female Turians (with the exception of Vetra) making them look more like their trilogy counterparts. Some of the things it does: darker eye sockets, darker secondary nostrils, better details on plates, darker tongue, etc.

Asari Tweaks

Similar to the previous mod, it provides alternative face textures for the Asari NPCs.

fAngara ReTex

The mod improves textures of female Angaras to make them match the males of the race better.

Underarmor Casual Outfit

Probably a small mod compared to the rest featured in the article but one of my favorites nevertheless. If you want your Ryder to at least attempt to act professional, it’s best to look the part instead of dressing like he/she is about to go to a club.

Addison Tweak

Anyone who’s played Andromeda knows that Addison’s face is tired. However, you can fix the problem by using this mod and adding a few subtle changes to the NPC!

Nexus also features a great number of mods that affect Ryder or their companions such as this amazing Peebee tweak or custom texture for default Sara. Simply search the character you want to change by their name and you are likely to find a handful of mods that offer various tweaks!

JAAL Mass Effect Andromeda

Gameplay Enhancements:

Better Squad

Unlike ME3 companions who can ascend to godhood and carry Shepard through the game, the teammates in Andromeda lack the same battle experience and are largely useless in combat. This mod increases all offensive and defensive passive powers and special skills of all squadmates to better fit each character. Now your teammates will actually do some damage and not die as much!

Balanced Weapons

At the higher levels and difficulty modes, the enemies in Andromeda become bullet sponges. This mod makes the game more enjoyable by boosting the base damage of weaker weapons.

Road Rage

Road Rage changes the way you can handle Nomad. In particular, the mod changes the damage done to enemies when running them over and makes it scale with your level to keep it satisfying throughout the game. Also affects the max slope angle the nomad is able to go over while in 4 wheel drive.

Quick Loot

Chances are, as you play the game you keep pressing the “TAKE ALL” button each time you loot anything and the pick-up window appears. This mod allows you to skip the clicking part and automatically pick up everything. If you are into collecting everything you see on the map, you might want to consider increasing your inventory size while you are at it!

Fast Mining

This mod massively speeds up the mining process. You’d need only one drone launch to collect all resources from a newly-discovered mining zone and make it completely depleted.

Favorite Swapping Overhaul

Powers will not reset their cooldown when swapping profiles. Instead, the cooldown will remain stuck until you swap back. Makes for a pretty balanced compromise.

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