Mass Effect Legendary Edition will eat a huge chunk of your PS5 storage

Next week marks the eagerly anticipated launch of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, a remastered collection of the original Mass Effect trilogy, and now we know how much storage space the game will require on PS4 and PS5. 

@PlayStationSize has revealed on Twitter that the base game will take up 68GB with a required day one patch adding an additional 12GB for a total install size of 80GB. For EU gamers the game’s file size is even bigger clocking in at 101GB, we assume this is due to additional language packs.

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This makes Mass Effect Legendary Edition’s storage requirements more than double that of the original releases of the Mass Effect trilogy. Installing Mass Effect (7GB), Mass Effect 2 (12GB), Mass Effect 3 (14GB) on PS3 comes to around 34GB, significantly less than the space taken up by this remastered collection.

Of course, Mass Effect Legendary Edition doesn’t just feature reworked textures and lighting effects, it also includes more than 40 items of downloadable content. So it’s hardly surprising that these refreshed versions of the game will require a little more of your hard drive space. 

If hard drive space on your PS5 is already becoming an issue, then it may come as a relief to know you will be able to store Mass Effect Legendary Edition on an external drive. This is because there isn’t a next-gen native version of the game, and on PS5 it’ll technically be a PS4 game running through backwards compatibility so won’t require installation on the internal SSD. 

However, storing the game on the PS5 SSD will allow you to enjoy next-gen specific enhancements, so it’s worth making the space on your hard drive if possible. We got a full technical breakdown of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition earlier this week, and the game is confirmed to run in 4K at 60 frames per second on Sony’s flagship console. 

If the significant file size has you worried about being able to play on launch day, you’ll be able to pre-load the game from May 12 ahead of its May 14 launch date if you pre-order from the PlayStation Store. Which will allow you to jump into saving the galaxy the second the game goes live. 

In the meantime, if next week feels like an age away, Bioware has released a load of free digital content that was previously only available with the Mass Effect 2 and 3 deluxe editions. The downloadable content includes music tracks, digital art books, and digital comics; you can claim it from BioWare’s website. 

BioWare has also launched a very nifty box art creator web app, which allows you to create your own custom cover featuring your favorite Mass Effect characters. Unfortunately, you are not able to create a box art that features nothing but images of Garrus; we tried.   

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