Last year, we discovered that Dragon Age Inquisition’s ability to make your horse “sprint” was just an illusion, a fact that surprised many fans of the near-decade old game.
Now, there’s perhaps even more surprising news: this wasn’t even the first time BioWare had pulled off this same trick, and no one noticed.
Believe it or not, Mass Effect 1 has the same faux-sprint effect in play – where your speed is exactly the same when “sprinting”, though it looks faster due to camera effects. Mind blown.
Former BioWare veteran John Ebenger, who also revealed the truth about Dragon Age’s horses, dropped the bombshell on social media platform X this week, and explained why.
In a nutshell, the reason why Mass Effect’s sprint didn’t actually make you go faster was the same as in Dragon Age: the game simply couldn’t load areas any faster back then, so it was about making the player experience feel like you were going faster instead.
“Same thing in Mass Effect 1 when you try to run on the Citadel,” Ebenger wrote. “No change in speed, just in the FOV of the camera to give the illusion you’re moving faster.
“Can’t remember if that stayed true for 2 and 3 or if load times were better by then.”
To be clear, this refers to the original version of Mass Effect – and actual sprinting has now been implemented in the trilogy’s very enjoyable Legendary Edition trilogy release.
BioWare is back this week with a first proper look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard later today, at 4pm UK time, but you can already catch a sneek peek now. The developer also has a small team hard at work on its next Mass Effect game, which is set to return to the Milky Way and fan-favourite character Liara.
