Mass Effect: Andromeda Patch Further Polishes Animation, Ups Multiplayer Difficulty, More

While there’s some doubt whether Mass Effect: Andromeda will end up getting previously-promised story DLC, BioWare continues to work to improve the game via free patches. Earlier this week, it was teased Andromeda‘s multiplayer would be getting a new difficulty setting and alien race, and BioWare delivered that and a lot more in the game’s latest update.

Mass Effect: Andromeda‘s main single-player experience has received further improvements to its wonky facial animations and often-clunky cinematics. Meanwhile, multiplayer gets Platinum Difficulty, the new Batarian Scrapper, and the ability to rename and change the skin tone of characters, along with a heaping helping of the usual fixes and balance changes.

You can check out the single-player Mass Effect: Andromeda update 1.09 changes, below:

• Various improvements to facial animations and cinematic scenes
• Improved stability
• Fixed issue where certain hair textures could disappear from female custom heads when using Facial Reconstruction Suite
• Fixed issue where negative AVP could be displayed after reaching Nexus level 20
• Fixed various quest progression blockers
• Fixed issue where Ryder could be killed even when following directions during the guarded walk through Aya
• Fixed issue where player could commit to relationships with both Jaal and Cora concurrently
• Fixed issue where the Reach the Signal Source objective in Peebee’s quest line could fail to trigger
• Fixed issue where player could get trapped on a ledge in the Elaaden Vault, causing an infinite load screen
• Fixed save/load issues with the final battle area in Peebee’s Loyalty mission
• Fixed issue where the Speak to Sid objective on the Nexus could persist indefinitely
• Fixed issue where quest marker could disappear during the final step of the Reformation quest on Voeld
• Addressed issue where it was possible for the player to be attacked during initial conversation with Bain Massani on Eos
• Fixed issue where save/load could cause final platform to disappear in Drack’s Loyalty Mission
• Fixed issue where the player can’t progress through the final story mission if the Nomad is broken from the “Out of Gas” quest
• Added a confirmation prompt before changing Ryder’s appearance on the Tempest
• Fixed issue where player could become trapped by NPCs in the APEX HQ on the Nexus
• X5 Ghost can now be dismantled.
• Fixed issue where Tab (keyboard) and Start/Options (Controller) no longer served as shortcuts to close the pause menu
• Fixed issue where auto-level could assign skill points into loyalty-locked squadmate skills
• Tactical Cloak melee damage bonus now applies to jump-melee as well.
• Fixed issue with Fusion Mods displaying incorrect stats

And here are the main Multiplayer changes:

• Introduced Platinum Difficulty, featuring mixed enemy factions.
• Added the Batarian Scrapper character (Rare).
• Added a Skin Tone slider to customization options for some characters.
• Added Veteran Bonus ranks that increase power, combo, and melee damage stats for each character.
• There are now two daily challenges and new types of challenges.
• The Item Store has a weekly rotation of two Uncommon and two Rare equipment items.
• Characters can be renamed in the customization options.

If you want to check out every minor multiplayer tweak and fix, you can do that, right here.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is currently available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. You can check out WWG’s latest coverage of the game here.