Mass Effect Players Can Finally Save Both Ashley And Kaidan

Just a few hours into Mass Effect, BioWare presents players with an unforgettable choice: do you save Ashley Williams, or Kaidan Alenko?

These two human crew members are first to join up with Shepard on their epic sci-fi journey, and BioWare wastes little time in reminding you that your choices genuinely matter in this game when it demands you step up and choose one of them to die.

It's a choice that echoes throughout the rest of the trilogy, with the character you save ultimately going on to have their own story arc and potential for future romance with players.

I've written before about how I truly believe Ashley is the absolute worst, and that I always regretted saving the space bigot and leaving Kaidan to burn. What can I say? I assumed she'd have some kind of redemption arc. I assumed wrong.

But those who simply don't want to choose between the two no longer have to! Thanks to the hard work of one modder, it's now possible to save both Ashley and Kaidan in the remastered Mass Effect Legendary Edition, and keep 'em alive for the duration of the trilogy. That means you can gaze longingly into Kaidan's eyes while Ashley embarks on some Karen-esque rant in the background without the crushing guilt that comes with consigning her to die. Hurray!

The Virmire Savior Mod (thanks, TheGamer) is the creation of a modder called Vegz, and is currently available to download at at Nexus Mods.

The mod uses cut dialogue from Mass Effect to get Ashley and Kaidan off of Virmire in one piece. However, it's still something of a work in progress: both characters being alive isn't yet reflected in Mass Effect 2, although this is something Vegz is actively working on.

Of course if you'd rather leave one of 'em to their grisly fate, you can still do so. Heck, I wonder how long it'll take someone to come up with a mod that lets you leave them both on Virmire?