Mass Effect Andromeda is now Xbox One X enhanced

Last year's much-maligned Mass Effect Andromeda now has a shiny Xbox One X patch.

The update has yet to be formally detailed, but Xbox One X owners can nab the new 1.68GB download right now. Windows Central reports the game running in 4K with the update installed.

More than 18 months after its release, Mass Effect Andromeda's Xbox One X update arrives timed with N7 Day, the annual celebration of BioWare's sci-fi series held on 7th November. This year, however, there seems little to celebrate.

Andromeda arrived to a stinging reception - its meme-worthy bugs passed around the internet and its lacklustre performance and direction scrutinised by players. Andromeda was a disaster for the series' future, as the game's better story moments, characters and its enjoyable gunplay were largely ignored.

Post-launch, BioWare made good strides towards fixing some of Andromeda's issues, and was still tinkering with the game's facial animations some four months later as reports of the game's tumultuous development emerged. But it was all too little, too late. Plans for an Andromeda sequel were placed on ice, and BioWare confirmed there would be no single-player DLC.

More recently, BioWare has begun to talk a bit about Mass Effect again, but only in very vague and far off terms. The EA-owned RPG studio has its big new franchise Anthem to launch in February next year, and after that is set to return to Dragon Age.

Back at E3 in June this year I chatted with former Mass Effect producer Mike Gamble on what might be next for Mass Effect. "You're very near and dear to it," he told me, "so are we, as creators, and we want to make sure there's a future. But that comes after Anthem, after all that stuff we're talking about. That's future."