Mass Effect romance options: All the male & female pairings in Legendary Edition
Looking for love in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition? You're in luck.
The Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is here, which means there's a fresh opportunity to try and woo your favourite non-playable characters, as Commander Shepherd goes looking for love amongst the stars once again.
Mass Effect romance options have always been a huge part of these games. Despite the fact the galaxy is at stake and you've got heaps of side missions to complete, there's always room for some romance if you make the time.
The romance options in Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 remain intact in the Legendary Edition, so read on for the full details on who you can strike up a romance with in each game!
Mass Effect 1 romance options
A male Shepherd in Mass Effect 1 can romance either Ashley Williams or Liara T'Soni, but you can't have both. If you try to develop relationships with both of them, eventually they will tell you to pick one.
As a female Sheperd in Mass Effect 1, your options are Kaidan Alenko or Liara T'Soni. Again, there's no way to partner up with both of them.
Romance is fairly simple in this game: just chat to your desired character between each major mission, choosing the most flirty options as you go, and make sure you complete their loyalty mission (a very obvious side mission they'll ask for your help with after enough chatting). Once a romance is established, Shepherd and this character will have a short steamy scene before the final battle of the game.
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Mass Effect 2 romance options
There are a few more options in Mass Effect 2. As a male Shepherd, you can have a fully-fledged romance with Tali'Zorah vas Neema, Miranda Lawson or Jack. Be careful with Jack, though: she will proposition you for sex fairly early on in the game, and if you say yes, she won't want a serious relationship later.
As a female Shepherd in Mass Effect 2, you can have main storyline romances with Garrus Vakarian, Jacob Taylor or Thane Krios. There's no option for a female relationship with Jack, although it has recently been revealed that this was once considered as an option for the original release.
As either a male or female Shepherd, you can also initiate brief flings with Samara, Morinth or Kelly Chambers, but these won't earn you the Paramour achievement (you need one of the main romance options for that).
Male or female Shepherds can also have a mid-game steamy scene with Liara, if they complete the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission and pick the right conversation options along the way. This was originally DLC content, but here it is woven into the main game. Liara doesn't earn you a Paramour achievement, though.
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Mass Effect 3 romance options
In Mass Effect 3, a male Shepard can romance Steve Cortez, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Jack, Ashley Williams, Kaidan Alenko, Liara T'Soni or Kelly Chambers, but some of those romances will only work if you're carrying over a pre-established relationship from the previous game (Tali, Miranda, Jack and Kelly need to be pre-established).
If you're a female Shepard in Mass Effect 3, you can romance Garrus Vakarian, Thane Krios, Kaidan Alenko, Liara T'Soni or Kelly Chambers. Garrus, Thane and Kelly will only work if you romanced them in the last game, though.
In terms of flings, either Shepherd can have a short tryst with Samara or Diana Allers. Only a female Shepherd can have flings with Samantha Traynor, Javik and James Vega.
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With all of those romance options to choose from in the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the galaxy can be a pretty raunchy place!
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Authors
Rob Leane is the Gaming Editor at Radio Times, overseeing our coverage of the biggest games on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, mobile and VR. Rob works across our website, social media accounts and video channels, as well as producing our weekly gaming newsletter. He has previously worked at Den of Geek, Stealth Optional and Dennis Publishing.
