The first Mass Effect game still holds up remarkably well - visually, at least. Getting that many unique alien designs in a game in 2007 would have been no small feat, which means some corners had to be cut to make it possible. As a result, turians and asari don't have much in the way of fashion, all wearing the same outfits. There are also not too many of them in one place, with humans populating most of the game instead.
Now, with the benefit of modern hardware, a modder is set to change that. The LE1 Diversification Project has just released its alpha build, and replaces many of the human NPCs dotted around the game with aliens. These new NPCs also look much more unique than what you find in the base game, with new designs, and even a better gender balance.
Female turians didn't appear in the series until a Mass Effect 3 DLC, but with this mod, they'll be hanging around the citadel just as the men are. The asari have also been given new outfits, making it so they don't all shop from the same place.
Aliens aren't the only aspect of the game that could do with some fine-tuning. The mod will also increase the diversity among the human population, by adding more women and people of colour. In the current build, this has been partially implemented.
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Future builds of the project won't just be overhauling preexisting NPCs, but will also add more. This is because the citadel can feel inexplicably empty at times, hardly the thriving metropolis it's made out to be. Dr. Michel's clinic, for example, will actually get some patients, giving her something to do after your brief interaction with her.
"While the mod is currently in Alpha, it is fully functional and not buggy at all (just very far from complete)", writes the mod's creator, Audemus. "This mod will be a long-term development project that will receive infrequent, but extremely large updates until it effectively becomes a Lite Project Variety-esque mod for LE1."
The mod has amassed almost a thousand downloads in just two weeks. Audemus is happy to take suggestions from fans for what should be added in future updates.