Developers love hiding references in their games, and BioWare is no exception. A great example of a developer Easter egg is the Dragon Age Ogre in Mass Effect 2.
Reddit user poltergeist007 happened across the monstrosity in the form of a statue while completing squad mate Kasumi Goto’s loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2. The statue depicts a roaring Ogre that’s very reminiscent of the first boss fight in Dragon Age: Origins.
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The Dragon Age reference isn’t entirely unknown to longtime BioWare fans. It’s a fairly prominent feature in Donovan Hock’s vault in Mass Effect 2’s Kasumi – Stolen Memory DLC. Kasumi even comments on the statue when the player interacts with it. Still, the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition brought in plenty of new players who haven’t seen it before. Anyone who missed out can find it by exploring Donovan Hock’s vault, which players enter partway through the mission. The same room also contains a reference to Planet of the Apes. Kasumi says the film’s famous “They blew it all up!” line when players interact with the damaged Statue of Liberty’s head.
The Ogre statue is one of BioWare’s more noticeable cross-franchise references, although it isn’t the only one. Many players encountered one small reference to Dragon Age near the beginning of the first Mass Effect. One of the archaeologists on Eden Prime says “Thank the Maker” in response to Shepard’s timely arrival. And while that phrase might not be exclusive to the Dragon Age universe, it’s far more common in Thedas than the real world. That might seem odd given the two games' release dates, but it’s worth remembering that Origins was several years into development when BioWare released Mass Effect.
On a related note, Some Mass Effect players might be familiar with the planet Klendagon, which was present in all three games and played a minor role in Mass Effect 2’s backstory. The planet suffered a glancing blow from an enormous mass accelerator cannon, leaving a vast rift on its surface. Mass Effect 1 players can see the rift when landing on the nearby moon of Presrop. So can Dragon Age: Origins players who look up at the night sky while in camp. This spawned fan theories that the desolate Presrop is Dragon Age’s world of Thedas after some calamity.
2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition also has a hidden reference to the Mass Effect series. Players can find a Krogan head during the quest Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. Shortly before the climax of the quest, players need to break into the Winter Palace’s trophy room. A ticking clock encourages players to move quickly, though many still spotted the head of a Krogan mounted on the wall.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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