Mass Effect's Commander Shepard Was Originally Modeled As Female

When BioWare first revealed the Mass Effect trilogy, the company showed off gameplay that featured a male Shepard, but the character's earliest incarnation was as a woman.

Nearly 20 percent of Mass Effect players played through the game with a female Commander Shepard, but I wonder if that number would have been higher if BioWare had initially advertised the game with a female Shepard in the lead role. According to Mass Effect 1 and 2 lead animator Jonathan Cooper's twitter feed, BioWare always intended to let players pick their Shepard's gender, but the game's earliest animation tests reveal a female Shepard.

Ten years ago this month, my very first anim test for Mass Effect. Yup, Commander Shepard was originally a woman: pic.twitter.com/FhC2E0FSrA

— Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) January 9, 2015

And another one. A parametric incline blend based on checking ground normals. Some games still don't do this. pic.twitter.com/BNwvp1LXDY

— Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) January 9, 2015

Our Take
This is an interesting fact, and considering that there aren't too many strong female leads in games, it's nice to see that BioWare was thinking about how Commander Shepard would play as a woman early in development.