There it is, fellow Thedosians. Out of the blue, BioWare have released a sneak preview of the the next installment of the Dragon Age series, for IGN's gamescom 2020. Unlike the previous video, this one is entirely devoted to the next Dragon Age, and it is chock full of concrete information, ranging from character names, voice actors, to concept art and behind the scenes of animation production.
The video
In addition, the official website of https://www.dragonage.com has been updated, and a tag line was added, that reads "The world needs a new hero. Will you answer the call?". However, the website is not yet fully functional, and the link to "more updates" is currently broken.
You can watch the video here.
The video starts with Casey Hudson, who previously worked on the original Mass Effect trilogy, and Inquisition, introducing this sneak preview, which he describes as still being in very early stages of production.
The videos features Mark Darrah - Executive Producer, Graham Scott - Senior Game Designer, Melissa Janowicz - Gameplay Designer, John Renish - Technical Director, Matthew Goldman - Creative Director, Esther Ko - LEad Creature Animator, Luke Kristjanson - Senior Writer, Patrick Weekes - Lead Writer, John Epler - Narrative Director, Jen Cheverie - Associate Producer, Sylvia Feketekuty - Writer, Andre Garcia - Gameplay Director, Katrina Barkwell - RPG Programmer,
Mark Darrah goes on to promise that in the next game, we will visit places never shown before, and meet character who grew up in those places. Patrick Weekes adds that BioWare want to present a story in which the player doesn't have power, like the case was in the recent Inquisition, and partly in Origins and its add-on Awakening; and the character who do have the power are not doing anything to help. John Epler mentions that the story will focus people who surround you, your companions and family. Andre Garcia empahsises the choices in the game will matter, and Katrina Barkwell further drives the point home in saying that the player can decide which companion lives or dies.
Gareth David-Lloyd was confirmed to return as Solas, and can be seen voicing one of the lines, pressumingly addressing the protagonist: "They call me the Dread Wolf. What will they call you, when this is over?"
Jee Young Han is said to voiceover the character of Bellara.
Ike Amadi will voiceover a Grey Warden by the name of Davrin.
images
And some shots of work in progress:
My comments
And now for pure speculation by yours truly, what the images mean to me. Not that these are just my thoughts.
- There will be piracy in the game, and treasure hunting, with some under water levels, for the first time in Dragon Age. Several pictures hint at a pirate theme. Potentially involvement of the Raiders of the Waking Sea.
- There will be big monsters in the game other than dragons. You can see a kraken-like creature, and Thresher Maw off of Mass Effect.
- There are rifts in the fade in this game too.
- One of the companions, a female human/elf, is an Antivan crow.
- The action shot of the multiple characters seems to depict the companions, and they would be as follows: a female human, female Qunari, human male, female elf, a dwarf, a male elf, a spirit?
- It is heavily implied we will visit Tevinter and Anderfels. Tevinter imagery, and Grey Warden statues of griffons. Also, a snowy mountain with dwarven paragon statues. Some buildings look like real-life mosques in the domed design. Perhaps Qunari lands? They are meant to be designed on middle east/Egyptian pyramids.
- In one image there are flying ships, and floating rocks. Tevinter magic at work?
- One of the human male warriors in the picture bears Inquistion logo on chest. He's exploring dungeon with a Qunari male, female mage and female rogue archer.
- Woman in the underwater shot looks like Isabela. So, Riviani?
We'll be watching and rewatching this sneak peak for years to come, as the game is in early stages, and even more so with the pandemic. But nice of BioWare to give us all this concrete info instead of beating around the bush.