After a long crossing of the desert for BioWare and two titles (Anthem et Mass Effect Andromeda) which seriously undermined the reputation of a studio with a legendary pedigree until then, Dragon Age 4 is awaited with as much apprehension as excitement.
But, since a teaser at the Game Awards 2018, this game still remains a mystery today. The American studio briefly resurfaced at the start of the year to share the state of progress, as well as its desire to regain the trust of fans. Seven years after a nice but not transcendent Dragon Age: Inquisition, back to this last-ditch Action-RPG for BioWare, whose real name we still don't know.
The origins of Dragon Age
Before tackling the future of the Dragon Age franchise, it is worth going back to the origins of a cult license, despite its ups and downs. Our story begins in 2009 with Dragon Age: Origins. We discovered a dark and highly complex medieval-fantasy universe created from scratch by BioWare. We embodied a character that we could create as we saw fit, from his appearance to his origins. With a radically different prologue that would influence the rest of our adventure in a unique way.
In addition to battles combining turn-based tactics and particularly interesting Action-RPGs, it is therefore its narration that has made Dragon Age: Origins the masterpiece that we know today. Each choice would have a lasting impact on the world around us and even the companions with whom we would surround ourselves. This mastery of narration, we owe it in particular to the first Mass Effect, still designed by BioWare and released in 2007, which also rose to the rank of a video game masterpiece.
Despite a Dragon Age 2 which was all a mistake and a better controlled Dragon Age: Inquisition, without however managing to dethrone its elder, the franchise still retains a magical aura today. Only, Inquisition was released in 2014, and communication around Dragon Age 4 has so far been particularly discreet.
The art(work) and the way
After a first announcement in 2018 which had its small effect, BioWare has mostly kept a low profile around its next project. Probably a lesson learned the hard way following thunderous communication around an Anthem that turned out to be a huge disappointment. To eat their brakes, fans have had to settle mainly for artwork shared sporadically for three years.
However, each of these artworks was accompanied by a story element aimed at setting the backdrop in which our next adventure will take place. Combining many major events that took place in previous games, the story of Dragon Age 4 should take us to Tevinter, a nation still unexplored in the universe created by BioWare. It should also involve Solas, a companion from Dragon Age: Inquisition who shares ties with Fen'Harel, the Elven God of Deception. One of the artworks shared over the years also features a lyrium idol, recognizable by the red-colored crystals it sports. This idol, which we find in Dragon Age 2, was at the origin of the corruption that our hero must subdue during the story.
With all these elements, we can therefore count on a grandiose adventure in which we will rub shoulders with ancient gods, corruption and conspiracies, with choices that will have a lasting impact on Tevinter. Let's hope that BioWare's mastery in the field is still alive by offering us difficult dilemmas, or simply the possibility of choosing between becoming the hero or the villain of the story, or even a more nuanced character.
A development full of pitfalls
If we count the teaser released in 2018, we can estimate that Dragon Age 4 has been in development since at least 2015 or 2016. Although the team in charge of the project includes many veterans of the franchise, BioWare was in this time divided between several projects. Among the latter, we count the infamous Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda.
Two games that left a dark mark on the studio and probably discredited it a lot in the eyes of its publisher, Electronic Arts. So much so that two of BioWare's leaders simply left the studio at the end of 2020. The development of Dragon Age 4 was certainly impacted by these two back-to-back failures. We also learned a few weeks ago that the game had lost its creative director.
However, after some particularly dark years, it looks like BioWare is finally getting its head above water. Mass Effect Legendary Edition was indeed a huge success thanks to an extremely solid remaster. A breath of fresh air that certainly helped rally the troops and motivate them to restore the studio to its former glory.
A new generation epic
With such a table and without any gameplay footage to date, however, it is difficult to know where Dragon Age 4 really is. However, many clues tend to indicate that the game would be released in 2023, and would not count PS4 and Xbox One in its platforms at launch. The LinkedIn profile of Daniel Lordlancer, chief player designer on the project from 2019 to 2020, had indeed spilled the beans on a game intended for the PC as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.
The latest bit of information about Dragon Age 4 comes to us from a message from BioWare General Manager Gary McKay. In a long blog post, he wanted to reassure fans about the progress of the project, which would have made a lot of progress. He also took the opportunity to confirm that Dragon Age 4 will be an exclusively solo title, therefore devoid of the unconvincing cooperation mode present in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
The man concluded his post by saying he was "looking forward to sharing more information on the future of the studio" and Dragon Age 4. Here is a point on which we can only agree, while a game on which we have so to speak seen nothing is supposed to come out, the air of nothing, next year.
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