Esteemed developer BioWare continues to work on Dragon Age 4, and while the game is still in early development, the studio provided some sense of what its next title in the franchise might be like during the Gamescom Opening Night Live stream. Most interesting is BioWare’s focus on characters “who don’t have power,” taking the series in a different storytelling direction than the last game, during which you had enormous political influence.
The trailer we saw was mostly filled with concept art and a few brief glimpses at in-game environments, but it did give a few intriguing tidbits. We saw that at least one key character will be returning–Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Solas, who fans will remember as having played a significant role in that game’s story. It sounds like Dragon Age 4 will also deal pretty heavily with the politics of the game’s world, where the people in power aren’t willing to address issues plaguing their people. Mark Darrah, who has worked as an executive producer at BioWare for several years, will once again be involved in the new Dragon Age game’s development. Creative director Mike Laidlaw is no longer with BioWare, however, having left after Inquisition’s release to briefly work for Ubisoft.
BioWare also mentioned that player choice will be a big feature in the game, of course, and that Dragon Age 4 will see new locations that players have never visited before. But details beyond those were pretty thin, except that BioWare is working on the game and we’ll see it on next-gen consoles whenever it’s released. It’s also worth noting that Dragon Age 4 is not yet an official name for the game–BioWare only refers to it as the “next Dragon Age.”
Speaking of next-gen consoles, you can now register to pre-order a PS5, though the first round will be invite-only. And for more news out of Gamescom, be sure to check our roundup of all the announcements from Opening Night Live.
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