EA Bioware has officially announced that Dragon Age 4: Rise of the Dread Wolf (expected title) is in the works and it may be further along than you think. Though the teaser trailer doesn’t give much away, we know one thing for sure. This is the first direct sequel in the franchise’s history. Beyond that, the trailer doesn’t give us much to go on. I’ve scoured Dragon Age Inquisition, from relevant Codex to YouTube videos of choices I didn’t make, and I’m finally ready to tell you what to expect in the highly anticipated sequel.

× Hey! Listen! The writer of this article has personal biases towards; RPGs, Stealth, and Horror games and prefers them over; Simulator, Tactics, and RTS games. Read More…

× Caution! Spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition ahead!

What We Know About Dragon Age 4 If you haven’t beat Dragon Age Inquisition yet and you still intend to, know that there are major spoilers ahead. Keep in mind that the comments ahead are relative to my personal version of the game and key characters might change depending on the choices you made in your own game, though the big picture will remain the same.

Dragon Age Inquisition Companions Won’t Return After completing the base Dragon Age Inquisition and Trespasser DLC we’re given some very important information on what’s next for the Inquisition. Whether you chose to disband the Inquisition or not, you’re ultimately given the same ending scene of your Inquisitor looking at a map and discussing their next move. Leliana says that Solas, “knows everything about us” and the Inquisitor responds, “Then we find people he doesn’t know.” From this short exchange we can discern that it’s highly likely we won’t see the companions of Dragon Age Inquisition return or if we do it will only be in a cameo or brief mission. While I suspect Leliana, Cullen and potentially Casandra will be in the next game, I don’t expect to see the others.

Going Where No Dragon Age Has Gone Before Shortly after this conversation, The Inquisitor stabs a knife into the map marking “Tevinter Imperium”. This simple act all but confirms that we can expect to go to Tevinter at some point in the next game. However, before he/she does this we get a look at the whole map and can clearly see The Anderfels, Nevarra, and The Free Marches are shown on the map. Based on the use of the Orlesian and Ferelden maps in Dragon Age Inquisition, I think it’s safe to say we’ll be going to those places as well.

The Disappearance of the Elven People In the epilogue, we also find out that a growing number of Elven people are vanishing. It’s safe to say they are leaving to aid Fen’Harel (Solas) in his quest to destroy the Veil. Things are going to get a bit awkward for my fellow Elven Inquisitors in the next game.

When the Walls Come Tumbling Down Speaking of Solas, the Veil, and the spoiler warning I posted earlier, if you didn’t get a chance to play the Trespasser DLC, Solas reveals his plan to bring down the Veil between the Fade and the physical world, basically destroying all of Thedas in the process. It turns out, the Veil didn’t always exist and Fen’Harel created it to lock the ancient elven gods away, which is what lead to the downfall of the Elves and the loss of their immortality.

Mages or Gods? As for these “Ancient Elven Gods,” we found out that all of them were just incredibly powerful mages. This includes Fen’Harel himself. Fen’Harel locked the gods away to save the common elven people who were being used as slaves, not unlike the magisters in Tevinter. This, however, raises one big question. Were all of the gods powerful mages? Or is “The Maker” the only true “God”?

Cut off the Arm so the Body Can Live Throughout the Trespasser DLC, the anchor (the mark on the Inquisitor’s hand that allows him to seal rifts) becomes less and less stable and is slowly killing the Inquisitor. Once you finally catch Solas, he casts a spell to buy you some time so that you can talk to him. After the conversation is done, he undoes the spell and the Inquisitor is forced to cut off his/her arm to save his/her life. Solas’ choice to cancel the spell that could have saved the Inquisitor’s life makes it perfectly clear that he intended to kill him/her. I think it’s safe to say that Solas is the new “big bad” in Dragon Age 4, if you didn’t get that already.

TL;DR on What We Know Not likely we’ll see people from Dragon Age Inquisition We’ll be going to Tevinter, The Anderfels, Nevarra, and The Free Marches Elves are vanishing to follow Fen’Harel (Solas) Fen’Harel plans to tear down The Veil, destroying the world in the process The Inquisitor cut off his/her hand to save his/her life Dragon Age 4 is a direct sequel – a first for the series Solas is the main antagonist The Elven gods were just super powerful mages – does this include The Maker?



What We Think We’ll See in Dragon Age 4

Qunari, Elves, and Fen’Harel, Oh My! First off, I think it’s safe to say that the primary enemy in Dragon Age 4 will likely be the agents of Fen’Harel, mostly Elves, as well as the Qunari who attempted to destroy Sothern Thedas. Though there’s no guarantee, based on the events of Trespasser it seems highly likely you’ll be teaming up with Tevinter and the rest of the world against the Qunari at the very least.

Bigger, Better, Massive…er. Dragon Age Inquisition came out over 4 years ago, and though that doesn’t seem like a long-time, open world games have grown in that time frame. With games like The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, I think it’s highly likely we will be exploring Thedas in its entirety. I think we will see one massive open world like these games rather than the previous massive zone areas, though if this is the case it begs the question, will the world be made smaller to accommodate this? If Bioware aims to make the world that big it would easily dwarf any current massive open world game. Though Assassins Creed Odyssey had a huge map, it only contained a portion of Greece, while Dragon Age 4 would encompass an entire world.

New Old Characters Though the Inquisitor intends to find new people to join him in his fight against Fen’Harel, that doesn’t mean they’ll be new to long-term fans of the series. I believe it’s likely that we’ll see the return of some of our favorite characters from Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2. It’s possible we’ll see more of Hawke, Alister, and The Hero of Ferelden too (Depending on your timeline choices). Up to this point, the events of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 have just been to build up lore and history inside the Dragon Age world. I think we can all agree that it would be amazing to see those characters return in an epic battle to save the world from destruction. After all, if that’s not the goal, then why continue to mention past characters such as Morrigan and the Warden?

The End of The Dragon Age Speaking of uniting heroes against the destruction of the world, there is a possibility that this could be the end of the Dragon Age franchise. Though it’s not likely because franchises that sell well never die whether they suck or not. I mean, the world hasn’t ended before despite the fact that you can make some really dark timelines in Dragon Age Keep, like making one where almost everyone dies in the 5th blight. The events of Dragon Age 2 aren’t quite as apocalyptic as Dragon Age: Origins, but they really help set up the world for Dragon Age Inquisition. Who’s to say that you can’t fail to save the world in Dragon Age 4? After all, Bioware did it in Mass Effect 2. Granted, it’s likely that wouldn’t be the intended ending, but it could be one of them. What is more likely, however, is that your actions in this game, if it is to be the last in the franchise, will lead to the end of the Dragon Age and thus a new “Age” begins. Either way, it would make for a fitting, though disappointing, end to one of my all-time favorite franchises.

We’ll Be Seeing You Real Soon Though nothing is confirmed, and this is 100% speculation, based on the comment that Mark Darrah made during Dragon Age 4’s announcement we may be seeing something about Dragon Age 4 as early as E3 2019. “We have been working on a new Dragon Age™ game for quite a while now and I am pleased to finally tease the existence of this project!” He specifically says, “for quite a while,” which could mean Dragon Age 4 is closer than we think. However, this is a very vague time frame and could mean anywhere from a few months to a few years. On that note, I also believe it’s possible that we’ll see a release window for Dragon Age 4 set between Fall 2019 – Summer 2020. I think it’s highly likely that Dragon Age 4 will also be one of the first games on next-gen. But that doesn’t mean that current gen will be left out. When Dragon Age Inquisition released, it was released for both last gen and current gen consoles, and I think that Dragon Age 4 will likely follow suit.

TL;DR on What We Think Elves and Qunari will likely be the primary threat

A larger and more open/connected world that covers all Thedas

The return of characters from DA:O and DA2 to include the Hero of Fereldan and Hawke

This could be the end of the Dragon Age franchise

Expect more info at E3 2019

Estimated release window Fall 2019 – Summer 2020

Likely going to release on current and next-gen systems

What We Hope to See in Dragon Age 4

Combat Enhancements I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I think that the combat in Dragon Age Inquisition is solid but feels very clunky by today’s standards. Comparing it to games like Assassins Creed Origins and Kingdom Hearts 3, it could definitely use an update. One of these areas with room for improvement is mostly a console issue. DA: I on the console only had 8 ability slots and no access to any other skills in combat if they weren’t mapped to one of those slots. It made life as a mage a lot more frustrating than it should have been. I’d like to see a better implementation of skill mapping allowing us to make full use of our arsenal of skills. Beyond that, I think having a more fluid, yet basic combat system, similar to the games mentioned above would be really cool too. Though I don’t want to see Dragon Age go the route of Devil May Cry, I think an upgrade, while maintaining the stop-time tactical combat aspect would be a very nice quality of life change.

Gear on The Go While not necessarily the most realistic change to the game, I think adding in the ability to hot-swap gear in battle would be a nice touch. I don’t know how many times I went from fighting Darkspawn to Deepstalkers, to spirits all while having the completely wrong gear equipped because I couldn’t pause the game and swap it mid fight. Honestly, I think it’d be a fantastic change to let us carry multiple weapons and armor that we can switch through in combat to make the most of our DPS because let’s be honest, who doesn’t like big numbers? I would say that being able to just have multiple weapons equipped like Geralt in The Witcher 3 or Commander Sheppard in Mass Effect wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Though I feel like it’d be strange to see a mage running around with 3 staffs and a rogue with 6 daggers or 3 bows. Think of all the pockets you’d need for those knives! Maybe they could add a loadout section in the combat wheel that would let you swap to 1 of 3 different loadouts. Regardless at the very least, I’d like to see the ability to dive into the inventory mid-combat.

Modular Armor Speaking of gear, I liked how Dragon Age Inquisition added some sort of modular armor. It was cool having your base gear and then making legs and arms for it (on the pieces that supported it) But I think it could go further. Rather than having to socket your arm and leg armor into your chest piece I think a modular system like Mass Effect 3 or Halo Reach would be pretty cool. Let’s face it, most games these days have a helm, chest, arms, legs, and boot slot at a minimum, so why shouldn’t Dragon Age 4?

Go-Go Gadget Robo Arm As I mentioned above in the “Things We Know” section, the Inquisitor had to cut off his/her arm to save his/her life. This presents Bioware with the potential to do some cool stuff. They could implement a system that allows you to use a grappling hook for better platforming, or a lyrium infused armor arm that lets you do magic even if you aren’t a mage (limited, of course) or anything in between. Literally Go-Go Gadget awesome shit! I hope they take full advantage of the lore in Dragon Age to really do something awesome with this, and don’t just replace it with some lame wooden arm.

Overly Complex Leveling System vs Overly Simplified Leveling System Dragon Age 2 was a massive shift from the Dragon Age Origins leveling system. Dragon Age Origins had a complex system that could end in disaster if you weren’t careful with it (Prior to adding their reset amulet.) On the other hand, Dragon Age 2 simplified it all the way to “Do you wanna be a bow rogue or a dagger rogue?”. I’d like to see Dragon Age 4 find some middle ground between an in-depth character leveling/skill system and a simple “I’m gonna be this!” system. I liked the idea of controlling my stats in Dragon Age Origins, but it could easily get out of hand. Though I liked how easy it was to navigate the abilities in Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, I felt like it was a step backward in terms of creativity and diversity of build.

Where’s My Arcane Warrior At? Talking on the point of abilities, I think more subclasses and the return of some prior subclass would be a good idea. I was quite disappointed when Arcane Warrior, a Mage Subclass, disappeared in Dragon Age 2 and didn’t return in Inquisition. I also think that the subclasses available to a rogue in Dragon Age Inquisition seem to heavily favor dagger rogues over bow rogues. I mean, how awesome would it be to have a bow rogue that can swap elemental arrows in and out to take advantage of weaknesses and such? I’m just spit balling here, but I think in general there’s room to expand into some new or reimagined subclasses.

Seriously, Bring Back My Character I think a lot of us out there are still slightly burned that we lost our Hero of Fereldan. Granted, some of you had the option to kill him/her or Hawke off in Dragon Age Inquisition, but those of us who chose between Alister or Hawke still really want the return of the Hero. And not just him, but ALL of the fantastic characters. We made so many choices that are still missing their consequences. I really hope we’ll see those resolved in Dragon Age 4. If Anders is alive, will we see him? Will the Hero and/or Hawke join us in taking down Fen’Harel (for more than one mission…)? What happened to Fenris from Dragon Age 2? Most importantly (for my story), what happened with The Hero, Morrigan, and Kieran? And is Flemeth (The Elven God Mythal) really dead? There are a ton of these questions still waiting for answers. I think it’s time Bioware answered them.

A Fat-Free Game – If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It The one thing I have always hated about open world games is nonsensical dumb quests that don’t pertain to anything and exist solely to artificially extend gameplay. Missions that give you 3 more missions and then one of those gives you another 3 missions. An overabundance of collectibles with nothing really to gain from gathering 500 of them other than a stupid trophy. Loaded down with too many dumb fetch quests and the like. Look, this isn’t an MMO. Cut that shit out. Dragon Age Inquisition had collection quests and find this, do that stuff, but it wasn’t over the top or in your face. I felt invested in the world and wanted to help its people. Bioware found a great balance between fetch quests, quests that were relevant to the story, and quests that lead to deeper relations with your inner circle. The amount of different stories going on at once really helped make it feel alive and like all these things mattered. Game’s like Assassin’s Creed Origins & Odyssey add quests that don’t affect the world around you and just feel hollow, in my opinion. I guess that just comes down to personal preference, but ultimately what I’m saying is that if Dragon Age 4 feels like Dragon Age Inquisition in terms of questing, I’ll be a very happy man.

TL;DR What We Hope More fluid combat similar to Assassins Creed, Kingdom Hearts, etc but retaining the tactical combat option

Swap gear in battle

Modular armor like Halo Reach or Mass Effect 3

Go-Go Gadget arm upgrades for the Inquisitor

A better ability/level system that blends Dragon Age Inquisition with Dragon Age: Origins

More subclasses and a return of the Arcane Warrior subclass

Seriously, bring back the characters from DA:O and DA2

Stick to the beautifully balanced questing style of Dragon Age Inquisition

All A Shot In The Dark In the end, this is mostly speculation and hopes. As those of us who were really looking forward to Dragon Age 2 know it’s possible they’ll go in a completely different direction and piss off the entire fan base AGAIN. However, I feel like that would just validate our anger over DA2 and by actually bring this all together for a nice wrapped up ending I think it’d make their story and the constant change of characters worth it. It’s been a hell of a wait for the announcement but I’m really looking forward to whatever Bioware does with Dragon Age 4. Either way, thanks for reading this article Coin-Droppers and stick with us with updates and the latest news on Dragon Age 4.