Today I'm talking about what you need to hear about Dragon Age 4, now jumping into this like a nug on fire, what I've got to say is Dragon Age 4 will be okay, let me explain...
Since Anthem's release, there's been another uproar of fear and anxiety among the BioWare fandom concerning the future of the next Dragon Age title. Such statements are being thrown around like: "Has Anthem killed BioWare for good" & "We'll never see the likes of a Dragon Age 4."
All these remarks regarding the hypothetical future of Dragon Age 4 with no factual evidence don't come as a surprise because we all know that the BioWare fandom is generally in a constant state of worrying.
However, I've seen a few media outlets sharing a lot of the same sentiments regarding this fear for Dragon Age 4, generally they each outline that Anthem will be the death of BioWare and their role-playing ways.
Now, to be honest, we all knew Anthem wasn't going to be the game we wanted it to be, and regardless if you enjoy it or not, it actually sold buckets in February and the team are continually supporting the game from this point on, so who knows what the future will be like for Anthem say, 1 - 2 years from now?
In any case, the game is well on its way to improving itself with it's 10 year plan and content road-map. Believe it or not, but Anthem will not be the death of BioWare just yet.
Rebuttal regarding Anthem killing BioWare over, let me give you the hardcore truths about Dragon Age 4 to put your mind somewhat at ease, to give you some reasons why you needn't fear for the future of Dragon Age.
With all the soar content and news regarding Anthem, Andromeda and BioWare's future, let me know give you some hope and faith for the future of Dragon Age 4 and why it's going to be okay.
First up, lets start with the team creating Dragon Age 4.
Dragon Age 4 is under production by the very same team who created Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare's Edmonton studio utilizing the Frostbite engine. This may sound alarming since Anthem and Andromeda both used Frostbite, however, so did Inquisition, this was in fact the first team to create an RPG using the engine and actually they did a pretty good job considering.
It's not set in stone that Dragon Age 4 will be on the Frostbite engine, but I imagine it will most likely, EA encourage their developers to use Frostbite, and if you think about it, the developers will have an easier time with the engine now, they can also port and copy a lot of things over from Inquisition's state, using a lot of that game's resources and technology.
Regarding the developers themselves, well Patrick Weekes is the new lead writer since David Gaider left, they created the character Solas, and have been at BioWare since the Mass Effect trilogy. Other than Gaider himself, there's no one better than Weekes for the job of writing the next narrative, especially when it revolves around their very creation - Mr big bad dread wolf.
John Epler is the narrative director, his work includes the entire Trespasser DLC's story, which was some damn fine execution and direction if I say so myself.
There's been a concerning rumour about John and his personal political stance effecting the plot of Dragon Age 4, to put this topic short, he's a narrative director not writer, and politics have always been in Dragon Age, so it's not a new plot focus.
Alexis Kennedy has been freelance writing for the next game too, his work will influence a lot of the dark, shady parts of Dragon Age, as his work is often inspired by his own experiences with death. It was speculated that Alexis was writing something to do with cults, which sounds direct to Dragon Age's dark fantasy roots.
In terms of the soundtrack, we're still not quite sure who worked on the piece that occurred in the Dread Wolf Rises trailer, however, I expect the return of Inquisition's Trevor Morris or potentially Origin's Inon Zur.
And again, a lot of Inquisition's developers are returning for this one! Nick Thornborrow, Mark Darrah, and many others will be returning to Dragon Age team since Anthem's release.
Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider, Ben Gilinas & Aaron Flynn don't work at BioWare anymore, so please stop tweeting at them for news. Tweet at Patrick Weekes and John Epler instead.
Multiplayer is in the works, nothing has been said regarding what we can expect and how majority it will affect the main game. All we know is that BioWare were hiring an engineer in January to create this mode. I know all of us are hoping this multiplayer will have no attachment to the single player and will be it's own contained thing. Perhaps a better horde mode like Inquisition.
Dragon Age 4 will have major live-service elements, hopefully this will regard the multiplayer mode, however, again we're not sure what this will look like, it could just be a story DLC roadmap after launch, like Assassin's Creed Odyssey's treatment of DLC. Here's hoping anyway because that would mean more quality narrative content after launch.
The ongoing title for Dragon Age 4 is The Dread Wolf Rises, however, the real title for the game may be something quite different. Probably a single word like the previous entries, I like the title Dragon Age: Imperium, but that's another I, so it could be too similar to Inquisition.
It's speculated via Trespasser's ending that the next game will focus on a northern Thedas setting, more than likely we'll be visiting the tumultuous Tevinter Imperium, a heavy magic-based society with the most controversial views on life in Thedas.
Solas is going to serve as the antagonist or at least contagonist, we'll most likely be rivalling the Elven God as he plans to tear the veil.
We'll be playing as a new protagonist as we have done the past three games, this is just a trend following the Dragon Age franchise, unlike Mass Effect where you play as Shepard throughout the games.
Regarding next generation of gaming, we can only assume that this will be a next gen title, so we can expect more detail, quality gameplay and cinematics, especially with the Frostbite engine.
Apparently Anthem is hinted to be influencing the future of both Mass Effect and Dragon Age from here on out, we can crack as many guesses at what that means, but I assume it's to do with the live service element and potential DLC roadmaps, hopefully it's not the multiplayer tie in.
We expected to hear something next EA Play, on June 9th 2019, however, EA Play has since been canned and now EA are following the event up with direct live-streams instead. Perhaps Dragon Age 4 may have a trailer showcased on one of these live-streams, if not, there's always Microsoft's conference, and other events later down the line.
Dragon Age: Origins is going to be celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year, BioWare have always been hopeful for a remaster/remake for this game, if not that, perhaps they could at least reveal the title or a trailer for Dragon Age 4?
Dragon Age 4 is expected to release around 2021, it's currently under deep development as the team return from Anthem to proceed with Dragon Age.
Other than that, all I can say is, Dragon Age 4 is seemingly going to be okay, it's got dedicated, hardcore RPG developers behind it, with a powerful engine, all they need is the time to crack on with it. Judging by Anthem and Andromeda, this is something both those games needed, and it's going to be the same for Dragon Age 4, the potential is there, all they need is for EA to let them create their masterpiece.