It’s been eight years since Dragon Age: Inquisition was released and I still remember the excitement I felt when I purchased my copy today. Let me take you back to the magical year of 2014 when Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud hit number one on the UK charts, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar wowed audiences worldwide and Dragon Age: Inquisition officially hit the shelves across the world.
For me in Europe, Inquisition releases on Friday, November 21st. I remember getting up super early and going down to my local Game store with my mother. I was already a massive, hyperfixated Dragon Age fan, so you can imagine my hyperactive behaviour on that ten-minute car journey.
I was 16 but looked older anyway, even so, I had my mum with me just in case I was ID’d. We got to the till and purchased the special edition of Dragon Age: Inquisition and its Collectors Edition guidebook. The moment I put that disk in my Xbox One, my life was forever changed!
Eight years after I first began playing it, I am still deeply in love with the game. However, since it's been so long, today I want to retrospectively review Inquisition, exploring each of its core features, explaining what I loved and didn’t love about the game, and showcasing how the game has evolved over time.
This review will be great for fans of Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as those who haven’t played the game in a while or in fact never played it at all. This video will be spoiler-free so if you’ve spent the last eight years not giving Dragon Age: Inquisition a shot maybe I can help convince you.
Let’s explore the initial vision of Dragon Age: Inquisition and the fundamental question behind this video.
The Vision of Dragon Age: Inquisition
Inquisition's Collector's Edition Guide Book includes an interview with former Creative Director Mike Laidlaw, who explained BioWare's goal of creating Dragon Age Inquisition. The leadership teams wanted a game that could be played for 20 hours or 200. BioWare wanted a game that scaled, one that could be enjoyed in whatever way the player wanted. It was a major challenge, but after a few months, Mike Laidlaw was in front of the team pitching a new idea: activity-driven gameplay. Rather than focus on major story moments leading directly to more story moments, they would give the player a goal and let them decide how to achieve it. This desire became the foundation of Inquisition.
BioWare’s latest foray into Thedas was ambitious. The developer wanted players to be able to discover new activities in a vast world that encouraged true discovery, after which they could dive back into rich story content with unique experiences for each player. The series’ new graphics engine, the next generation of console hardware and cooperative adventuring for the first time in the series made this all possible.
Here and now, it’s clear that Inquisition’s original vision was achieved upon launch. I am curious to know: was this activity-driven push a good thing for the series? Well, let’s explore that question while looking back at Dragon Age: Inquisition eight years later. We’ll start with the story.
Story:
The story is the most critical aspect of any RPG. It can make or break a player's experience with a world. Dragon Age: Inquisition has no shortage of captivating tales.
As spoiler-free as possible, the premise of Dragon Age has always been an exploration of what would happen if Faustian bargains were a real possibility: What sort of deals might people make with the devil? The world of Thedas hangs in a strange moment—like an Enlightenment-era Europe unable to break the fetters of religion because demons really do exist creating a strong cautionary nature of the story arcs and their historical parallels.
Inquisition, in particular, takes place ten years after the events of Dragon Age: Origins and two years after the epilogue of Dragon Age 2, the game begins as a spirit-like figure helps you escape the Fade. As you’re pushed through a rift, you’re suddenly back in the Fereldan village of Haven with no recollection of what happened. It turns out, that you are the lone survivor of a sky-tearing explosion that took place at the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
The Temple of Sacred Ashes was originally a neutral meeting place for the warring Templars and Mages. The Divine herself presided over the negotiations to strike a deal between the two groups in hopes of peace, attended by many nobles, diplomats and other important figures. However, the Chantry's sacred temple was destroyed in a dangerous explosion that ripped parts of the Fade into the waking world, eviscerating everyone present but you.
You find yourself propelled into the mysteries of this narrative head-on as the Inquisition, an ancient crusade that seeks to bring reform and order to land, attempts to understand what happened, repair the hole in the sky and find those responsible for murdering the Divine and everyone else.
You’ll become the Inquisitor, forging partnerships with up to nine companions, travelling across many parts of southern Thedas on an epic quest to restore peace to a crumbling world by uniting disparate factions against a common enemy: demonic breaches between worlds that are wreaking havoc on the land and its people.
Your choices as Inquisitor will have a decisive impact on the course of history, and you will be able to make your mark on large-scale events. Will you be loyal or rebel? Compassionate or ruthless? Your decisions will determine how factions fall or rise, who lives and who dies.
In true BioWare fashion, a large aspect of the Inquisitor’s journey is navigating conversations through customised dialogue options. The dialogue is superbly well-written as large parts of the story unfold in pivotal conversational moments, the voice acting is masterfully delivered, a massive shout-out to Harry Hadden-Paton and Alix Wilton Regan’s performances, and many of the jokes and banter hold up even eight years later, which is proof of BioWare’s excellent writing teams.
Eight years on, Inquisition has an intriguing narrative with challenging mysteries that become increasingly absorbing as you progress. The ending will have you playing through the story again with an elven character to get a different perspective on certain characters and how they behave throughout. That perspective is paving the way forward for the next Dragon Age game.
However, one drawback to Inquisition’s story is its lacklustre villain known as The Elder One, who remains an uninspired one-dimensional villain with a cliche motivation to this day. What’s most upsetting is that The Elder One actually has a really interesting backstory with a compelling, morally grey motivation which is largely explored through codices—not actual cutscenes or game-to-game moments—what we do experience in-game doesn’t live up to what was established for them by their backstory.
It’s especially upsetting when you look at BioWare’s record of masterfully crafted villains in the past like Saren and The Illusive Man in Mass Effect, and Loghain in Dragon Age: Origins.
The Elder One is a villain that technically BioWare has been building up to since the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins. It’s a shame that they didn’t live up to their full potential, however, The Elder One’s involvement did help set up the next foreboding villain of the Dragon Age, which is one of the reasons why I’m not too hard on The Elder One’s establishment. because the setup for our dreaded new villain has been perfectly crafted.
Dragon Age: Inquisition’s ending DLC, known as Trespasser offers a completely different perspective on the base narrative of Inquisition. This DLC contrasts certain plot points and character motivations with those in the base game, thus directing a more profound and deep plotline at some points where The Elder One failed to hit the mark. It takes that lacklustre villain turns them on their head and says, “Actually, they weren’t even the beginning of what’s to come. You thought they were bad? You ain’t seen nothing chief, I merely enabled their plan.”
So, even though one of my major gripes with Inquisition’s base villain is still a valid and understandable critique, BioWare managed to find some redemption with that in their post-launch content, and honestly, with such an epic setup for the next villain, they have the potential to be LEGENDARY. And while this video isn’t going to focus on that, Inquisition’s narrative and DLC is largely based on establishing the next game’s narrative at its core.
Speaking of which, although the game’s narrative is compelling, Dragon Age is ultimately defined by its cast of characters.
The Characters:
Now, before I gush over Inquisition’s ragtag group of best friends, the setting of Inquisition is a character in its own right. The political and morally nebulous complexities of the game's world, combined with its vast explorable areas, create a rich experience for the player.
Thedas is a realm defined by beauty, conflict, and turmoil. Each nation boasts its own unique history and culture. From the rolling hills and vibrant forests of Fereldan with its abundance of wildlife to the politically-charged and towering Orlais with its vast plains, meticulous cities and sweeping lakes; each area has its own unique charm.
For a lot of fans like myself, Dragon Age: Inquisition is all about relationships. It’s about the friendships that develop between characters, and it’s about how those relationships evolve over time. In my humble opinion, the characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition are some of the best I've ever encountered in a video game. To this day, I still adore and think about many of them.
The variety of personalities and relationships represented is impressive, and each character has their own quirks that make them interesting and unique. Whether it's Cole's childlike innocence or Cassandra Pentaghast's unwavering faith, each character is a pleasure to interact with.
The reactive approval system, where characters judge your every decision and respond accordingly, is one of the best mechanics in roleplaying games. It requires you to think about every option you’re about to make and what consequences it could have on you, the Inquisition, and the characters in the world. It’s fantastic as it keeps players constantly engaged. However, this system only works if you care about the characters in the world, luckily for Inquisition, all of them are amazing.
As much as I enjoy Inquisition’s narrative, it's the characters that give it life and make it what it is. And that should always be the case with a BioWare game.
I particularly love Solas, the prideful, hot-headed elven apostate mage who joins the pack in the prologue. He’s a wise man with insightful and sound advice for anyone willing to listen. As you get to know him better, it becomes clear that he has seen the best of humanity and the worst of it, witnessing entire empires crumble and fall. At times, he’s complicated and lonely, but a comfortable loner, like someone who has seen enough to justify a life of solitude—a man in a different time, a trope, I, as a Doctor Who fan love.
Most importantly, Solas has his own agenda regardless of the Inquisitor's choices. He is reactive to you and will form an opinion based on your decisions, however, ultimately and heartbreakingly, his goal remains the same. And whatever that turns into, we'll just have to wait and see.
Oh and eight years on, that twist, yes that twist, is still incredible. Fantastic exposition and plot and character development by the entire writing team at BioWare.
Flemeth, The Witch of the Wilds, is one of my favourite Dragon Age characters. The twists and turns that were developed in Inquisition have truly established her as one of the most powerful, fantastically well-written characters in the series and potentially even eponymous of the games. Her story continues to be filled with mystery and fear—you might not always know exactly what she’s getting at, but you just know better than to argue with her.
These are just two examples of fantastically written Dragon Age characters, but Inquisition is full of them. BioWare’s talent lies in their character writing and that is one of the most exciting things going ahead.
Let’s jump ship and delve into Dragon Age: Inquisition’s gameplay.
The Gameplay:
Mark Darrah, executive producer of Dragon Age: Inquisition, said that BioWare wanted to redefine many things with the game: return to the series' roots by emphasising exploration, re-embrace some of the more core elements of the genre like crafting, and give visuals a seat at the table equal to gameplay. BioWare was determined to ensure that every location in the game would contribute to the Inquisition’s goals. Every space has a thematic consistency with the overarching plot.
The Inquisitor travelled throughout Fereldan and Orlais as the Elder One’s plan involved both their political forces and the breach, a massive hole in the sky centred right in the middle of southern Thedas.
Inquisition features a wide range of playable classes and races, each with their own unique abilities. The game also allows you to upgrade your characters through a skill tree system, giving you the opportunity to customise your play style. In fact, for the first time in a Dragon Age game, BioWare added the Qunari as a playable race, allowing you to experience one of Thedas’s lesser known, and more mysterious races hands-on, or should I say horns on? Bad pun, even so, the implementation of the Qunari was a fantastic addition, showcasing a brilliant change BioWare made having listened to the fans.
With nine possible party members, three distinct classes, nine sub-classes, various weapons and hundreds of abilities and passives, Inquisition provides an unparalleled level of freedom with an ample range of tools and tactics for the player to choose how their character will fight. Its combat encounters truly provide numerous opportunities for strategy.
According to Lead Encounter Designer, Daniel Kading, the most important philosophy behind creating fun encounters is that enemies exist to be defeated, and by ensuring there are multiple clever routes towards that goal, then all Inquisitors and their parties will find an
opening that they can exploit with their unique powers.
One of the key elements in combat that returned to Dragon Age: Inquisition after its absence in Dragon Age II was the tactics system, an isometric camera interface that allowed for more precise control over characters. The tactics camera is very similar to a real-time strategy game and late 90s role-playing games.
In theory, the tactics system was designed for pausing a combat sequence and issuing a series of commands for your entire team, strategically taking down enemies with ability multi-combos and calculated manoeuvres.
In practice, though, I rarely used the tactics system. Overall, it felt under-utilised and tact on. I did find the system useful for my Nightmare difficulty run-through and having the ability to pause the game and ponder your next move is genuinely very resourceful, however, on lower difficulties and multiple replays, the system does feel fairly redundant.
Despite that, tactics has been a useful tool for accessibility and approachability for many players. So, just because I don’t use it, doesn’t mean it’s without its use for others.
Eight years on, Dragon Age Inquisition has a lot to offer its players, and one of the most memorable aspects of the game are the epic dragon battles that ranged across the world. From the first time you saw one on the horizon to your first battle with one, it was an unforgettable experience. To this day, these battles are still just as legendary.
The increasing challenge, epic collaborative team effort, and mighty loot make slaughtering dragons one of the most rewarding activities in the game.
Open World:
Dragon Age: Inquisition features a hub-based open world, giving the player freedom to explore and set their own goals as Inquisitor. The story guides the player through many open areas offering plenty of distractions along the way, providing many opportunities for players to stray from the path if they wish. There are many things to do in these hub-based worlds, each related to the story of the Inquisition: closing Fade rifts, establishing camps, completing quests and requisitions, even identifying all of an area’s landmarks—all of these contribute to expanding the Inquisition’s influence in the world at large.
Which is a fantastic marriage between the story and gameplay. As the Inquisitor explores each region and grows the Inquisition's reach, the story advances. Eventually building from a few followers to a world-changing force that you can feel as you engage in activities like capturing keeps, recruiting agents, killing dragons and so much more. As your fame and power spread, new opportunities are opened up via the war table directly advancing the critical path. For example, you can send your forces out to unlock new areas and parts of the story to explore. In turn, rewarding the player for their exploration and time.
Inquisition’s semi-open world showcases BioWare’s desire to let players experience a far wider range of Thedas than ever before. From the snowy peaks of the Frostback Mountains to the deserts of the Western Approach, to the bogs of Ferelden and the jungles of the Arbor Wilds, as well as plenty of places in between. Inquisition’s world is truly breathtaking. Eight years on, and the environments are just as wonderful and detailed.
With that said, on a second playthrough, the cracks in the open-world content begin to show and you realise that a lot of the activities are fetch quests that you really don’t want to play again. Eight years on, fetch quests in massive hub-based worlds have become a fundamental issue of BioWare, as Mass Effect: Andromeda repeated Inquisition’s open world approach.
One justification I had for this type of content (emphasis on had), was when Inquisition came out in 2014, I very much enjoyed the myriad of activities available to me—as someone who was sixteen at the time in college with no job. I didn’t have that much money and when looking at new games, I wanted the big bulky ones that would get the most value for my money.
So playing a game with so much content, even if it party felt meaningless meant I was getting the most time out of my money. I genuinely had so much fun exploring and questing in Thedas for hundreds of hours, despite the repetitive nature of Inquisition’s side content. However, I do see the cracks in this content approach now. It feels more like padding out the game with a plethora of samey content as opposed to building few, quality side-content that enhance and bulk the overall narrative.
Eight years on, I still love the Hinterlands and exploring the nooks and crannys of each world. Yes there is a lacklustre of actual side content, and yes it is mostly fetch quests, and no I will not pick up all those shards for a 7th time just to unlock a Qunari face paint, but even so, gaining power and influence by exploring the world and doing trivial tasks did feel fun for a while. I just hope future BioWare games adapt a new, quality-focused approach.
Skyhold:
The Inquisitor’s personal crib, Skyhold is a symbolical 10th follower. Throughout the entire narrative, Skyhold reflects the state of the Inquisition and as such represents the setback endured by our heroes. The Inquisition arrive to find a dishevelled, broken stronghold. It requires the people to come together and overcome hardship. It represents hope against a seemingly insurmountable opposition. The stronghold develops throughout the narrative as new features and elements are added until the very end.
Skyhold is a true home to the Inquisition, offering comfort and familiarity. Here you can develop friendship/romance plots and choose a class spec, shop with merchants and craft new gear.
Eight years on, Skyhold to me is my favourite BioWare hub. The stronghold provides so many extraordinary experiences that solidify Inquisition as an epic fantasy game: the first cutscene to becoming Inquisitor, the vast amount of conversations and character-moving moments and of course, the romance scenes between the Inquisitor and their blorbo. I love Skyhold, it will forever have a special place in my heart.
UI:
A surprising but fantastic artist impression I love about Inquisition is its user interface. Inquisition’s UI follows a fitting metaphor derived from the game’s initial premise, i.e, the supernatural and altered visions. This metaphor manifests in several ways, the magic ocularum skulls, astrarium star-gazers, treasure maps, runes illuminated by Veilfire and most importantly, the tarot card system for selecting your party.
The characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition are represented by tarot cards, which evoke themes of faith, destiny and fate. Such themes are intrinsically tied to an RPG, especially one like Dragon Age where the player has a certain level of control over their companions. It’s an incredible artistic decision that clicks perfectly with the franchise.
Outro:
So, was actively-driven gameplay a good push for Dragon Age: Inquisition? In some cases, yes. Inquisition has beautifully designed open worlds with plenty of things to do, never before have we had such an open experience of Thedas filled with party banter and quests attached to the main story.
In some cases, active gameplay was a hindrance to the story. Power and influence were distractions for those who just wanted to experience the story without having to destroy fade rifts in the Hinterlands for hours on end.
Ultimately, BioWare's decision to pursue an actively-driven gameplay system was justified by the story and gameplay that they wanted to tell with Inquisition. Holistically, it wouldn't have worked any other way, in my humble opinion. And my sixteen-year-old self was very grateful BioWare went with this approach.
In summary, for over eight years, I’ve been playing Dragon Age: Inquisition and putting thousands of hours into the game on multiple platforms. This is why I have an entire YouTube channel heavily dedicated to the series: I’m still in love with this game.
Inquisition is my favourite Dragon Age game with its complex story, memorable characters, and fantastic combat. Ultimately, there are many more personal reasons why it’s my favourite: it came out at a time when I needed escapism, I’ve tremendously attached to so many of the game’s characters, and despite its flaws, I thoroughly enjoy its story. The Inquisitor is my favourite protagonist in video games and I wholeheartedly love every aspect of their journey from the Temple of Sacred Ashes to The Winter Palace.