When will Dragon Age 4 be released? We know Dragon Age 4 is genuine and under development at BioWare, but where will the plot go next? Which of our favourite characters will make a comeback? While BioWare has been tight-lipped about the Inquisition sequel, a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is their upcoming fantasy RPG game have already surfaced online.
So far, we've gotten a cryptic teaser trailer about the Dread Wolf, hints about a possible multiplayer element, and a slew of hints about the game's plot through interviews and tweets with devs and authors from past Dragon Age games. Despite this, EA and BioWare are adamant about keeping the game's title and release date a secret… for the time being. However, as we'll see below, the most likely release date for Dragon Age 4 is 2023.
Join us as we dissect all of that data to determine what type of game the series' fourth instalment will be. Expect much guesswork here, since each entry has been substantially different from the one before it. Everything we know about Dragon Age 4 is listed below.
RELEASE DATE FOR DRAGON AGE 4
There is currently no release date for Dragon Age 4. Even though Dragon Age 4 has supposedly been in production since 2015, the crew was constantly called away to work on BioWare's other games, including Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, according to a claim by Kotaku — as a consequence, the original Dragon Age 4 was shut down.
In 2017, work on a new Dragon Age 4 project resumed, and the game's release date isn't expected until 2023 at the earliest. “You should presume that there's Dragon Age out there,” EA's finance director Blake Jorgensen said during a recent earnings call. “We've talked about it publicly that it's in the works – it probably arrives after fiscal [year] 2022,” he said. “Sources acquainted with the fantasy role-playing adventure affirm the game is on schedule for release in 2023,” according to GamesBeat.
The BioWare Dragon Age 4 hints haven't ceased even though the game is still a long way off. The developer tweeted about “Dragon 4ge day” in the run-up to December 2019, while executive producer Mark Darrah joined in on the fun, merely tweeting “Dragon Age.” The incident went down without a hitch, but it did serve as a nice reminder that the company is still working on Dragon Age 4, as well as a sweet dedication to the game's fans.
Hi Friends – sorry for no EA Play news this year but please know that the team is heads down with a lot of momentum and making great progress. We are excited to share more when the time is right. Please stay safe and have a great weekend! @SerGoldman @dragonage pic.twitter.com/eveXFbJtgY
— Christian Dailey (@ChristianDailey) July 2, 2021
ANTIVAN CROWS FROM THE DRAGON AGE
Although Dragon Age: Inquisition did not make an appearance at EA Play 2021, executive producer Christian Dailey did offer some concept art of the Antivan Crows, as well as an update on the team's “excellent progress.”
SOLAS OF THE DRAGON AGE
The most recent tidbit of information about the next Dragon Age came from The Game Awards 2020. This time, we get to see Solas in this extremely brief preview. He was one of the companions in Dragon Age: Inquisition and is an elf apostate hedge mage who also happens to be an expert in the Fade. We get a look at some of the future Dragon Age adventure's settings, as well as some monster and class concepts. Solas' description of the player character has piqued our interest. “There is no old prophecy, no magical hand.” “The type of person they'll never expect to see.”
THE DREAD WOLF RISE IN THE DRAGON AGE
In the guise of this brief teaser film titled The Dread Wolf Rises, we got our first official look at Dragon Age 4 at the 2018 Game Awards. Solas appears in the clip, implying that the game would take place after Dragon Age Inquisition. We can also see the lyrium idol from Dragon Age II, however, it's tough to draw any conclusions from it.
Characters in the Dragon Age 4 tale
The coding for Dragon Age 4 will be based on that of Anthem. This may appear to be a negative for some, given Anthem's crucial failure, but it may also provide BioWare's team with the stability they require moving ahead. Because of Anthem's technology, production on Dragon Age 4 should go more smoothly, since developers won't have to start from scratch, as is the studio's custom. “Anthem could be the kick in the butt that BioWare leadership needed to recognise that how you build games has changed significantly,” one unnamed insider tells Kotaku. You can't just start over and stumble your way through till you discover something enjoyable. That isn't going to work anymore.”
Because the game was relaunched in 2017, it's too early to say what the gameplay will be like. However, one developer told Kotaku that it might have a single-player campaign that opens up into a multi-player one after the game. There's even talk of it having a co-op mode inspired by Baldur's Gate.
We know that work began shortly before May 2017 thanks to Alexis Kennedy's announcement that he had created content for the upcoming Dragon Age game. We also know that all Dragon Age-related job postings have been withdrawn from BioWare's website, implying that the development team's final lineup has been finalised.
Furthermore, we know that the project will not be led by Mike Laidlaw, the creator of the Dragon Age series. That's because he departed BioWare in October 2017 after 14 years with the studio.
“I am so thrilled for you to see what the next Dragon Age will be,” Dragon Age executive producer Mark Darrah writes in a thank-you tweet to Laidlaw, revealing that something Dragon Age-related is in the works.
Another statement, albeit unofficially, stated that a fourth Dragon Age game is in the works. Mark Darrah, the executive producer of the whole Dragon Age franchise, tweeted that “hard at work” on a new game was underway.
Reading lots of feedback regarding Dragon Age, and I think you’ll be relieved to see what the team is working on. Story & character focused.
Too early to talk details, but when we talk about “live” it just means designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story.
— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) January 25, 2018
Players were concerned that Dragon Age will become a Destiny-style multiplayer game after hearing from BioWare sources that the game would be “live.” Casey Hudson, BioWare's general manager, addressed these concerns in a tweet, emphasising that the live aspects will be focused on extending the plot after the main storey has concluded.
Dragon Age 4 will not be receiving multiplayer, it has been confirmed. The popularity of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the failure of Anthem, according to the source, were major reasons for this decision, despite BioWare's desire to make it a single-player game previous to this.
Even though recent updates on Dragon Age 4 development have been few, fans have been reassured that the fourth Dragon Age game is still in the works courtesy of a tweet from Mark Darrah. Darrah notes that, even though the crew is now working from home, which is ‘harder,' they are making progress.'
I realize that most of you are here for Dragon Age news and there hasn't been a lot of that lately…
Let me just run down some things I an say:
1. We are working on the next Dragon Age
2. Yes we are working from home
3. Working from home is harder
4. We are making progress— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) July 22, 2020
THE STORY OF DRAGON AGE 4
The upcoming Dragon Age game's narrative was teased during a Gamescom 2020 presentation. The first benefit is that we will be able to see new things and visit new locations, as well as engage with the locals. While this isn't exactly revolutionary, it does indicate that the Dragon Age 4 tale will take place in whole new areas of Thedas.
“For the game, we're developing on now, we want to present a tale of ‘what happens when you don't have power?' and the people in authority aren't willing to handle the issues,” says lead writer Patrick Weekes in the same video. Again, this is all very speculative, but it appears that we will not begin the tale as a great noble or formidable magician.
While no specific facts about Dragon Age 4's plot have been published, we do know that the game's writing was overseen by Alexis Kennedy, the creator of Failbetter Games. He mentioned in May 2017 that we were working on a piece of storey and mythology for BioWare. His tale is supposed to be different from the main storey, but more meaningful than lore drops in the background. In a nutshell, anticipate speech and backstory from your characters.
“If you've seen much of my work before, the choice of the subject matter will come as no surprise. “It's familiar stuff,” Kennedy said, implying that his piece will have a bizarre, Lovecraftian air to it, or at the very least a focus on death or loss. Maybe it'll take place in the Fade, Dragon Age's evil realm?
A Dragon Age comic book based in Tevinter, the likely setting for Dragon Age 4, has also been revealed, including fan favourite character Fenris, who was last seen in Dragon Age 2.
Aside from that, all narrative elements for Dragon Age 4 are pure speculation. Following the popularity of Inquisition, it's a safe bet that the next game will be a straight sequel, rather than a wholly autonomous tale situated in the same setting as the previous games. The trickster elf Solas – revealed to be the god of treachery Fen'Harel – vanished after Inquisition, and the Inquisitor vowed to chase him down and halt his plan to destroy the world in the Trespasser DLC. It seems obvious that the main antagonist of a sequel would be Solas, and the plot would revolve around stopping him from ushering in a new era for the ancient elves.
The Dread Wolf Rises teaser provides some context for the upcoming Dragon Age game, since it depicts Solas, implying that the game would continue the events of Inquisition and its Trespasser DLC.
We can be sure that wherever Dragon Age takes us next, there will be more stories to tell. Mike Laidlaw, the game's creative director at the time, said in a tweet to a fan in August 2017 that the Dragon Age team was working on a “theoretical game five,” and that “[t]here is no scheduled conclusion for DA.”
Laidlaw has also hinted that the game could not be the fourth in the main series, implying that the Dragon Age game now in production could be a spin-off, exploring a different part of Thedas — possibly even a different period. Perhaps we won't be able to find Solas after all.
We just learned more details about Dragon Age 4's possible setting. BioWare will release Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, a collection of short stories featuring Dragon Age 4's principal writer Patrick Weekes, early next year. The Tevinter Imperium is expected to be the next location for the Dragon Age series, which has piqued the interest of fans.
I will say this:
We have a plot with the working name of “Tevinter of our discontent”
…
…
Who am I kidding, we’ll probably ship that. https://t.co/T9BwzQkcUg— Mark Darrah (@BioMarkDarrah) August 2, 2019
Bioware's Mark Darrah fueled the Tevinter rumours even more with the above tweet, in which he mentions a possible Dragon Age 4 scenario named “Tevinter of our Discontent,” a cunning homage to Shakespeare's Richard III.
LOCATION OF DRAGON AGE 4
It's conceivable that during EA Play 2020, we saw some brief footage of fresh new Dragon Age 4 locations. Amid the first of the three sequences, a big, creepy-looking tree with a wintry graveyard is covered in dense, dimly lighting growths. The second is a water-enclosed stone archway with vibrant crimson tendrils bursting from the granite. More of these brilliant tendrils emerge in a stronghold in the third scene, framing an eerily pulsing stone egg.
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Though these scenes are all marked as ‘Work in Progress,' and we shouldn't expect to visit these exact locations before the Dragon Age 4 release date, they do help to set the tone and offer us a glimpse of what we might anticipate: a dark, frightening world brimming with magical corruption.
At Gamescom 2020, additional scenes were presented, largely in the form of concept art, but with some ‘work in progress' locations as well.
Mountains, underwater locations, gloomy woods, and desert lands were all seen in the ‘Behind the Scenes' movie, which showcased a wide range of settings and architecture. A gallery of some of the scenes may be seen below.
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The underwater treasure-seeking scenario, the view of the Venetian city, and the terrain filled with floating stones are among our favourites. We may be travelling to the Boeric Oceans in the next Dragon Age game, based on the quantity of concept art we saw for oceanic places. Of course, this is only concept art, so we may not see the bulk of these locations by the time Dragon Age 4 is released.
MULTIPLAYER DRAGON AGE 4
With multiplayer becoming more common in the business, it should come as no surprise that Dragon Age 4 will most likely have a multiplayer component. This information was gleaned from a job posting for a franchise technical director for Dragon Age, which said that the candidate must have “experience building multiplayer games.” This entry appears to pertain to the future Dragon Age game, as none of the previous Dragon Age games has extensive multiplayer components.
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That's all we know about Dragon Age 4 right now, but as soon as we hear more regarding a release date, we'll let you know. However, for the time being, Dragon Age.
