Dragon Age: Inquisition

Bioware is the kind of game company that rarely fails, but it had its hiccups over the years. The Mass Effect 3 ending outraged the community, so much so they even released an alternate ending after a few days. On the other hand, their saving grace was the fact that the actual game was more or less as good as the first two, so they only needed to apologize for ending a glorious space opera with a daytime TV cliche.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the third entry in the franchise as well, but since the first two games barely had anything to do with each other, this is not the same situation as in the Mass Effect series. Granted, Inquisition does, in fact, touch on some of the events from the first title, but it is clearly not the same thing. Besides the story and the characters, the gameplay has changed almost entirely as well, especially the combat system.

Story-wise, the events take place in the realm of Thedas, which is about to be destroyed. A huge rift appears out of nowhere and awful creatures start to invade the land, killing and burning everything in their path. As always, a brave hero takes on the quest to save everyone and stop evil from winning. The Inquisitor is responsible for saving the world, and you have to lead a band of brave warriors in order to do just that. While the overall plot is not exactly groundbreaking, it’s what happens in between that really counts, such as how the characters evolve along the way, and the quests you get to undertake.

As mentioned earlier, the combat is not D&D-based as it was in the first game. While it is entirely possible to go through the game locked in the third-person view and just slash everything from a close and personal point of view, a strategic option is included as well. This allows you to pause the game and give the desired orders one by one, which is quite reminiscent of how things worked back in the D&D days.

Lastly, the artwork and the visual chapter in general deserves a mention as well. The world of Thedas is constantly changing and evolving, and it is quite huge too. You are free to explore the realm as you see fit, which is the first time you’re allowed to do so in the Dragon Age franchise. The graphics engine is marvelous as well, with staggering post-processing effects and very smooth and convincing animations. Obviously, you need a mean machine to run it at full potential, but it’s definitely worth the investment.

In the end, Dragon Age: Inquisition delivers the heroic tale everyone was hoping for, together with a huge, open world and beautiful graphics. The combat system could have been refined a little bit further in some regards, but the pause mechanics are definitely a sight for sore eyes in this day and age.