Dragon Age: Inquisition review

It turns out the age-old claim of developers listening to the fans isn’t a complete crock of mabari dung, if Dragon Age: Inquisition is anything to go by. For a long while now we’ve been hearing that the team at BioWare had taken on board feedback from a vociferous community – but it’s very easy, and rather logical, to dismiss said claim as just more marketing bunkum; the kind of claptrap spouted by any company on a PR offensive. In actuality, it feels good to be proven wrong.

Dragon Age: Inquisition has the eyes of the RPG-loving world on it, and as such, it’s going to come under fire from certain quarters. It won’t be perfect. It simply can’t be perfect. And yet, this third entry in BioWare’s love letter to the world of dungeons and/or dragons is going to prove a lot of doubters wrong. It’s not a masterclass in RPG-making, but it’s an extremely good game – and it’s sure to silence a lot of the critics of Dragon Age II.

Set in the aftermath of the events of the second game, Inquisition’s main plot point is – if we’re talking basic terms here – a big green hole in the sky, causing demons to appear all over the continent of Thedas. There’s a lot going on in and around this central concern, though, and there is a bit of assumed knowledge from how the story is presented, with countless codex entries (books, journals, the usual lark) spread around to get new players up to speed. Sadly, if you’ve no idea what the issues with the Chantry are, or why some people are against mages being made tranquil, you might find that there’s quite a lot to get to grips with here. The main arc, however, is straightforward enough – and everyone understands the ‘you are the chosen one, save the world’ vibe, even if it is as derivative as they come.

The ‘you’ in question is, thankfully, a matter of more choice than it has ever been in the series, with players able to choose from multiple classes, four races – including the warrior race of the Qunari for the first time – and male or female for each. Just like in the original game, choosing a particular race can see different reactions from NPCs you encounter – a nice touch and something that does manage to draw you in that little bit more, even if it is just because of an off-hand insult from somebody about your grey skin and your horns.

The other expected elements of choice return too, though Inquisition does still suffer from them being rather binary in its ‘do this or that’ presentation. Relationships are a lot better in how they’re handled, though, with the actions and words chosen by the player having constant, rolling effects on how they are perceived by other members in the party. Think Telltale’s Walking Dead and you’re on the right tracks. Even so, it’s hard to do anything but chuckle at sex scenes in the game in a post-Saints Row 4 world, in which the lampooning was so fiercely effective. Those individuals in your party, even when you aren’t trying to romance them, are great to be around – Varric especially is a welcome return, and there’s a real panache to Dorian’s dialogue and delivery that almost forces you to keep him in the party as much as possible. Or maybe it’s just the moustache.

Still, even with genuine progress made in both how elements work and are presented, Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn’t carry itself as a particularly current-gen game. It looks great, no doubt, but there are plenty of elements that look out of place and decidedly last gen. Some texture work isn’t the finest, for example, and facial animation (while lip syncing is a lot better) leaves a lot to be desired. It also suffers from the same problems both previous games did, with stilted, awkward cut-scene animation and multi-person dialogue not flowing as smoothly as it should.

There was a distinct issue in Origins, with characters meaning to cut each other off in, say, an argument, but only managing to have one character stop talking and a second later the other interrupts. Five years ago it was something you could overlook – now you can still overlook it, but you get a bit miffed it’s even an issue. Size, scale and fantastic scenery are all present and correct, but honestly, Inquisition isn’t the greatest representative of the new generation of machines we’ve seen.

That said, even though it’s not the shiniest of the shiny games, there’s still an overall atmosphere and sense of it being a big production that will draw you in to Inquisition. The scale is easily up there in the realms of epic for the series, and given a bit of time for it to bed in and for your brain to start intentionally overlooking a bit of jankiness here and there, you’ll be totally drawn in. Just like both previous Dragon Age games, then.

One way in which you’re drawn in is thanks to the freedom the player is offered – the developers previously spoke of looking to Skyrim for influence, and it shows. Inquisition isn’t as massive as Bethesda’s epic, but there’s certainly the ability to go off the beaten track and simply explore for the sake of exploration (or for the sake of picking elfroot) that hasn’t been there before in the series. The fact that almost everywhere you go there’s something to do and a new mission to take on just makes it all the more engrossing, though more on that later.

The fights we were presented with in the last two games couldn’t have been much more different – they were an area of concern for many players, and fairly so. So it’s not too surprising to say that combat in Inquisition is at a midpoint between Origins and Dragon Age II, reintroducing the tactical camera (or introducing it for the first time on console, at least) while at the same time, offering similar input/action-based battles of the second game. Fortunately it’s been slowed down a notch from DAII and it doesn’t rely on button bashing (instead you can just hold the trigger to attack), so even when you’re not using the Tactical mode, it will at least feel that bit more cerebral than last time around.

However, a quick press of a button pops the camera up above the battlefield and pauses time, allowing you to issue orders to your team of four. You can start and stop time as you please, allowing a… Well, tactical approach to combat – something that can be harnessed to great effect in bigger boss battles, for example. The thing is, it isn’t essential, and in fact feels a mite superfluous on console, with all battles easy enough to keep track of in regular, direct-control fashion.

On PC this will likely be a different story, with the interface lending itself much better to mouse-and-keyboard control. It’s not particularly an issue, but it is something worth pointing out – the fact that we almost forgot the Tactical mode existed after a dozen hours, thanks to the fact we had only felt the need to use it once, early on in the game. As long as you aren’t a micro-managing maniac and can keep half an eye on the statuses of your party, you’ll be fine without it – but to be fair, that’s to BioWare’s credit that it has put together a combat system that does successfully offer two legitimate, very different ways of approaching a fight.

That blending spreads elsewhere too, with Dragon Age: Inquisition bringing together elements not only from the series itself and the wider RPG genre, but also – rather obviously – borrowing a fair bit from Ubisoft’s school of design, as well as the understandable Skyrim influences. You’ll end up in one of a few large regions (‘large’ may be an understatement) with a single main goal taking you there – talk to someone about a thing, go to a place and blah de blah – but almost as soon as you arrive, your quest list will double and redouble.

There’s always something to do; always a new mission unlocking somewhere; a new fetch quest or rifts to seal; a new region to explore or camp to set up. Inquisition never stops keeping you busy, and it’s this sort of design – the kind we’ve seen in the likes of Assassin’s Creed IV and Far Cry 3 – that makes it so compelling. You can rush through if you like, as very few of the missions are mandatory, but it’s all there to be done – and a lot of it is a case of as and when you feel like it. Or as and when you’re powerful enough.

Yes, there are places in each region that are much higher level than you will be when you first get to them, and you’ll get your backside unceremoniously handed to you when a random dragon appears and rains down its fiery wrath on your party, wiping them all out in one blast. It’s not that Inquisition is on a par with Dark Souls when it comes to difficulty, it’s just a way – another way – that BioWare is listening to the fans. The satisfaction when you are suitably levelled up and return to those areas… We can see why people miss it in games. Man, that’s some satisfying stuff.

In fact, the general feeling from Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of satisfaction and – dare we say it – it actually takes us back to one of BioWare’s all time greats, Knights Of The Old Republic. There’s just an air of confidence, wonder and discovery that hasn’t been present – at least not in this way – for a number of years now, and it will be wonderfully pleasing to anyone who has stuck with BioWare through the peaks and troughs.

Having said that, it’s something of a blessing in disguise that Dragon Age II was made how it was and received in the way that it was. Without it, there wouldn’t have been the backlash, and without that we wouldn’t have seen BioWare take a step back and figure out what exactly it needed to do in order to make things great again. It’s thanks to the massive misstep of the first sequel that we’ve ended up with quite possibly one of the great RPGs of recent years.

It might not be the greatest example of the current generation’s power, nor is it an exercise in reinvention and uniqueness – but when you’ve sunk 50 hours into Inquisition and hardly realised, and you still want to play it for another 50 hours, then you know you’re onto something good. This time the fans get what they want – and apparently what they wanted was very good indeed.

Want more Dragon Age action in your life? Give our exclusive Dragon Age: Inquisition feature a read. Or check out the stunning artwork of the Dragon Age show taking place this week.