BioWare has had a rough few years. Following the critical and commercial success of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the studio moved on to Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, two games that abandoned the tenets of previous BioWare titles under mounting publisher pressure.
It’s been over six years since Inquisition, and although we know Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in development, it’ll be a while before we see it. From the release date to the teaser trailer to any news and rumors we could find, here’s everything we know about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
Release date
We’ve known that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in the works thanks to the 2018 Game Awards teaser and some concept art, but we knew not to expect it for a while, though. During a 2020 EA earnings call, teh company’s Blake Jorgensen said the following: “You should assume that there is Dragon Age out there, and we’ve talked about it publicly that it’s in the works, and it probably comes after fiscal ’22 … you should assume that it’s out there and plans are underway for that product, as well as some other products.”
Beyond that, it wasn’t until June 2022 that BioWare officially announced the game’s title as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and confirmed that it wouldn’t be coming in 2022.
The latest blog post announced that the game has completed its Alpha milestone, which means the title is playable from start to finish. However, this doesn’t mean the game is as close to completion as you might think. This just means the team can focus more on visual fidelity, gameplay features, story pacing, and character progression.
Platforms
Short of some art shown during EA Play 2020 — which we’ll get to next — EA hasn’t released much about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. During Gamescom 2020, though, we got another look.
Despite being four minutes long, the behind-the-scenes look doesn’t really say anything about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. The beginning of the video also mentions next-gen hardware, all but confirming Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Being so late in the generation, it would also be safe to assume it won’t be coming to last-gen systems too.
Otherwise, the video offers a few glimpses at gameplay, as well as one particular returning character: Solas. This isn’t news necessarily — BioWare has been pretty forthcoming about Solas being a key character in the next game — but it’s nice to get confirmation.
Trailers
BioWare showed off the first official teaser trailer for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf during The Game Awards 2020. The trailer shows off Solas and some of the characters you may be able to play as, set to the backdrop of a vibrant fantasy world teeming with color.
Otherwise, there was a trailer at The Game Awards in 2018, as well as a behind-the-scenes look during Gamescom 2020. Like most teasers, there isn’t much to go on in the trailer, short of a single piece of dialogue saying, “So, you found me at last. I suspect you have questions.” Accompanying this line is a tag that reads, “The Dread Wolf Rises.” You can see the teaser below.
We’re diving into some spoiler territory here, so if you’re interested in playing Dragon Age: Inquisition before the fourth entry in the series, skip ahead. The Dread Wolf in Dragon Age refers to the elven god Fen’Harel, with the “Dread Wolf” name showing up a lot during the Trespasser DLC for Inquisition. The lore is complex, to say the least, and users on Reddit have already started the long process of breaking down the trailer. In short, though, Solas, a companion in Inquisition, confesses to being Fen’Harel in the Trespasser DLC. He then explains the risks of the Inquisition becoming corrupt, before the Inquisitor is given a choice between stopping Solas or redeeming him. Solas also says the phrase, “I suspect you have questions.”
Of course, we don’t know the plot of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but it’s clear Solas is at the center of it. Further confirming this, BioWare tweeted a handwritten letter from Solas inviting the Inquisitor to tea in celebration of Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s fifth anniversary.
Happy 5th Birthday, Dragon Age: Inquisition. pic.twitter.com/mTIRc5HfDM
— BioWare (@bioware) November 18, 2019
The other thing the trailer touches on is red lyrium — in particular, a red lyrium idol from Dragon Age II. If you haven’t played the second game, spoiler alert: After finding the idol with Varric and his brother Bartrand in the first act, it poisons Bartrand’s mind. We can clearly see the idol in the center of the mural, so although we don’t know what will happen in Dreadwolf, it’s likely going to involve Solas getting his hands on the corrupted idol.
While not a trailer, BioWare did post a community update that shared some interesting details on how they are crafting the narrative. They claim Dreadwolf will be a balance of giving answers to the long-running questions of the series, as well as a story that new players can get invested in.
Codex entries were heavily spoken about and serve as a way to give a deeper look into the world, locations, characters, and events of the Dragon Age world without interrupting the game. They will dynamically unlock as appropriate during the game, so you will never be overwhelmed with entries to read. They are also framed as in-world texts, such as letters or books, to keep the player invested in the world and role-playing aspects of the game.
Gameplay
We don’t have any gameplay for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf yet, but EA has teased some concept art that provides a glimpse at what the game will look like.
During EA Play 2020, amid a hype reel for next-gen titles, EA chief studio officer Laura Miele said, “BioWare imagines and creates worlds where you become the hero of your own story,” against a backdrop of the images below. Although there were no direct references to Dragon Age 4, Miele talked about BioWare’s “fantasy worlds,” which is enough for us, at least.
If the above images aren’t from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, they’re from some other epic fantasy RPG out of BioWare. Given that we know Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in active development, though, it’s safe to assume they are from that game.
Some footage from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf may have spoiled what the game will actually play like when a user leaked it on Reddit. From the footage, the game is far more action-focused compared to the more slow, tactical style of the first game. The player will have normal attacks, as well as special moves, but the biggest change is the note that there will be no way to control your party outside of triggering certain abilities. This footage appears legitimate, but even if it is, would be from an older build of the game, so plenty of things could already be changed.
Multiplayer
Previously a Kotaku report stated that the next Dragon Age game will have live-service elements. This presumably comes from EA, which, in past earnings calls, has continued to stand behind games with a monetization life cycle after launch. Following the report, Casey Hudson tweeted the following:
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
As a BioWare employee told Jason Schreier, “Dragon Age games shift more than other games,” so we don’t have a clear direction on the live-service elements (even if we did, they’d probably change, at least according to BioWare employees). Reports out of the studio, though, suggest that they’ll be focused on multiplayer only, with the main, single-player campaign untouched by microtransactions.
To the joy of many fans out there, the combined success of Jedi: Fallen Order and the failure of Anthem has led EA to change gears with this game and remove the live-service elements it intended to include. A report from Bloomberg outlined how EA and the team have decided to go so far as to remove all multiplayer elements from the game.
DLC
EA hasn’t said much about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, let alone its post-launch plans. However, we suspect that BioWare will get to work on DLC packs once the game finally launches. From Dragon Age: Origins to Inquisition, BioWare has supported every title with add-ons and expansions, some of which are crucial to fully understanding the story.
As for when the DLC will arrive, it will probably be shortly after launch. Dragon Age: Origins received its first post-launch DLC only two months after release, and Dragon Age: Inquisition got its first DLC pack four months after launch.
Preorder
Preorders haven’t begun for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf yet. In fact, we don’t even have a release date. If past releases are anything to go by, BioWare will have multiple editions of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf with various preorder bonuses.
Dragon Age: Inquisition topped out with a $170 “Inquisitor’s Edition,” which featured a tarot card deck, a special case, a cloth map, a full-scale lock-picking set, a quill and ink, a badge, some coins, and a 40-page journal. It’s been several years since Inquisition, and the video game industry has changed a lot, but we still expect EA to release a big, bold collector’s edition for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf packed with preorder bonuses.
