14 DAY TRIAL // Dragon Age: Inquisition was the first game that I saw in a publisher’s booth during E3 2014 and my first thought after seeing the demo delivered by Mike Laidlaw, the executive producer at BioWare, was that nothing else would come close in terms of quality and future promise.
During the actual event, I was also impressed by Batman: Arkham Knight from Rocksteady and Warner Bros. and by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from CD Projekt RED.
But Dragon Age: Inquisition remains my Game of the Show for E3 2014 because it manages to mix ambition from the development team, some solid core mechanics, a lot of attention to characters and a story that promises to be epic in scope.
Mike Laidlaw, one of the leaders of BioWare, conducted the demo for the game and managed to show off the solid combat system of the title and the various choices that gamers would be able to make, while also highlighting the epic scope of the narrative.
The party used featured a Qunari female mage that the executive producer was controlling, another Qunari called The Iron Bull, Sera the elf and Vivienne.
Battles in Dragon Age: Inquisition are fast and dynamic, maybe a little too close to MMOs for some fans, but there’s always an option to activate a tactical layer in order to give orders and plan the way various characters will act in the coming minutes.
The characters included in the title also have clear personality and even the few bits of banter that were featured in the demo were both funny and well-acted.
At the same time, BioWare has made it clear that consequences are some of the most important elements of the game and that there are branching paths that will be locked once a gamer makes a choice, which means a lot of replay value.
Story has traditionally been one of the major focuses for the studio and this time around, the game seems to weave it better with the actions of the gamer, with all important moments linked to his actions.
The development team also showed a solid inventory and equipment screen, while hinting that the crafting system is more developed than ever.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be launched on the PC, the PlayStation 4 from Sony and the Xbox One from Microsoft and for fans of the franchise, the wait after seeing all the new content revealed during E3 2014 is probably close to unbearable.