This past weekend, Bioware released a series of new screenshots detailing a brand new location to be featured in upcoming action-RPG Dragon Age: Inquisition. The media team released this barrage of screens on Facebook, complementing the constant stream they have been pushing out on Twitter and other networks in anticipation of Inquisition‘s mid-October launch.
The new Dragon Age: Inquisition area, an expansive wasteland called the “Western Approach”, shows off rolling sand dunes, titanic mesas, and several fortresses which, at the time of writing, have not been named or identified. Fans have taken to social media networks to guess at the nature of the mysterious buildings and the massive statues which guard them, but until more info is released, everything will remain guesswork.
That being said, if even a fraction of these areas are explorable, Inquisition will be a truly massive experience. While the game has a lot to live up to, Bioware has been showing that fans’ patience will be rewarded with fantastic content.
Even beyond the gameplay and story potential, the screenshots are beautiful. Using a modified version of DICE’s Frostbite 3 engine, Dragon Age: Inquisition will be making full use of next-gen hardware to push visuals to new heights for the series. Shadows and smoke effects in particular look fantastic, and they will certainly be stunning in motion. Frostbite 3’s potential for graphical power might enable new types of settings and visual depth which haven’t been explored before in the franchise.
After years in development, the follow-up to Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II comes from highly acclaimed developer Bioware, the studio responsible for other famous RPGs like the Mass Effect franchise and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Despite the pressure which accompanies this sort of background and the massive build-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition, the studio has been ramping up media releases to ensure coverage for the fall release. We’ll have to wait until October to see if the hype is warranted, but if these screenshots are any indication, Inquisition is certainly going to be a gorgeous game at the very least.