BioWare’s fourth big Dragon Age game will be set primarily in Tevinter, a land not yet visited within the world of the Thedas franchise.
This is in line with the book BioWare: stories and secrets from the studio’s 25 years of game development, which I picked up over the weekend.
For fans of the Dragon Age series, this confirmation will come as a small surprise. The location was set in the final scene of Dragon Age Inquisition’s excellent Trespasser expansion – although that was over six years ago, and many other plans for the series’ future have changed in the interim.
But while the plan to visit Tevinter was expected, more concept art within the book suggests that the next Dragon Age will include other fresh lands as well.
The art of a sparkling city surrounded by water almost certainly shows the city of Antiva, the capital of Antiva, an area bordering Tevinter to the east. Concept art for an Antivan Crow is also shown; a theatrical killer “renowned for his mastery of killing with style” who wears an elaborate mask, wields a shining sword and has several fellow royal crows.
There is also an image of the skeletal Mourn Watch, which “guards Thedas from hidden threats” and sits in a necropolis. Although this site is no longer identified, necropolises are used in Nevarra, another area of Thedas, whose citizens are known for mummifying their dead. Nevarra borders Tevinter to the south.
Other images show the Lords of Fortune, a treasure hunter guild based in several places, but founded in Rivain (northeast of Tevinter), and The Deep Roads, the dwarf tunnels that span Thedas.
I finally got the BioWare book and hey, is this the first * official * confirmation that Dragon Age 4 is defined in Tevinter? (I know we all kind of guessed that) pic.twitter.com/229xriPbof
– Tom Phillips (@tomphillipsEG) January 24, 2021
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In the years since the launch of Inquisition, the next Dragon Age 4 (which may end up being called “Dragon Age” again) has undergone some reboots, while the main team connected to the project has changed behind the scenes.
In fact, the BioWare book is already out of date, as it lists longtime Dragon Age collaborator Mark Darrah, still as an executive producer. Darrah and BioWare studio boss Casey Hudson left in December last year, with the lead of the next Dragon Age game now in the hands of Blizzard and Anthem veteran Christian Dailey.
But as it stands now, the project seems to be back in focus on a great RPG for a player full of familiar faces and fan favorites to continue the ongoing narrative topics in the series so far.
A trailer released at the Game Awards last year was narrated by Varric, a companion to Dragon Age 2, while the concept art of the game released at Gamescom 2020 seems to show other returning faces, such as Isabella and Dorian, the native of Tevinter. And, of course, the much loved / hated egg / villain Solas / The Dread Wolf continues to stand out.
BioWare never set a release date for Dragon Age 4, although EA has already suggested that it will not arrive until April 2022. Expect to visit Tevinter and some of its neighboring lands.