Developer BioWare first teased a new Dragon Age-related project in December 2018. Two years later, BioWare officially confirmed that it is working on a fourth, currently untitled Dragon Age game (which we will henceforth refer to as Dragon Age 4). Since then, we’ve heard small nuggets of information about the upcoming role-playing game.
With Anthem abandoned and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition now out, it stands to reason that BioWare is now fully focusing on its next projects, namely Dragon Age 4 and a still untitled new Mass Effect game. So there’s a chance that we learn more about either game at E3 2021, which is right around the corner.
Below, we go over everything we currently know about Dragon Age 4, as well as what we might see of the game at E3 this year.
What We Know So Far
Currently, we know very little about Dragon Age 4–we don’t even know what it’s going to be called. But since the game’s announcement in December 2020, BioWare has revealed a few details.
BioWare: Stories and Secrets, a book that encompasses the developer’s history, revealed that the primary setting for Dragon Age 4 is Tevinter–which matches what Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s Trespasser expansion teased. We’ve never actually seen Tevinter in-game, though it’s been referenced several times, referred to as a human nation ruled by a council of mages.
On top of that, reports state that the planned multiplayer component to Dragon Age 4 has been cut so that the game will launch as a completely single-player RPG. Dragon Age 4 executive producer Christian Dailey has also teasingly released concept art for the game.
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What’s Confirmed For E3 2021
Right now, there is no planned announcement in regard to Dragon Age 4 for E3 2021. BioWare isn’t even currently scheduled to make an appearance at the conference.
Dragon Age 4’s publisher, Electronic Arts, is set to have its own event just prior to E3 (like it’s done the past few years) on June 9, but the headlining game for the livestream is a new Battlefield. EA hasn’t confirmed any of its other games for the event, presumably saving them for EA Play Live on July 22.
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What We Hope To See At E3 2021
At this point, we’d love to see something concrete for Dragon Age 4. Hopefully, that’s a new teaser trailer that reveals the game’s title, as well as official word from BioWare that the game doesn’t have multiplayer (or, if it actually does, what that will look like). It still feels like we’re a ways off from seeing actual gameplay, but obviously, we wouldn’t be opposed to a gameplay reveal if BioWare is ready to show it off.
Assuming EA’s June 9 event is exclusively geared towards the new Battlefield and nothing else, we hope to see Dragon Age 4 pop up during the Xbox & Bethesda showcase on June 13. Xbox looks to be striving towards being the go-to console for western RPGs, with first-party role-playing games like Fable and Avowed coming to the Xbox Series X|S. Xbox has also hosted several big-name third-party RPG developers at E3 in recent years, such as CD Projekt Red. So a Dragon Age 4 trailer would feel right at home on the Xbox & Bethesda stage.
Personally, if I can be selfish for a moment, I want to see BioWare announce that Dragon Age 4’s planned release window is 2022. It doesn’t really match BioWare’s current release schedule of a new game every two to three years (Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, Anthem in 2019, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition in 2021), but given that Dragon Age 4 was first teased in 2018, I’m hopeful that that means BioWare has actually sunk a fair amount of development time into the game already.
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