Unlike the its Spanish cousin, many fans of Bioware's Lord of the Rings-esque fantasy role-playing series, Dragon Age, were expecting news on the third instalment, Dragon Age III: Inquisition, at EA's E3 presentation last week - and while the publisher did reveal a few new details about the new game, it wasn't quite the massive blow out some were hoping for. In fact, all we really got was a trailer that didn't actually reveal all that much about the game it was promoting, leaving fans left digging for any subtle clues, or hints in the brief 1:46 snippet.
The series - which span several games, a number of novels and a board game - is set in the fantasy medieval world of Thedas during the dangerous age of the dragon, where corrupted creatures known as the darkspawn periodically rise up, leaving only death and destruction in their wake. The original Dragon Age game saw your character - a member of an ancient organisation known as the Gray Wardens - hitting the front line in the war against these darkspawn, in an attempt to stem the tide of evil washing over the land. The sequel saw you swapping into the shoes of Hawke, a noble refugee who fled the darkspawn uprising only end up slap bang in the middle of a growing unrest between the templars and mages, the latter of which have grown fed up of being treated like second-class citizens kept under lock and key, while the third game looks to bring the trilogy to a close.
"Why didn't you show more of Dragon Age III! Rrrraaaggghhh!"
The game's official debut trailer, which you can see below, shows the Dragon Age world torn asunder, with a huge rift torn in the sky raining down fireballs on the world below, causing demons - the darkspawn - to rise up and ravage the land. Primarily taking place in the 'French' empire of Orlais, we'll get to play as a brand new protagonist, known as the Inquisitor, in the midst of an all-out civil war between the magical mages and the noble knight Templars. Details are pretty vague at the moment, with little to go on besides the news that you'll be responsible for "saving the world from itself", complete with the now customary Bioware player choices, which will let you affect how the story plays out through the decisions you take. In fact, returning character Morrigan, the legendary witch of the wilds and one of your companions from the original game, alludes to the eventual by-product of your decisions, by asking "will you stand against it, or lead this world to it's bitter end". We also caught a glimpse of our hilarious Dwarfy companion Varric, and his beloved crossbow Bianca (the minx) - those of you who've played Dragon Age II may recognise him as the narrator of the story, and a possible party member, and we wouldn't be surprised if we see some more familiar faces cropping up in the next few months either.
At the moment we don't have a concrete release date for the game - just a vague 'Autumn 2014', but that doesn't mean the game will be exclusively for new consoles either. In fact, the series' Creative Director Mike Laidlaw confirmed via Twitter the game's coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as the Xbox One and PS4. Yay!
