Bioware first announced the fourth game in the Dragon Age series, called Dreadwolf, back in June of 2022. At the time, nothing much else was known about the game, beyond the fact that it will take place after the third game, Inquisition, and all of its DLC. Now a clip, as well as several screenshots, from the game’s alpha have made their way online.
These first made their way onto Reddit. While the post in question has removed all links to the GIF and screenshots, another user has reposted them all to Imgur, with a link in the comments. And from the gameplay clip, it looks like Dreadwolf will be quite the departure from the way earlier entries to the Dragon Age series. At the very least, the short clip does not give an impression that it is a Western RPG-type of game.
The Reddit post goes on to share details like the leak coming from an alpha playtesting that took place a couple of weeks ago. Said poster also bemoans the lack of a gameplay reveal during The Game Awards, which is probably not too surprising considering this is still alpha footage.
Beyond that, the post also notes that the God of War reboot was a “guiding reference point” for Dragon Age Dreadwolf, with combos, abilities and a special meter. While the leaked gameplay clip shows the existence of party members, the post notes that players don’t get to directly control them.
All this marks a pretty major shift in direction for the series, and I’m not sure if fans of the series will be fine with this. After all, Dragon Age: Origins, the first game in the series, was the one game that pushed Western RPGs to the forefront, so it’s strange to see Bioware abandon this for Dreadwolf. Hopefully an official gameplay reveal will shed more light into this.
