Dragon Age 4 is BioWare’s next entry to the studio’s fantasy franchise, diving back into the world of Thedas as the Dread Wolf attempts to bring down the veil between the mortal plane and the Fade, a realm of dreams, gods, and magic. Although each game has a new player character, fans can expect plenty of familiar faces to return after three Dragon Age games, with many of them in high places.
The protagonist of Dragon Age 4, however, will explore “what happens when you don’t have power” according to BioWare’s Gamescom 2020 video. This gives the team a great opportunity to explore new perspectives on some returning fan-favorite characters. Not only that, but that new perspective could help overcome a problem with the Dragon Age protagonists that has been present since the second game.
Fans can expect plenty of characters and companions from previous Dragon Age games to be making a return in Dragon Age 4. Multiple companions from previous games are now in places of power in Thedas that would make avoiding them or their influence almost impossible. The Chantry, for example, is now led by the Divine Victoria.
Depending on player decisions in Dragon Age: Inquisition, the Divine Victoria could be Leliana from Origins and Inquisition, Cassandra Pentaghast from Dragon Age 2’s book-ends and Inquisition, or Vivienne from Inquisition. No matter who became the new Divine, they will have to lead the Chantry through a turbulent time, with Corypheus from Inquisition claiming he found the Maker’s throne empty when he entered the Golden City, leaving the Chantry’s scripture in question. Of course, that’s even if Corypheus’ words make it back to them and if they even believe the villain.
Other characters in positions of power across Thedas include fan-favorite dwarven rogue Varric Tethras, established in Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC to be the new Viscount of Kirkwall – if only because nobody else wanted the job. Dorian Pavus, Inquisition’s dashing mage, becomes a reform-minded Magister in his native Tevinter, where Dragon Age 4 is heavily rumored to take place. Characters who have already returned in the past like Alistair and Morrigan from Origins may also appear again as the Dread Wolf puts their very reality at risk.
Many of these characters are beloved – especially Varric – but Dragon Age 4 has a unique opportunity to present a totally different perspective on them. Varric may be a great friend and a charming companion, but he’s also a ruthless political operator and shrewd businessman. While Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition’s protagonists held roughly the same social standing as Varric in their respective games, BioWare has heavily hinted that the protagonist of Dragon Age 4 will not.
This gives the studio the opportunity to show what it’s like to be one of the common folk Varric’s wheeling and dealing affects. It gives Dragon Age 4 the opportunity to show players what it’s like to live as a non-magical City Elf in Tevinter considering the dark history of the Dragon Age elves. They were once enslaved and remain ruled over by mages just like Dorian, no matter how reformist his intentions.
If the player romanced Leliana as the Warden in Origins and then – as the Inquisitor – enabled her to become the Divine Victoria, she will change the Chantry’s doctrine on relationships to allow her relationship with the Grey Warden to continue. From the player perspective in previous games this might seem reasonable, but when you “don’t have power,” it can look like another example of the rich and powerful hypocritically changing their stances to allow for their own decadent lifestyles.
This doesn’t mean turning these characters into villains. Rather, Dragon Age 4 has the opportunity to explore the way the traits that made these characters beloved in their personal relationships with the player character less likable when abstracted to far broader political power. Sten the qunari’s monotone dry wit and unwavering commitment to the qun may be endearing in Origins when he’s a powerless wandering pariah. However, those traits have very different implications now that he’s the Arishok of the qunari, who still violently clash with the Tevinter Imperium that they once occupied.
By leaning into the new player character’s different perspective, Dragon Age 4 could also overcome one problem which has haunted the series. Every Dragon Age game so far has had a new protagonist, but the problem is that without a significant change in perspective, the introduction of a new player character feels like it erases the previous player character.
When players start Inquisition, for example, they might already like Varric from the relationship they built with the character in Dragon Age 2. However, this creates a dissonance between them and the Inquisitor, who has only just met Varric and has no reason to treat him like an old friend like the player might want to. By giving Dragon Age 4’s protagonist a very different perspective on some of these characters and their actions, BioWare could make the upcoming game’s change of protagonist feel necessary and exciting rather than just a staple of the series.
Of course, to give Dragon Age 4’s player character a different perspective, the next game in the franchise will need to find ways to subtly manipulate the player’s own perspective. It won’t be enough to simply have other powerless NPCs vocalize their distrust of the new Divine – the game will need to find a way to make the player feel some of the player character’s powerless position. If Leliana survived and is the Divine and the aforementioned Chantry doctrine of clergy relationships is changed, for example, the player might interact with a heart-broken older priestess who gave up her love for her faith and feels betrayed by the change.
Creating a new player character in Dragon Age 4 with a new perspective won’t be an easy task, though if any American RPG developer is famed for creating tight, character-driven stories it’s BioWare. The fact that it’s so easy to point to certain characters as fan-favorites shows the extent to which the studio’s manipulation of perspective has been successful in the past. If it can pull it off in Dragon Age 4, the series might just hit the ground running as gaming moves forward with a new generation.
Dragon Age 4 is in development now.
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