Fans got their first look at Dragon Age 4 recently and from what BioWare has shown off, the atmosphere of the new lands players will be traveling through seems dark. In fact, this new aesthetic seems fairly reminiscent of another gothic, fantasy adventure from the early PS4 era, which may give players the look and feel of a Bloodborne 2, even if the gameplay will be completely different.
It would be a stretch to claim that Dragon Age 4 is going to play anything like Bloodborne, but the similar aesthetics may hint at a somewhat familiar storyline to follow, taking notes from eldritch horror. This wouldn’t be the first time that BioWare has dipped into some scary territory, even hitting the cosmic horror angle for a handful of side quests and themed vignettes.
The aesthetic seen in the Dragon Age 4 teaser trailer is naturally attempting to hint at what players will see in the next game without giving too much away, but it may have given enough for players to start piecing the world together. Specifically, players might be getting an idea for what direction this next game will be taking, especially after the finale of Dragon Age: Inquisition. One possibility that might draw in new players is a larger focus on the horror tropes that the series has explored before, using Tevinter’s styles to create a setting unlike any other title in the franchise.
The major connection that players can see between Dragon Age 4 and Bloodborne comes from the terrifying art style of From Software’s Lovecraftian horror having started with a dark setting. It takes a creeping approach to delivering a scary environment that builds over time, instead of trying to jump straight into the horror right out of the gate. This is one of the strongest storytelling aspects in a game that often puts telling a narrative on the backburner for the sake of supplying a lived-in world that brutally punishes players for attempting to trek through.
Calling the horror “Dark” is almost a misnomer, because Bloodborne doesn’t achieve its atmosphere by obscuring anything with shadows, but by trickling out the secrets that are obscured by progression. There are plenty of smaller details hidden throughout Bloodborne, but the grotesque and horrific monsters are rarely ever hidden, unless it’s for the sake of surprising the player with a sudden death. However, that doesn’t mean that FromSoftware lays everything out on the table from the beginning, instead keeping the more terrifying secrets to come blocked by the player’s ability to push forward.
A twist is nothing new for any narrative, whether it’s in a book, film, or video game, and Bloodborne‘s biggest twists are equally as important to the rest of its minimalist story. The way that the game frames these stories is a huge part of how FromSoftware builds the aesthetic and succeeds on delivering the ever-present horror that blends through the whole game. One of the more impressive left turns comes at the halfway point through the Forbidden Woods and the following short trek through Byrgenwerth culminating in the boss fight against Rom.
The first time a player sees what looks like a villager transforming into a beast, only to be introduced to the new snakehead enemies that completely reframes what the monsters of Bloodborne are going to be. From here the enemies continue to escalate throughout the rest of the game, from the bug creatures in Byrgenwerth, to the grotesque mashups of body parts in Hypogean Gaol. Its unlikely that the next Dragon Age is going to take a one-to-one approach on the horror of Bloodborne, but this might be able to prime players for what to expect in BioWare’s next medieval epic.
One thing that BioWare excels at is the hub areas of its game worlds, from Dragon Age 2‘s Kirkwall, to the Normandy that acts as one-part home and one-part transportation throughout the original Mass Effect trilogy. From the looks of the dark city in Tevinter that the Dragon Age 4 trailer has shown off, it might be one of the strongest hubs that the developer has made so far. Considering the sprawling maps that players have already seen in previous Dragon Age titles, this will hopefully be another large city for players to explore through.
This new city already has a pretty decent head start from the trailer, showing off the darkness of Dragon Age 4‘s Tevinter and giving players a feel for the type of world they’ll be stepping into. It’s an interesting aspect for the series to finally focus on as well, with Tevinter having been the kind of thing whispered about in secret in previous titles. Taking the series to this new, gothic-inspired corner of the world can also open the doors for BioWare to really look into the horror that has always taken more of a backburner in other titles.
At its core, Dragon Age is a dark fantasy adventure, with things like werewolves and zombie blights appearing at times to introduce an imposing enemy to fight, but not exactly attempting to scare the player. It’s the shorter, more condensed stories that tend to toe the line into the more terrifying aspects of the side quests, such as the first appearance of the idol in Varric’s companion quest Haunted. This new location and its potential for horror can make this type of atmosphere a constant in Dragon Age 4 instead of an infrequent injection.
It’s not exactly that Dragon Age should take a Resident Evil 7 approach towards reinventing itself away from action and into horror, but BioWare could be leaning in on a much darker atmosphere. This might become a great gateway into these dark aesthetics for players who hadn’t previously been interested in straight up horror, but are fans of the Dragon Age series. The new huge, dark world in Dragon Age 4 could also be a great way for BioWare to start flexing its ability at crafting darker stories with a hint of horror that could work in a future new series.
Dragon Age 4 is currently in development by BioWare.
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