Hey, remember Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? It has been over a year since the game’s title was first revealed and almost exactly five years since the then-unnamed sequel was first announced at the 2018 Game Awards. And today, just to make sure you didn’t forget about the long-in-development game completely, Bioware and EA are out with yet another teaser presaging a “full reveal” planned for summer 2024.
The short “Dragon Age Day” video, titled “Thedas Call,” features unseen voiceovers speaking over airborne, still-life shots of three locations that will feature in the new game. An accompanying blog post goes into a bit more detail on the locations, describing “the desolate, beautiful badlands of the Anderfels with curtains of distant mountainous spires. The twisting channels and gleaming towers of Antiva, where Crows may lurk in any shadow. The turquoise seas of Rivain with its rushes of greenery and hardy sea-faring people.”
The short teaser concludes with a statement that seemingly comes from Solas (aka Fen’harel), the Dread Wolf that will serve as the game’s antagonist: “All the world will soon share the peace and comfort of my reign.” And EA’s blog post expands on Solas’ motivation as “not a man who sees himself as evil, but someone who believes he’s fighting for a good cause and is willing to get his hands dirty.”
A recently created Steam page for Dreadwolf shares more about the coming game’s plot: “Now, the fate of this world teeters on a knife’s edge. Thedas needs a new leader—one they’ll never see coming. You’ll forge a courageous fellowship to challenge the gathering storm.”
EA promises there will be “much more to share with you” on the game next summer, including “the long-awaited release date.”
A long way to go on a rocky road
After reportedly starting development in earnest in 2015, EA announced last October that Dreadwolf had finally hit its Alpha milestone, representing the first point where the team could “experience the entire game, from the opening scenes of the first mission to the very end.” That’s a good sign for a game that has seen its fair share of staffing and development troubles, including the departure of production director and Mass Effect veteran Mac Walters earlier this year, after a 19-year stint at the company.
Walters’ departure followed that of Creative Director Mike Laidlaw, who left in 2017, Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrah and BioWare General Manager Casey Hudson, who left in late 2020; Senior Creative Director Matt Goldman, who left in late 2021; and replacement Executive Producer Christian Daley, who left in early 2022.
The long string of high-profile departures hasn’t been the only sign of trouble for the development of the next Dragon Age. In 2021, Jason Schreier reported an internal struggle over whether the game would be a traditional single-player RPG or a multiplayer title with a heavy online component. The report cited the market failure of the online Anthem and the success of the single-player Jedi: Fallen Order in pushing EA toward a more traditional route for Dreadwolf.
