Bioware are a studio renowned for their RPG's with heavy hitting decisions and fast paced combat style as well as their immersive storytelling in worlds that span the far regions of space and mystical high fantasy universes. Dragon Age Inquisition is the latest instalment of the Dragon Age series and has been long awaited by many fans (myself included) who are longing to see if it surpasses Dragon Age Origins or falls short in the way that Dragon Age 2 did.
Dragon Age Inquisition is set 10 years after the fifth blight and spans both the Ferelden and Orlais regions of Thedas. The state of the world will be directly influenced by your decisions in previous games through dragonagekeep.com, even if you haven't played the previous two games you can go through the online tapestry and choose all of the major decisions as well as the lesser ones, all of which will influence the game in one way or another if you look hard enough. Some are thrust in your face; like the character of Hawke, how the Archdemon was killed, who is ruling over Ferelden and many many more.
Moving on to the actual game, once you start you're greeted with one of thee most expansive character creators I've ever used. Personally I spent about an hour creating my perfect first character but people could easily be sucked into this blank canvas for hours. Each detail is customisable from the shape of each facial feature down to the colour of your inner and outer iris so you can really create whoever you want if you have the time and attention to detail. Once getting into the game you immediately notice how beautiful the world is. You're confronted with a snowy mountain, soldiers tending to people and a giant luminous green tear in the sky and this is absolutely breathtaking, especially on the current generation consoles. The visuals are tight just as the gameplay is. The movement is responsive making combat smooth and purposeful, this is basically a much more refined iteration of Dragon Age 2's combat system. And the biggest improvement? Tactical cam is back! It's back and better than before, at any moment you can enter a birds eye view of the battlefield, issue orders/movements to your party then re-enable time and disable it as you please. This mode of controlling the tactical camera is flawless as it really removes the clunky-ness of typical 'stop start' strategic battle features.
Aside from gameplay the story writing is fantastic as always. It's gripping and has the signature hard hitting choices we're used to seeing from Bioware. One great new feature that adds to these decisions are the 'judgements' you have to make as the Inquisitor. Every so often you'll have the opportunity, when at Skyhold fortress, to pass judgement on a prisoner you've captured from one of your past missions. There are a plethora of choices to make and each differs under the circumstances and your own personal view on the events of the game - will you execute the rebel mage or make him tranquil? Will you banish the barbarian warlord or make him your court jester? The choice is yours.
Dragon Age Inquisition sets the bar for the next wave of RPG's and it's been set high. The gigantic world takes hours upon hours to explore with plenty of nooks and cubbies to investigate, creatures to slay and people to talk to. Inquisition has easily jumped into my top 5 games of all time (can you tell I'm bias?) and I eagerly await DLC from Bioware to lead my Inquisition into.