The Inquisition offers a memorable journey in Thedas

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Dragon Age: Inquisition was released a decade ago in 2014. It marked many firsts for BioWare, including its first entry developed on EA's Frostbite Engine. This resulted in a Dragon Age games that provided incredible peaks with some awkward locations, like the now infamous Hinterlands problem. One of the areas it excelled in, however, was how it made Thedas a more unique fantasy setting, with a strong and consistent narrative thread that could be traced back through its timeline.




Dragon Age reveals its history in a way that goes beyond simple presentation, as in letters, books and notes that show the different and diverse perspectives of those who live in Thedas. Instead of just expanding knowledge, Dragon Age: Inquisition began deconstructing some of the known truths of Thedas, particularly the Elven, Dwarven, and Chantry religions.

Morrigan, Solas and Bethany Hawke from the Dragon Age series

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Expand the Dragon Age world with Inquisition


Dragon Age: Inquisition was a game that brought forward deconstructions of several themes, including the story of “the chosen one”. The way its main story deals with religion and legends, from their often humble origins and how they are immortalized to greatness, was a massive departure from Dragon Age 2s less, contained story, and not as much a return to Dragon Age Origins' tone that some players wanted. This helped establish the pattern for Dragon Ages pattern to create new experiences in each game in the multi-level series, including gameplay and narrative themes.

One of the greatest legacies that Dragon Age: Inquisition left was the mark it made on Dragon Ages lore. Where Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 established and created the foundation of the world of Theda, Dragon Age: Inquisitions revelations deconstructed parts of it. Rather than contradicting established lore, but the deconstruction of Dragon Ages lore was consistent with the themes of Dragon Age: Inquisitions story about the origin of religious figures. With a literal religious figure as a party member masquerading as himself in his purest form before the weight of legend was placed upon him, Dragon Age: Inquisitions themes are hard to forget.


Make the Dragon Age world more complex

The addition of Dragon Age: Inquisitions final DLC, Trespasser, further exemplified this theme, particularly as it wrestled with the Inquisition's legacy and whether the Inquisition should disband or continue as a powerful force in Thedas. All of this culminated in the final conversation with Solas, where the Inquisitor had the opportunity to ask him about his role in his rebellion, the figure he came to be remembered as by the people he saved, and by those who remained.


Dragon Age: Inquisition still comes under fire today for its massive open worlds filled with side quests that are nothing more than busy. Another point of contention was its Power system, which sometimes pushed the story to a crawl, so those who wanted to bypass the fetch quests couldn't progress through the main quests. This criticism was heard loud and clear by BioWare, and although it was present in the Mass Effect: Andromeda, Dragon Age: The Veilguard was launched without these problems. Despite these disadvantages, Dragon Age: Inquisition still holds up today as a strong RPG with a narrative identity that held Dragon Age series for an entire decade.

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