8) Dragon Age: Inquisition
After coming out of the gate strong with its 2009 debut, the Dragon Age series failed to achieve the same success with its second entry, a game that has since gone on to appear on many folks’ worst sequels ever lists. Whether that’s a deserved fate, or just the result of a title that failed to live up to very high expectations and spurned those who bought it in the process, is up for debate, but it’s unfortunately how BioWare’s second romp in the fantasy world is remembered. It’s hard not to feel bad for the studio, but when you consider their pedigree, it’s easy to understand why so much is expected from each and every one of their high profile releases.
This fall, Dragon Age: Inquisition gave Edmonton-based BioWare a chance to redeem itself, and that’s an opportunity that wasn’t taken lightly. Thanks to their hard work and ability to take fans’ comments to heart, we’ve received not only a huge game, but a great one, which offers more than one hundred hours of gameplay for a measly sixty-dollar price tag. The length is one thing, but quality is always key and without it there’d be nothing to write home about.
One of the things that stands out most about Dragon Age: Inquisition is its writing, which is some of the best that the RPG genre has ever seen. And, since using one’s own personality to influence the in-game world, through dialogue options and major choices, is an integral part of the Dragon Age formula, its quality is a major asset. Still, one cannot say that this game will only be remembered for its writing, because doing so would be a great disservice to its impressive mix of both action and strategy-based gameplay.
Fans of role-playing epics, who are looking to get their money out of their first dip into the next-gen RPG scene, will find that Dragon Age: Inquisition is by far the best available choice. Say what you will about there not being much competition this early in the race, but this is a game that stands well above its limited contemporaries and will likely continue to do so for a while.