Ever since the announcement of the fourth Dragon Age installment, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, fans' questions resurfaced: will Dragon Age 4 be on PS4 and other platforms that hosted the previous game? Who will we play us? And, given the praise and criticism for Dragon Age Inquisition, you might also wonder whether Dragon Age 4 will have an open world.
Will Dragon Age 4 Be Open World?
At the time of writing, Bioware hasn't shared many details about Dragon Age 4 other than its title and who the titular Dread Wolf is. It's unknown whether the new game will be open world, though it's safe to assume that the Dragon Age Team will try some tweaks based on existing feedback.
The first Dragon Age installment involved quite a lot of traveling, but side quests were inextricably linked with locations you had to visit anyway in order to move the plot forward.
Dragon Age 2 was a smaller-scale game with an intimate, rather limited setting. Most of the game was spent in the same city or its outskirts, with only one quest further away.
In both cases, the setting served the plot, which was the most important element. But Dragon Age Inquisition decided to shake that up a bit.
The third Dragon Age game features a massive open world with a great number of side quests that can increase the Inquisition's influence and reach but do not significantly affect the plot.
Some fans found that refreshing as there's more freedom to explore the world of Thedas for the fun of it, without feeling the pressure of attending to the main quest at all times. The popularity of games like Skyrim definitely helped make the open world of Inquisition well-received.
Other players, however, especially those who love Dragon Age for other reasons, found the open world pointless.
At its heart, Dragon Age is a plot-based and choice-based game that allows the player to customize their experience and reach the ending in various different ways.
Some of the gamers who mostly appreciate this aspect of Dragon Age found that the open world didn't serve the story but hindered it, as all the exploring simply delayed the progression of the plot.
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It didn't help that the areas visited were beautiful but rather lacking in stories and interesting inhabitants, making many players wish they could just move on with the plot.
It is currently not known whether or not Dragon Age 4 will follow the same open-world format. Ideally, it should be vaster than Dragon Age 2 but possibly have more of a tight setting, focusing on great storytelling and lore in every location.
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