BioWare Dev Addresses Possibility of a Dragon Age Collection

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 1, 2024 4 Views 5 Min Read
BioWare Dev Addresses Possibility of a Dragon Age Collection



Key Takeaways

  • Epler discusses challenges of remastering Dragon Age games due to engine shifts and gameplay differences.
  • Dragon Age: The Veilguard differs in gameplay from the original series, favoring ARPG elements.
  • Remastering Dragon Age would involve major technical hurdles.



In a recent interview after the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, John Epler discusses the possibility, as well as the potential difficulties, of giving the original Dragon Age games a remaster. While Dragon Age: Origins introduced a modern take on the CRPG genre back in 2009, the series has since evolved in a completely different direction, favoring the combat system of BioWare’s other big franchise – Mass Effect. Unlike its predecessors, Dragon Age: The Veilguard embraced an ARPG identity, and many players have described its gameplay as a blend of Mass Effect 3 and God of War.

Though The Veilguard enjoys largely positive reviews from fans and critics alike, and continues to top the charts across all platforms, the first three Dragon Age games have a special place in the heart of many a player. BioWare has often been asked about the possibility of remastering Dragon Age: Origins and its sequel, or to even remake them on the Frostbite Engine.


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John Epler directly addressed the topic during his interview with Rolling Stone, as well as clarified some of the difficulties that BioWare would run into if it attempted to give Dragon Age the Legendary Edition treatment. Namely, whereas the Mass Effect trilogy was made on the Unreal Engine, Dragon Age shifted from Eclipse to Frostbite after the second game. “I think I’m one of about maybe 20 people left at BioWare who’s actually used Eclipse,” Epler says. “It’s something that’s not going to be as easy as Mass Effect, but we do love the original games. Never say never, I guess that’s what it comes down to.”


BioWare Addresses the Possibility of a Dragon Age Remaster


There is another matter to consider. Unlike Mass Effect, the Dragon Age series was never quite as confident in its identity. Each subsequent sequel was a major departure from its predecessor, and though it worked well with the franchise’s anthology format, it now makes the idea of creating a Dragon Age remastered collection a far more complicated affair. Not only are there technical hurdles to solve due to a lack of developers familiar with Eclipse, but porting the games over to Frostbite would likely necessitate changes to gameplay.

BioWare confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard would feature no DLCs and that the team is now committed to developing the next Mass Effect game. While Epler claims that BioWare has embraced its single-player roots after the player feedback on Anthem, he does point towards games such as Final Fantasy 14 as examples of how a multiplayer title can still tell a strong story. It remains to be seen how BioWare will continue to build upon its beloved IPs, but the success of Dragon Age: The Veilguard has certainly proven that the world of Thedas is still worth investing in.


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