'Dragon Age: Inquisition' Release Date Arrives, Gameplay Receiving Highly Positive Reviews

It’s here! BioWare’s action role-playing game “Dragon Age: Inquisition” has finally arrived, and the sequel to “Dragon Age: Origins” is receiving positive reviews from critics and players. The game has been in development since 2011 and was published by Electronic Arts. “Dragon Age: Inquisition” scored an 89/100 on Metacritic and earned a 9.5/10 from GameInformer.

“There’s deserts, there’s swamps, there’s snow-capped mountains, the artists even traveled to different areas. Some of the guys even went to different locations to get textures for all of the plants,” game producer Cameron Lee told IBTimes during an early demo in October. “When you look at the detail in some of these trees, these are all real pictures that have been turned into textures.”

Creating such an immersive and massive environment that draws on elements of fantasy is one of the most enjoyable features of the game -- and one of the reasons the title scored such positive reviews.

“We spend a lot of time to make sure that the cultures we have, the different factions, the countries, the histories are all reflected in the art,” Lee said. “So, when you’re in a particular area that’s controlled by a specific faction, you should see that in their architecture and what the people wear.”

Crafting is also an important aspect of “Inquisition,” and there are hundreds of different combinations, from various metals to clothes to leathers. You can take these objects back to your castle, where alchemists and blacksmiths can create potions, poisons, weapons and armor for you and your team.

The massive dragons are among the coolest elements of the “Dragon Age” series, and Lee says the game-makers modeled the movements of the giant creatures after large cats. There are 10 dragons in “Inquisition,” and players will have to face three at one time during a more advanced level.

“Dragons are huge, they’re so big you have to target individual limbs to take them down. They do damage, will destroy buildings, pounce around on the battlefield. In this game, we wanted the dragons to be more mobile,” Lee said.

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