Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dragon Age: Inquisition was a huge bet for BioWare: after a chamber-scale second entry marked by rushed development came a sprawling fantasy RPG built on the Frostbite engine and designed primarily for the new consoles, including Xbox One. A massive rift into the demon realm tears open the world of Thedas, the hero survives the catastrophe as the sole survivor, and with a strange mark on their hand becomes the face of the newly forming Inquisition. From there, the story branches into political drama, dealing with faith, the power of the nobility, and the question of whether the organization the player is building isn't itself dangerous. Decisions are made at the judgment table as well as on the battlefield, and they have visible consequences.

The game moves between sprawling regions, from swamps through deserts to snowy mountains, each with its own quests, camps, and fortresses to conquer. Combat can be played directly in real-time action, or via a tactical top-down view where time stops and the player issues orders to the whole party. A key innovation is the war table, where advisors and passing time are used to resolve diplomatic, espionage, and military operations off-screen. A strong point remains the companions and their personal storylines, romances, and bickering by the campfire, which give the Inquisition a human dimension and often reveal more than the main plot.

On Xbox One, this was a visually generous game with beautiful lighting, vegetation, and lacquered armor, albeit at the cost of occasional framerate dips in the busiest battles and longer loading times between areas. The music works with choir and chamber motifs, and the tavern songs became a beloved part of the series. Contemporary reception was very good, and the game won several major game-of-the-year awards, though some players criticized the excessive amount of collectible busywork in the open zones. Today, Inquisition reads as a transitional title between the classic BioWare RPG and the modern open world: whoever accepts its pace and focuses on the main story and companions gets one of the most expansive fantasy adventures of its generation.