#TheDreadWolfRises--Fans of Dragon Age Rejoice!

If you're a fan of BioWare games, particularly the Dragon Age series, there has finally been a tiny bit of good news.  For years fans have waited for news of a fourth installment of the fantasy RPG series.  There were some hinting Tweets and comments from the architects of the game, but really nothing concrete.  Yesterday, something concrete finally appeared in the form of a short teaser type of video.

SPOILERS SHALL FOLLOW!  If you haven't finished Inquisition give the next section a pass.

It appears that the fourth game will have much to do with the huge cliffhanger at the end of Inquisition--the fact that Solas was actually an elven god in disguise and who appears to have some very sinister plans for the world of Thedas.  There appears to be some link to the red lyrium that was spreading throughout Thedas and to the lyrium idol that was part of the story in Dragon Age II.  There's also references to events that happen in the Trespasser DLC.  Honestly, there's not much to go on, but just the fact that it appears that they are working on a fourth game offers a huge glimmer of hope for fans of the series.

Spoilers over.

As a fan, I'm fairly excited, but I'm feeling cautious.  Mass Effect:  Andromeda was not a high point for BioWare and there are still many fans who are very bitter about that nightmare--look at any post on social media and usually the top comment is a no-holds-barred smackdown related to Andromeda.  It's hard to forget that entire situation.

My hopes for a new Dragon Age game are that BioWare sticks to what it does well--story, characters, and relationships.  That's naively optimistic--Anthem appears to be taking a completely new tack with its multiplayer focus and I really don't foresee a new game that doesn't include some sort of MP (AKA a continuous revenue stream--which is something that EA definitely wants).  I'm still maintaining my opinion that the success or failure of Anthem could mark a huge change for the way BioWare does games.  If they are able to successfully capture a combination of MP and strong story/character focus, it could mean all future games adopt that model.

It has been a very long time since I've played Inquisition, but watching this trailer has given me a desire to fire up another inquisitor.  I think I've only played the DLC once and I can barely remember it.  I'm currently neck deep in Assassin's Creed glory, so Inquisition is going to have to stay on deck for now.  That's perfectly fine because much of the information related to Dragon Age 4 appears to indicate that a new game is at least several years off.  Until then, we can all fantasize about our perfect DA4 world.