Dragon Age: Inquisition

Despite some minor hiccups, Inquisition is absolutely the realest of deals, and should be missed at your own peril.

BioWare has created a role-playing game which feels like a massive monument to our culture. Inquisition is an absolute blast to experience for one hour or 150.

It’s one of the most overwhelming experiences on the market, containing not only the best character development found in any RPG, but an open world that’s actually polished. The artistic and visual fidelity help with the immersion, but it’s the branching, player driven storyline and exquisitely layered combat system that create something special.

Dragon Age: Inquisition makes up for the way too short Dragon Age 2. The gameworld is huge and tremendously diverse. The franchise seems to go a bit less dark and intense, but it introduces a new blockbuster RPG standard that many developers will struggle to meet.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is the best installment in the series and one of the best games in BioWare's history. There's a lot to praise: an interesting story, cool characters, big world, Skyhold. Sure, there are some minor issues and the combat system isn't perfect but the scale and attention to detail make all of that seem unimportant. An excellent game indeed.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is BioWare's new masterpiece and they weren't bluffing. The RPG has everything a fan of the genre could wish for: an amazing amount of gameplay, a great story and extreme beauty. A must-have for everyone that calls himself a gamer.

The brilliant part of this concept is how it imbues every activity with purpose. The world of Inquisition is immense, and a freeform structure means everything you accomplish, no matter how small, feeds your larger aspirations.

Graphics, gameplay, scale, storytelling, depth, content and the finish: Dragon Age: Inquisition proves that it can bring each of these components together without making any concessions.

Bioware is back with sheer passion and love for its work. It demonstrates so offering a new way for players to enjoy strategic RPGs, with a battle system that merges action and tactics, and it plays smoothly whether on PC or consoles. Add to this an incredible amount of gameplay, free roaming and an interesting intrigue, and what you get is one of the best games of this year.

For people looking to get lost in a detailed world brimming with political intrigue, warring factions, tough choices that affect the story and gobs of replayability that will last you well beyond Fall and into the new year, Dragon Age Inquisition is a must buy.

An epic experience that haunts you between play sessions, enticing you to come back for more. It may not hit the lofty heights of Skyrim, but it comes bloody close and, unlike its most obvious comparison, boasts consistently fantastic characters, a memorable and compelling storyline, and breathtaking visual fidelity out of the box.

Best Dragon Age so far, hands down. Pity about the naff writing. [Issue#257, p.51]

As 2014 draws to a close, Inquisition is a contender not only for game of the year, but for the best title to come out of BioWare’s impressive stable - either way, it’s an essential purchase for any RPG fan.

The best of the Dragon Age series by far and one of BioWare's most accomplished games to boot. [Jan 2015, p.50]

Excellent RPG beats both of its predecessors and offers the unspoiled entertainment for hundreds of hours. The sophisticated world of Dragon Age finally comes alive in all aspects and incredible character and story detail fully compensates a bit overused plot about saving the world.

Dragon Age Inquisition is not a common RPG: it's the furious scream of Bioware, strong enough to make windows and walls rattle. It is a demonstration of skill and power that proves that the Canadian developer still knows how to put heart and brain into their projects.

It's the only RPG you'll need this winter and finally a worthy heir to Origins, last generation's best role-playing game.

BioWare studio wanted to redeem itself for the not-so-convincing Dragon Age II. This episode is one of its finest productions. Amazing environments that take hours to get explored, greats quests with some hard decisions to make, fantastic characters and a great combat system: Dragon Age :Inquisition will probably become a masterpiece for anyone who's been in love with Dungeons & Dragons or Tolkien's books for a long time.

It’s a great game from start to finish, one that lets you do just about whatever you want, and then rewards you for just about all of it. While it does have some minor problems, they don’t detract from the quality of the whole. The way the world responds to, and builds itself around, your character makes Inquisition a must-play for any RPG enthusiast.

Inquisition offers tons of rpg-gameplay-elements. The classic high-fantasy-setting combines action- and tactical combat, rich characters with lots of dialogue-options. On top you’ll find yourself as a leader of the inquisition-faction who has to build up a majestic stronghold. Graphics and sound are great, but technical issues like glitches and bugs with animations are also part of the game. Menus are not optimized for PC and the skill-system is highly focused on combat.

From a content point of view is simply astonishing but the game has several problems with the combat system starting from the tactical pause (and view) to the action aspect of the fights.

Not only one of the most expansive RPGs I’ve ever played, but one of the few that successfully fills its gorgeous, massive world with meaningful things to do and see. A frustratingly vague plot and typical BioWare bugginess drag it down a bit, but both in combat and out, Inquisition marks a welcome return to the RPG depth that made Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic so magnetic.

How much you enjoy Inquisition will likely depend on what it is you enjoy about RPGs. If you want complex systems and hardcore challenge, it could potentially disappoint. I don’t. I want a rich world, interesting characters, and a dramatic and memorable plot. Judged on those criteria, Dragon Age: Inquisition sits happily alongside BioWare’s best.

Can only be described as Bioware’s return to glory and as the preeminent force in the RPG genre. Dragon Age Inquisition is a must play for anyone who calls themselves a fan of role playing games. Dragon Age Inquisition, when or if it is finally completed will leave players with the overall sense that this game will replace a favorite movie and a beloved book as a source of contemplation for a long, long time.

Inquisition is an excellent return to form after the claustrophobic, rushed Dragon Age 2, an exciting and sprawling colossus of a game that rewards the player at every turn.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is still a brilliant if flawed gem from one of the best storytellers in the genre. The journey is long. The path is fraught with dangers and more than a few missteps, but it’s an epic adventure well worth the undertaking.

The first Dragon Age still is the best game of the franchise, but we've really enjoyed this one. Fans of the genre won't be disappointed.

Yes, Inquisition is an all around excellent game...A beautiful fantastic world, a great roleplaying game - but not as good as Dragon Age: Origins

The biggest criticism that can be leveled at the title is that it is a little too conservative in its approach to the role-playing and action genres and fails to introduce something entirely new...At the same time, the developers have managed to carefully polish the core tenets of Dragon Age and fans of the series will be happy to discover how easy it is to tailor Inquisition to their own play style.

Huge amount of content, many possible choices with distinct consequences, reappearance of beloved characters... Despite some obvious flaws and various shortcomings, Dragon Age: Inquisition certainly feels like a step in the right direction for the series.

At the very least BioWare managed to present a workable concept of an RPG which is completely detached from the legacy of pen-and-paper RPG. [Jan 2015, p.52]

Despite numerous shortcomings, the new BioWare project is undoubtedly worth your attention. One of the best RPGs of 2014.

The most ambitious game BioWare has ever made. [Jan 2014, p.104]

RPG of the year and a must-have for everyone who values good story delivered in a cinematic fashion and supported by outstanding sound and graphics. [13/2014, p.58]

A game to spend the whole winter with. The breathtaking and complex story is set in a huge open world, and despite its partial mistakes the game works pretty well. [Issue#248]

Inquisition is a good game that suffers from a lack of editorial judgment and polish.

It’s a welcome return to form for a franchise that felt adrift after Dragon Age 2, and is easily recommendable to RPG fans who have a spare few weeks to dedicate to a single game.

Inquisition gets under your skull like red lyrium.

Its not-so-fatal flaw is that in offering so much, both in terms of player choice and in going for peak-BioWare in every aspect of the game, those individual moments, characters, activities and plot beats often don't benefit from the focus and importance needed to unlock their full potential. Still, that's hardly a crime, and one more than made up for by the many high points

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a weird amalgamation of two different games. One is almost like those classic RPGs from BioWare’s early years; it makes you sit on the edge of your chair, waiting for shocking twists, deliberate over moral dilemmas, laugh and cry. The other is a MMO with generic quests and soulless grinding, having slithered where it should not be. And, alas, there is no way to separate them.

I found it to be a jack-of-all-trades, but a master of none. Because of this, you’re left having your attention continually and equally divided, forcing you to pour in tons of hours just to start feeling invested in the world.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a frustrating game. I often found myself scratching and clawing through boring, MMO-like content for enough power points to progress to the next major plot event. However, the fact that I was willing to slog through it at all shows just how good this game can be when it hits its stride.

Rubbish controls, dull combat, and a general sense that it's not quite sure what it wants to be, let down an otherwise entertaining and regularly amusing world-saving romp.