Just the facts: Dragon Age Inquisition's Multiplayer
Bioware has revealed what one might imagine is one of its last major tentpole features for Dragon Age: Inquisition, which is due out in just a few months: a fully-fledged multiplayer mode, bringing the dragon-slaying action RPG even more in line with its space-bound sibling, Mass Effect.
Entirely co-operative based, the multiplayer mode, revealed through a big exclusive article on IGN, has a bunch of things in common with Mass Effect 3's much-loved multiplayer mode, but also has significant differences to better fit the world of Dragon Age. Here's what we think you need to know.
- The mode is designed for up to four players to play simultaneously, and is entirely co-operative versus AI enemies.
- There are three base 'campaigns' on the disc at launch, but within these campaigns levels are randomly generated by stitching smaller pre-made areas together for a unique experience each time.
- Each 'campaign' mission will take around half an hour.
- Each campaign is connected to the main story in a loose way, but doesn't have any real impact on single-player - the multiplayer narrative runs parallel to the main Inquisitor's story. As such, you can't bring your Inquisitor into multiplayer - in fact, your multiplayer heroes work for the Inquisitor you play in Single Player.
- Tactical camera is disabled - this is an entirely action-RPG based experience.
- The game will be expanded through add-on content, though as with Mass Effect 3, multiplayer add-ons will be free.
- Following the Mass Effect model, gold earned in missions can then be spent on treasure chests which carry random items and unlocks - in this, the revenue model is the same. Folks who would rather not grind out gold can buy 'Platinum' with real-world cash and use that to bypass grinding.
- While real world cash can be spent, no content is locked behind that, and everything can be unlocked free with time and patience.
We'll bring you more on Dragon Age: Inquisition as it nears launch and, of course, have a full review ahead of release day. We spoke to Mike Laidlaw, Creative Director on the game, recently - check out that interview through this link.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is due to release this November for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It's available for pre-order now.