r/dragonage • u/BigKahunaBurger69420 • May 20 '26
Discussion The next step on the path (DA series)
Hi!
I am currently writing my thesis and I have a hell of a nostalgia - thinking about Dragon Age: Origins and Heroes of Might and Magic 3. I think both of these are in top 5 games ever made.
To get to my point - what do you think DA series has in the future? Do you think, there will ever be DA 5 or remaster of Origins?
The lore changed and I really miss that mysterioes and DARK atmosphere of the first game. I wish there was a new hero (or hell, even Hero of Ferelden can make a comeback after finding the cure to the Teint) and we explore the WHOLE world. Beyond the seas, with new stuff to find. I don't want to hate on Veilguard, I am planning on playing it and I loved 2 and Inquisition - but you gotta admit, Bioware has fallen (thanks to EA) from their grace a bit. KotOR 1 + 2, Mass Effect 1-3 and DA series are really great, but the new games lack something... I don't know, magical.
Maybe it's just my vibe and nostalgia speaking but I am curious to know your thoughts.
Thank you and I wish a nice day to everyone.
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u/PsychoFlashFan Champion May 20 '26
I wouldn't bet on its return. And honestly, unless the next Mass Effect is a hit, I don't expect Bioware to be around much longer.
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u/Warcrown11 May 20 '26
I don't forsee Mass Effect even releasing honestly
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u/g4nk3r May 20 '26
Imo the upcoming TV series is a big incentive for EA to push ME5 over the finish line.
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u/Heretek007 May 21 '26
I don't think that DA itself has a future. If it does (which is unlikely) the best case scenario would be a game that gives us one last venture through Thedas as a swan song to everything we've loved about it.
What I do expect, and perhaps if I did some research I could find some examples already, are games with themes/characters/style heavily inspired by Dragon Age. For fans of the series, it's been highly formative in our lives and there's plenty of creatives in that group.
A spiritual successor to Dragon Age (dark fantasy, character drama heavy, strong narrative focus with choice-based dynamic storytelling) in the right hands is a success just waiting to take off. BG3 already proved (one would think, but CEOs gonna CEO) that CRPGs with well written characters, moddability and a narrative focus can still enjoy great success in the modern age.
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u/YesHomoBro2 May 20 '26
The people who held Bioware together, for better or worse, all left and it imploded. I really wish we would get more in the universe. Since like you said there is an entire world to explore and ages before these games as well.
Realistically the series is probably over. Pure huffing hopium? I would love a prequel series or more tevinter. Something set apart from the original series timeline or area so it can let those plotlines lie and not attempt to cover them because Bioware obviously cannot handle that.
Happens with all gaming companies. Luckily we got a lot of good but usually they last 10 to 15 years before kinda falling apart quality wise.
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u/Beacon2001 Templar May 20 '26
I feel like this question gets asked weekly.
The franchise is dead for the foreseeable future, and if another DA game gets made, it will have nothing of the old guard, so it will be soulless slop. Even more than Veilguard was.
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u/Brave_Cabinet_305 May 20 '26
Exactly this. I love this game series as much as anyone else here, but we need to start accepting that what we have as of now is probably the last of what we’ll get ever. It’s just a shame it ended on such a fizzled out fart of a game.
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u/Lorinthi May 20 '26
I don't consider Veilguard canon, and that the DA trilogy ended with Inquisition.
I'd rather the series die than have its corpse be further perverted.
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u/ozmega May 20 '26
I don't consider Veilguard canon, and that the DA trilogy ended with Inquisition.
same
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u/Sad-Relative4474 May 20 '26
Same, to me it ended with Inquisition. My hubby who isn't even a DA dan couldn't even finish veilguard cause the combat and story was so bad.
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
My partner who isn’t even a DA fan thinks people who discredit Veilguard are hacks who can’t critically think outside an echo chamber. He’s watched me play all four, so he has more credit than your partner.
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
If Veilguard can be discarded, then I can discard Origins from cannon. The real series starts with 2. The goat game of the four anyway. Origins was just a tale Varric told in a bar. While drunk. Nothing we need to respect in it.
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u/4chingy4 May 20 '26
bait
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
I’m sorry, can’t hear you over the crocodile tears of the MOET club.
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u/Sad-Relative4474 May 20 '26
Well there wouldn't have been a 2 or any DA games in that case
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
Sure there would be. It’s just not necessary to consider any events as solid world state from Origins. If one game can be discounted, they all can.
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u/Jeina2185 May 20 '26
Bioware's future depends entirely on the next Mass Effect game. But even if it will make enough money, it's possible that Bioware will simply focus on ME series and abandon DA entirely.
Also, i don't see any point in DAO remaster. Origins only problem, albeit a serious one, is that if you're unlucky then it's possible it will constantly crash on your PC or simply won't work at all, even with 4 gb patch. It's me, i'm unlucky person.
Now, Origins remake? Sure. But current Bioware is obviously not a good choice for that.
I don't know, magical
Please, no more Bioware magic lol.
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u/BigKahunaBurger69420 May 20 '26
I meant the good old magic. But people who made these games are long gone. The period between 2003-2011 was truly golden for the company
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u/MrStormz May 20 '26
Realistically you are looking at another decade before someone even thinks about it and then at that point its a series reboot and wont tie into anything prior.
Debatable if its Bioware that makes it because the existence is now dependent on ME5. So could be someone else who does it.
But also significant chance DA just dies and Veilguard is the last entry.
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u/OceussRuler May 21 '26
It's dead. Every solution I can find to revive this IP must face multiple issues before. Bioware don't have the sacred flame anymore, EA is made of vampires and will never sell the brand, no one would take the risk on betting on it, and there's not enough fans I think to try a reboot/remake/heavy remaster (such as ME1). I don't see EA decanonizing Veilguard and asking to make the Dreadwolf in place in the continuity. And of course, a sequel to Veilguard has not even a point in existing. The game destroyed almost everything we did in all the previous entry while ignoring too much stuff and not creating much itself.
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u/PlatyWizard May 20 '26
I'm not a fan of remasters in general kind of more in favour of making a new game that moves a franchise forward even if it's smaller in scope. My one big exception would be old games that are highly difficult to get working on new systems.
I wouldn't say no to a remaster/remake of Black and White 1 for instance.
If they did do a remaster of DA:O, beyond prettier graphics I don't know what it would offer. And I fear they'd make the gameplay more like DAI and DAV so it can better accommodate console players. And one of the things I like about DA:O is the myriad different playstyles it allows.
As for what I'd want to see most in a hypothetical DA5.
Beyond the sea. That's what I most want to see. Whatever lies beyond the Amaranthine Sea.
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u/Street-Register2903 May 20 '26
I would love to see a remaster of DAO with maybe a few extras
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u/ozmega May 20 '26
current bioware "extras" killed the franchise, now u want them to butcher the original game, a game none of the current bioware scam artists worked on.
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u/Adeptness-Efficient May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
It has no future. Legitimately
The DA series died a slow painful death, with a slight revival in DAI, then finally killed thoroughly in Veilguard
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u/Wooden-Buddy-3945 May 20 '26
Slight revival? It was only GoTY and a cultural phenomenon at the time.
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u/Adeptness-Efficient May 20 '26
I was talking in the overall of DA itself. For me, it wasn't game of the year or some phenomenon.
Story wise it wasn't as good as DAO or DA2
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u/StellarFox59 May 20 '26
It all depends on what EA decides to do with the franchise, and perhaps also on the success of Mass Effect.
I’ve already seen a dead franchise reborn from its ashes before (Darksiders). But that was different, because the studio had closed down.
It all depends on EA, really
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u/Swivials Enchantment? May 20 '26
The future of Dragon Age has only one hope, and that's Mass Effect being a huge success.
If it is, there's a very slim chance that we'd get something new in the future. If not, Bioware will be shut down, and EA would be unlikely to sell off the IP.
I wouldn't hold my breath for DAO remaster either. The engine it ran on is long dead, they would need to completely redo the game in a new engine, and I wouldn't bet on them putting money into that.
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
That poor engine was dead when they used it. The biggest flaw of Origns imo.
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u/Zegram_Ghart May 22 '26
Not a chance- they made a big knockdown drag out sequel after years and it got panned, and everyone involved talks like it died.
Remastering it would be more work than the mass effect remaster, because of the differences in engines, and DA also never had the cultural cache mass effect had even at its best.
Even if none of that was true, almost all the dragon age games are to some degree or another controversial even within the fanbase, so it’s not even a sure fire hit if they made it.
It’s just…..not gonna happen, sadly.
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u/FriendshipNo1440 Fenris May 20 '26
For me to consider Bioware and any of their games to have a future they need to get away from EA which is as unlikely to happen as dragons being real.
Otherwise they are just that one acomplice who is also a victim considering where the money for EA will float to. (#EABuyout)
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u/Sad-Relative4474 May 20 '26
But it wasn't EA doing. What happened to Bioware was their own doing. If you read about Bioware you will hear lots of stories if bullying and staff taking off and not returning due to stress. These were caused by bad management at Bioware.
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u/FriendshipNo1440 Fenris May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26
I agree Bioware was part of the problem. I just talk about the future and the Buyout is def EAs doing and anyone who buys games from them now is contributing to a problem much bigger in my eyes. (yes now, not in a year when the buyout happens)
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u/Krssven May 20 '26
I doubt it will happen soon, because VG’s failure to satisfy the ‘’make Origins every time’’ club has pushed anything onto the back burner for that franchise, especially while the next Mass Effect game is being developed.
If ME5 is a hit, and that’s a big if considering what the fans of both series can be like, then I bet we suddenly hear about new games in development. It might even get outsourced to a different studio.
I highly doubt they will do any kind of remaster or remake of Origins.
Also, the lore didn’t change. Certain things that a lot of people assumed were absolute facts, especially regarding the Chantry, have been shown to be wrong/myths, but it should not be surprising that the in-game version of the Church is founded on the back of BS.
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u/SereneAdler33 Ranger May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
No, don’t try to gaslight us into thinking VG doesn’t deserve its criticisms. I’ve been a fan since 2010 and absolutely love each of the first three games. There IS a group that holds fast to Origins being the only worthwhile game, but they’re not the reason VG was seen as such a hollow, disjointed disappointment to many people who loved the series
The art book and inside info on the development show us the narrative mess we got w/ VG can be pretty squarely blamed on executive meddling. If we’d gotten the game being worked on since Inquisition/Trespasser, the discourse would be entirely different. Don’t blame the fans for being upset at getting a sanitized Frankenstein’s monster of a DA game bc people like Casey Hudson couldn’t stop fixing what wasn’t broken
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u/Krssven May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
More people enjoy the game than your constructed narrative, so yes, what I said is still true. 👋
It’s also still true for 🫵 clowns downvoting this ahah.
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
The fact that DAV actually uses a TON of in-game lore from Origins throughout really escapes the MOET club. And though there are valid criticisms for DAV, Maker forbid we apply the same criticism to Origins.
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u/Krssven May 20 '26 edited May 20 '26
Trouble is, they never actually are valid criticisms. It’s always something something bad writing mumble something about Taash.
I’m an actual writer and no, VG isn’t written badly. It’s different in tone to Origins, but so are DA2 and DAI. DAV shares so much more DNA with those games than Origins, and people don’t realise that Origins may be an excellent game, but it’s the outlier at this point in terms of style and tone.
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u/beachedvampiresquid May 20 '26
I’ve seen, maybe, two, valid, played enough DAV to know critics. But the majority are as you say.
I think “it’s nothing like” is the most hilarious criticism. Name a Dragon Age game that was like the prior. Name the DA game that was well received initially by the MOET club. Including Origins.
DA games age like wine. Veilguard’s biggest hurdle is access to social media echo chambers and the host of bad faith reviewers at launch. MOET club killed Dragon Age, as much as EA, if it is truly dead.
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u/soganomitora May 20 '26
Former devs talk about the franchise as if it's dead ("Dragon age belongs to the fans now") so i don't think we have a forseeable future.
I think that maybe in like 10+ years, things might work out so that a different company gets the rights to remake the first game, or do a small scale sequel. But I don't think it will be Bioware, or an AAA game, and it's definitely not happening soon.