Dragon Age: Inquisition

I have got a LOT to say about this game.

I would day that the only fantasy RPG that has had more of my time dedicated to it would be Skyrim, and this is bearing in mind that Skyrim is currently 8 years old.

I had never played a Dragon Age game before (or even heard of the series to be quite honest!), but my friends were quite excited when this game was announced, so I looked into it. The premise seemed like something I could get behind so I decided to give it a go, but I was not prepared for how much I was going to enjoy this game.

The story is phenomenal, and there is a huge amount of story to get through, and with so many side missions as well, you are not going to run out of things to do any time soon.

The character creation is mostly good – you will pick your race, gender and class, and then you will create your character, and while the creator does have a fair amount of choice. Unfortunately one thing that I don’t like is the green atmospheric setting that the creator is in. I have sometimes found that when fiddling with various skin tones, hair colours and complexion options, the end result can sometimes look different when you get into the game.

The characters are all so wildly different, there will no doubt be characters that you like and dislike, as they all have such unique personalities. You are given conversational choices when speaking with your party members, which will often shape what they think of you, and this is also the case with many of the in-game actions and choices that you will make. Everyone will have an opinion on what you do, and you will find that some party members like your way of thinking more than others.

You also have the option to romance certain people, as long as you fit the bill with regards to who they like .. for example, one character will only be interested in human or elvish females. There isn’t a romance that I haven’t enjoyed so far, all the ones I have attempted have been well-crafted, and display a different side to the characters in question, a vulnerable side which you would not get to see otherwise.

Crafting is a big deal in this game. You will not be using a lot of the armours or weapons that you find in this game – not if you’re a thing like me. There are many resources to be found and gathered in the world, which can in turn be used to craft equipment for you and your party, and this is the best method of kitting yourself out as you can create something that best suits your playstyle, as different materials give different bonuses.

The game has several different provinces for you to explore and journey across, with your base acting as a hub world for you to do all your crafting, socialising, and choosing which province to head off to. All of the provinces you will visit are vastly unique, each one acting like a separate open world, without too much restriction on where you can go besides the level of the enemies in that area.

I have created many characters on this game to play different options and styles, as there is certainly a lot of replay value here. There are a lot of variations within the story and the social aspects between different races and classes, a testament to how much thought has gone into creating the mindset of the characters.

Something I must mention is the soundtrack – there are very few games that have a soundtrack as excellent as this. Dramatic battles, heart wrenching cut scenes, vast open worlds .. all of these things are perfectly complimented with the corresponding tracks.

The DLC for this game is possibly the best that I have ever played, Trespasser in particular. I frequently see the GOTY edition for sale for less than £10, and I always think about what a ridiculous bargain that is. If you haven’t played this game and you’re fan of fantasy worlds, you should definitely give it a go.

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• Platform: Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC
• Release Date: 18/11/2014 (US), 20/11/2014 (Aus), 21/11/2014 (EU)
• Genre: Fantasy RPG, Adventure