In keeping with recently established tradition, BioWare has published a short story in celebration of this year’s Dragon Age Day, which fell on December 4. While the popular series of RPGs first launched with Dragon Age: Origins on November 3, 2009, fans selected an entirely different month for “Dragon 4ge Day” in an attempt to match the Mass Effect series N7 day.In previous years, BioWare has released short stories in observance of Dragon Age Day, sharing four in 2020 and an additional two in 2021. Writers from the development team have recounted a variety of interesting events in the world of Thedas, allowing fans to revisit the franchise’s unique setting as they wait for the next Dragon Age game to launch.BioWare announced that this year there would be only one short story for Dragon Age fans to enjoy, and it is available on the game’s official EA page. A very quick read, “As We Fly” was authored by Lukas Kristjanson, a seasoned writer who has credits in BioWare games dating all the way back to Neverwinter Nights and even Black Isle Studios’ Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows of Amn.
It’s important to reiterate that Dragon Age Day wasn’t created by BioWare, but rather by a group of fans that the developers have dubbed the Unofficial DA Day team. Since 2018, Dragon Age Day has been an opportunity for fans of the franchise to write fan fiction, create artwork, and livestream to raise money for charity. In 2021, the selected organization was Able Gamers and the Unofficial DA Day team raised nearly $28,000, and this year, the group partnered with the Trans Empowerment Project.
Since its inception, Dragon 4ge Day, or D4, has led to a bit of confusion, and that has only grown since BioWare officially announced that the fourth entry in the franchise is in development. Some people have come to associate D4 with a date to expect news about Dragon Age 4. Perhaps for this reason, BioWare released a new trailer for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf on December 4, satiating at least momentarily fans awaiting the game’s release.
Dreadwolf was officially announced at the 2018 Game Awards, though the Dragon Age game didn’t get a proper title and logo until nearly four years later. And the game, in one form or another, has actually been in development since 2015, right after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition. A few internal upheavals at BioWare and with publisher EA resulted in the game being scrapped a couple of times. Thankfully, this latest version, Dreadwolf, seems to be on track to eventually reach fans, though it’s not yet clear when.
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is currently in development.
