It’s no secret that Mass Effect: Andromeda was an initial disappointment for BioWare, eventually leading many fans of Mass Effect to place their hopes in the rumor that a Mass Effect Remastered Trilogy will be announced this year. The recent disappointments of both Andromeda and Anthem also put BioWare under even more pressure to deliver on Dragon Age 4.
However, there are still valuable lessons to be learned from what fans responded well to in Andromeda. The introduction of the Angara in Mass Effect: Andromeda and in particular the companion character Jaal were two of the best received aspects of the game. With that in mind, Dragon Age 4 may be going down a similar path, introducing an entirely new culture for fans to explore in BioWare’s next game.
Dragon Age/Mass Effect Culture and Companions
Having companions from a totally alien culture works wonders for games like Mass Effect. In the original Mass Effect, the unfamiliarity of alien races like the Asari, Krogans, Turians, and Quarians gave players motivation to get to know their followers of those species as a window into their culture and the setting of Mass Effect as a whole.
Part of the problem the Mass Effect series has faced after the original trilogy is that the alien races that make Mass Effect distinct from other sci-fi series are also very familiar to fans now. It is no coincidence that the two human companions from Mass Effect 1, Ashley and Kaiden, drew the least interest from fans of the original squadmates, and unfortunately for Andromeda the same could be said for the main races of Mass Effect by that point in the series.
It is for this reason that Jaal, the sole Andromeda native companion, was one of the most successful parts of the last Mass Effect. Jaal offered insight into a completely unfamiliar culture that was deeply tied to the setting of the game. As a result, players were incentivized to get to know that character better than any of the other companions aboard their ship. The Angara was so loved that Jaal was made romanceable for both sexes in a later patch due to popular demand.
Dragon Age: Origins tapped into a similar incentive with Sten, a member of the Qunari race that stood out among Origins’ relatively standard fantasy dwarves and elves. Sten’s culture and his world view was a puzzle that players had to figure out over the course of the game, especially if they wanted to keep the wayward warrior in their good books.
Though the Qunari were introduced as a playable race in Dragon Age: Inquisition, their main value in Dragon Age: Origins was that, like Jaal, the player character’s relationship with Sten was made to feel more valuable as the player became able to overcome the cultural differences between them, while also trying to use Sten to learn more about the mysterious Qunari. Dragon Age 4 risks being in the same position as Mass Effect: Andromeda where its setting and the various races and cultures that inhabit that setting are no longer the same initial draw they were when the franchise began.
Dragon Ag 4: The Executors
Fortunately for Dragon Age 4, it seems BioWare may have one big trick up its sleeve. The Executors first appear in Dragon Age: Inquisition as a group referred to as “those across the sea,” and the fact that the Dragon Age main character, the Inquisitor, never sees them directly could imply that they are a mysterious new race or culture being introduced to the Dragon Age universe. Throughout Inquisition, the Executors leave their symbol, an upside triangle with two waves through it, around various camps.
The Tevinter Imperium is very likely the setting for Dragon Age 4, and in a comic run, an Executor agent is petrified by Solas while attending a meeting of spies. The Inquisition spy, Charter, tries to get a good look at the Executor beforehand, but they are obscured by their robes and their voice could be “male or female, young or old.”
This could imply a new race in the same vein as the Qunari, but even if it doesn’t, the introduction of a totally new and mysterious faction in the Dragon Age universe like the Executors could still be exactly what the series needs to revitalize interest in its fantasy world, particularly if one of them is a companion.
It is also possible that the Executors will be in some way related to the Qunari in Dragon Age 4 or their pre-Qun predecessors, the Kossith. Both the Kossith and the Executors are referenced as being from across the sea, and furthermore, the history of the Qunari implies that there could be related races with hugely different physical features in the area.
It is heavily implied in the Dragon Age lore that the Qunari did not always look the way they do, with grey skin and horns. It has been implied that the Qunari may have dragon blood in their veins for some reason, and if the player is a Qunari Inquisitor, Corypheus will call their race “a mistake.” Not only that, but some of Iron Bull’s dialog implies that he believes that the Kossith and the Qunari were physically as well as culturally distinct, making it entirely possible that the Executors may be the descendants of the Kossith who did not take up the Qun.
For now, however, Dragon Age fans will have to speculate. What is important is that it appears that BioWare is not resting on its laurels with the new Dragon Age game. Hopefully by introducing a new race, or at least a totally new faction into the world, Dragon Age will once again feel like a huge world to explore and learn about in a way that Mass Effect struggled to achieve with Andromeda. Jaal demonstrates how a sense of cultural exploration can make the setting more interesting but can also make Dragon Age's companion characters more compelling.
Fans will be watching closely to see whether the Executors make their hinted return in Dragon Age 4, and in what capacity. With the series potentially shaking up its formula with dwarven mages in Dragon Age 4 and a whole new race, it remains to be seen whether BioWare’s fantasy franchise can still tell a story that can grip RPG fans on the next generation of hardware.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.