Dragon Age: Dreadwolf leak shows footage of its alpha gameplay and the reception to its content has been mixed with a strong lean towards the negative. Plenty of studios have been the victims of recent leaks, giving fans insight into how their anticipated game is developing. However, what fans have seen so far of the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf gameplay doesn't fill them with confidence.
The building of the fourth installment in the Dragon Age series already has a troubled past. Development for its first iteration began in 2015 but due to BioWare struggling with its other products the then-codenamed project "Joplin" experienced continuous interruptions until its complete shelving in 2017. BioWare restarted the project in 2018 under the new codename "Morrison" and made major changes to its original concept. The team experienced high turnover with many BioWare veterans leaving and plenty of positions changing hands in rapid succession. Even now leaks suggest the release of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is a long way away.
The leak itself was posted on Reddit and has been removed but many reuploads have been circulating on various platforms since then. The short footage shows a warrior class type player character attacking darkspawn, the UI seems very similar to Dragon Age: Inquisition, and in the corner of the screen, the location is marked as Weisshaupt, which Dragon Age fans will recognize as the Grey Warden headquarters. However, Insider Gaming managed to get hold of the original post that describes in further detail what the original 20-minute gameplay contained. The entire footage is set in Weisshaupt where the player character, who is an elvish "knight" class is fighting through darkspawn with two party members, named Rook and Davrin.
Combat is shown as entirely real-time with seemingly little party management, and is said to have been inspired by God of War (2018). According to the poster, the animation has been majorly improved and was described as fluid and very responsive. It was also said that the player character's hair looked "glorious", as, although it was constantly clipping through the character's helmet, it still flowed with every movement beautifully. So it seems BioWare has departed from its stiff, helmet-like hairstyles. The Dragon Age: Dreadwolf gameplay also showed red lyrium covering roots and various areas of the fortress, not to mention the darkspawn themselves, with some having red lyrium powers and glowing red eyes.
The reaction of fans to the footage and information was less than favorable. Many lamented the different combat style, and how BioWare is moving away from what made Dragon Age unique back when Dragon Age: Origins came out. It's still difficult to judge the leak entirely on its own merits considering it's only in the alpha stage and therefore still many details might change. It's also possible BioWare might listen to the fans and will make small yet meaningful changes to the gameplay.
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is in development.
Source: Insider Gaming; Reddit