#dragon age leak

[thatrandombystander]

DRAGON AGE 4 GAMEPLAY LEAK??????

Link to reddit poster + text about it

Link to the images + one gameplay gif

Gameplay seems to be moving away from the sort of top-down, semi-tactical style of previous games, and more towards action RPG. "Hack n' Slash" is used a descriptor but that's a very particular kind of gameplay genre, so I'm just going to settle on "action". Might be good. I play Dragon Age for the characters and RPG elements, so as long as I don't dislike or get frustrated with it, I'm fine with a gameplay change

This player seems to be a Grey Warden, and the gameplay sequence was set at the Grey Warden fortress of Weisshaupt. (Weisshaupt is in the Anderfels, but it's pretty close to borders with Tevinter). I would guess that playtesters would likely be given an earlier part of the game, so this might be the opening quest. (have seen some speculation that we might be able to choose our start like in Origins, but that seems baseless speculation at the moment)

This build of the game seems to be at least a few months old so it's certainly further along, but I'm definitely not expecting to see Dreadwolf this year. Also, the graphics are clearly not finished. Don't base any judgements about that from this

I think I had some other points but I'm blanking. Feel free to offer any other observations or insights.

[destinysbounty]

Due to all the leaks that Jay has lost his memories, from this point onward I will be referring to Zane, Nya, and Jay as the Amnesia Trio. Thank you for understanding.

[jaykingingram]

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but it’s just a sad wolf who is dreading having to make a phone call or get groceries.

[felassan]

let's talk a lil bit about the new Thedas Calls teaser and the new blog post, in relation to revisiting the DA:D leaks from around 10 months ago (potential DA:D spoiler warning for those last 2 links, as well as for under the cut below):

(I won't be posting the images and gif themselves from that leak here, not directly. here and here are some previous posts of mine talking/speculating about those leaks so that I don't repeat myself too much. and here is my DA:D spoiler tag in general in case it's of interest to anyone to browse or anyone wishes to blacklist it. also, the usual set of disclaimers that accompany all leaks applies - might not be real, unable to verify, games change a fair bit between development phases and final release, take with grain of salt etc).

okay, so really in this post I am just looking to tie the new teaser&blog info with that leak.

the new teaser indicates Weisshaupt as a location we'll be visiting in DA:D, seeming to confirm the leak, which shows the possible Player Character, Rook, and their companions including Davrin fighting through Weisshaupt ("Weisshaupt" can be seen in the top right text).

the new teaser implies something bad has happened to Weisshaupt (see bottom paragraph in that post) and when the 'Speaker 2' Warden character speaks their line, we hear the roar of battle, a battle cry, the clang of weapons etc. I wrote elsewhere that Speaker 2 (who insists that Wardens don't hide in their castle, they fight)

sounds like a hardened fighter, a seasoned commander. he is speaking when he’s about to be attacked, or in a pause in battle

and in the leak, text shows that Rook has the objective "Defeat the darkspawn", and shows them fighting through Weisshaupt in combat with darkspawn. this is not the worst of it however - per the dialogue there's "worse than darkspawn on the way", and the walls won't hold it back. we see Rook fighting what looks like those red lyrium-affected darkspawn creatures. Could the thing that is worse and on the way be the cause of the "tremors in the Anderfels" described in the blog post, or one of the "risen gods" mentioned in the teaser? I feel like if you squint, in some of the images from the leak, there looks to be the silhouette of a great beast in the background, maybe a dragon.

this location in the leak, also noted as Weisshaupt, looks to be this location from the teaser, just from a different angle/position on that 'level'. it has the same night-time, lighting, dark atmosphere, rocky cliffs, cloudyness, ruined buildings/structures, ominous feel, vaguely green tint etc.

the blue dome in that location also seems to show up as an asset in the Rivain segment of the teaser.

apart from the red lyrium darkspawn, the red lighting here in the leak (and potentially the reference to "Spawn Boils"), as well as the ominous spreading tendrils in the leak images in general, bring to mind the red lyrium-esque glow in part of this shot from the teaser.

the leak describes Rook as a "Level [x] Grey Warden" - interesting considering the prominence of Grey Wardens as a highlighted faction, locale (via Anderfels and their HQ), 'Warden Speaker' in the teaser and all. (remembering also the speculation that Warden is a potential background of some kind for the PC)

I also wonder if the big door with griffons on it in the leak is what looks to me like a door/gateway covered by the suggestion of red lyrium in the teaser. I feel like if you squint you can just about make out the pattern of the engraved griffons' wings on it, or those rayed lines from the bottom half of the door. (or is this just me seeing things hh?) in the leak the characters are trying to hold the door shut and there's no red lyrium on it. I guess they fail and it becomes tainted by red lyrium and destroyed/grown over or something, or the dragon etc that I presume they're trying to keep out, does end up busting through, with the walls around it becoming destroyed too. (easily done by a dragon, magic, red lyrium or stuff magic-warping bc of Fade shenanigans etc)

According to sources that spoke to Tom Henderson's Insider Gaming, "It’s understood that you’ll be able to move from your hub to missions by passing through a mirrored portal." I know the games have always had Fast Travel all over Ferelden as in DA:O or all over Ferelden and Orlais as in DA:I etc. and it's a game, so you don't really need an explanation for jumping around travel-wise due to gameplay-story segregation. the mirrored portal obviously sounds like an eluvian though and to tie this to the new teaser, with so many different locales shown across vast swathes of northern Thedas - Anderfels, Tevinter, Antiva and Rivain at least - I have to wonder again if the PC and their companions are travelling around these many different countries and across such distances via eluvians. I wrote elsewhere,

moving from a hub to missions through eluvians was exactly what we did in Trespasser from the Winter Palace, and it worked really well. Trespasser’s setup was really enjoyable. it was a fun mechanic that helped explain fast travel and apparent teleportation. it also allowed for travelling to places all over, from the Deep Roads to ancient elven ruins to places in-between the waking world and the Fade - a variety of handcrafted places to explore still but with a tighter storyline threading through them, as opposed to open-world that felt like it was probably mandatory to include during development because of other games on the market like Skyrim and AC, but which then struggled to be filled with meaningful content to fill the space and in which that struggle was apparent. I’d be down for that. I’m just daydreaming and speculating wildly now for real (bc it’s fun) but we could travel all over Thedas that way. We did that in [previous DA games] I know but you know what I mean?

at the very least from the new teaser we now know we're travelling to at least 4 different nations in DA:D. :>

Some leak-text on Reddit also accompanied the gif and screenshots from the leak. it again mentioned the darkspawn attacking Weisshaupt. as I wrote at the time, this "explains why Weisshaupt looks wrecked", now it seems like we are also seeing this in the new teaser (wrecked Weisshaupt). it seemed to confirm the influence of red lyrium also, mentioning that some of the enemy darkspawn "have red lyrium attacks", and confirmed the attacking dragon. I wrote at the time

The dragon is also Concerning.. like. Darkspawn attacking, with a dragon involved. That sounds like a Blight and an Archdemon. Is this the Sixth Blight? is it a Red Lyrium Blight? I'm reminded of this concept art. also HELLO?

not sure about a 'red lyrium Blight' / 'sixth Blight' exactly per se, but what it reminds me of again is the Anderfels blurb from the new blog,

ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴀʀ ᴡᴇꜱᴛ, ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ɢʀᴇʏ ᴡᴀʀᴅᴇɴꜱ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴏʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɴᴅᴇʀꜰᴇʟꜱ. ᴛʀᴇᴍᴏʀꜱ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴅɪꜱᴛᴜʀʙᴀɴᴄᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ʟᴀᴛᴇ. ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪꜱ ᴜɴᴋɴᴏᴡɴ. ᴜᴘᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪꜱᴛᴀɴᴛ ʜᴏʀɪᴢᴏɴ, ᴀ ꜱᴛᴏʀᴍ ᴏꜰ ᴏᴍɪɴᴏᴜꜱ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ʙʀᴇᴡꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀʀᴋᴇɴꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴋɪᴇꜱ.

as in, the contents of the leaks sure sounds like this 'storm of ominous intent that darkened the Anderfels skies' has now struck, and hit Weisshaupt.

In the leak it was noted that

"The objective is to fight through the Darkspawn to get to the library, but as you are doing so there is also a big ass dragon attacking from above. And the dragon creates occasional environmental and traversal hazards. It ends once you reach the library, close the gates, "and then come face to face with the dragon. It appears you are then supposed to try and chain the dragon up, but it ends before the player completes that."

(I said of this, "I guess the big lever we see has something to do with trying to chain the dragon up.") I feel like here in the new teaser we can see some hints of occasional environmental and traversal hazards, like lightning strikes (some dragons have lightning / electricity abilities right? like Vinsomer from the DA:D codex they shared with us), broken bridges and different places where we might have to jump to, hang from, or climb onto etc (and the leak had also mentioned that jumping returns). I also feel like, perhaps the ring-things in that shot from the new teaser have something to do with the chain-system mentioned in the leak, where it seems that you're supposed to then try and chain the dragon up. the leak also said that

"Basically, buildings and whatnot are all modeled and textured but the skybox itself is very dark and makes it seem as though the entire fortress is underground, although it is clearly not. I suspect the skybox could contain some giant world event, similar to the Breach, they hadn't finished."

given that in the new teaser Weisshaupt still looks dark, it seems like this was intentional? and likely due to the attack on the fortress and whatever giant world event may be appearing in the sky[box] that was theorized to being something similar to the Breach (and in that concept art of Weisshaupt).

[anneapocalypse]

"So there was a controversy that caught me a bit by surprise. When the leak occurred that we were doing qunari as a playable race, there was an immediate backlash because the assumption was that we would only have male qunari. This was never the intention, but because the news was coming out through a leak, it was missing necessary context about the fact that we were doing male and female qunari. So we actually had to get ahead of this, or try to regain control of this narrative at PAX, because the narrative out there was that we were going to put out a game with male-only qunari, which was never the case. So one thing I would say is if you're getting news through leaks, chances are that you're going to be missing a piece of context. Sometimes that's going to mean that you're misinterpreting the news that you're hearing."

--Mark Darrah, Dragon Age: Inquisition - PAX 2013 (Mark Darrah Reacts)

[lethalhoopla]

The new trailer has injected hype straight into my veins (rip everyone who is tired of Varric narrating trailers feat. Solas, but I'm a sucker for both) and the art is just gorgeous as always so I took screencaps - figured I'd share in case anyone else wanted them!

[kaltacore]

seeing DA:D leaks feels so surreal. i've already got used to the thought that dreadwolf is just goncharov for gamers. someone made up new dragon age game and tricked us into believing that it's still in development and will launch one day

[biancadavri]

cadash: what do you mean spared that's the exact opposite of what i've hired you to do

da:d dwarven protagonist: it's just that he's really not that bad once you get to know him :) maybe all you guys need is a good talk

cadash: he tore off my fucking arm?

solas (in this scenario he's wearing heart-shaped sunglasses, that one Precise Dwarf Bravery t-shirt and sipping a fruity drink through a silly straw): oh my god here you go making everything about you again

[thorinoakenbutt]

It's really interesting to me that they've changed the wording around the DAD protagonist from hero to leader. It could be as simple as wanting to diversify things, like

DAO = Hero

DA2 = Champion

DAI = Inquisitor

DAD = Leader?

Though I'll be curious how we get there, especially with the theory that (this implies the Rook from the leak is the PC) Rook is a multifaceted name. The chess piece, the corvid, a shortened form of 'rookie'.

Varric said in one of the previous teasers that they need someone Solas doesn't know and will never see coming, so I wonder if "Rook" is going to be a total nobody at first. A rookie in that we might not be tied to any organization at first, because by DAD, Solas would be familiar with all of them. Granted it'd be just as easy to be a rookie of any of the teased groups that will be important.

With the Crows, you could be a (relatively) new recruit with very few jobs under your belt. With the Wardens, it's possible we could be put into a Thom Rainier/Blackwall situation. Or a brand new Lord of Fortune with designs to become a famous treasure hunter.

[miyku]

[slecnaztemnot]

hi!! just reading through your dragon age leaks compilation (bless you btw), you mention "Companion 3 might be black elf who appeared in some concept art." -- can you point me toward the concept art by chance?? I've been trying to track it down but I'm striking out

Hi,

the concept art was in one of the "making of" videos produced by Bioware.

Here is the link:

I also compiled the most important pics here in my speculation about the companion line-up:

The black elf is the one who appears in several concept arts and has been mentioned by 2 different (?) alleged leakers. In the Behind the scenes video, there is a black voice actor called Ike Amadi, who is voicing character named "Darvin".

At this point I am pretty sure he is our companion. I think he will be a warrior, though mage is also possible. Most likely Grey Warden, since in the video, the character shouts "For the Wardens!"

Hope this helped!

[homiest88]

Me reacting to the Dragon Age and Mass Effect 4chan leaks I am just straight laughing. Even though I post about Baldur’s Gate 3 a lot I am a huge fan of Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The leaks has a bad summary on what Dreadwolf is. Q2 2025 release date which I don’t think it’s happening because of GTA VI releasing possibly in Q2 2025 and Bioware and EA doesn’t want to compete with GTA VI. And the biggest reason why it’s fake is because the leak states that the gameplay of Dreadwolf is similar to Inquisition even though previous accurate leaks states that Dreadwolf’s gameplay is similar to God of War 2018. Also the big one is the playtester claims they are a Bioware Ambassador but a Bioware Ambassador manages the Bioware store not playtest. So yeah this Bioware 4chan leak is laughably bad and fake.

[felassan]

What are your thoughts on these 4chan “leaks”? Personally I don’t believe them as the ME4 leaks have already been debunked by their project director, DA Reorigins picture uses a fan art model of Morrigan, Bioware Ambassadors are for the Gear store only and it’s just highly unlikely for a game tester to know this much information when they let go of all the game testers back in August 2023! Not to mention all the Dreadwolf plot leaks are taken from previously released concept art, theories we’ve all had for years and the leak we had of gameplay last February!

hello! ◕‿◕ I saw the 'leaks' yesterday. not real 😅😅

[residentevil2remake]

I HATE MODERN UI  I HATE MODERN UI I HATE MODERN UI I HATE MODERN UI I HATE MODERN UI I HATE MODERN UI I HATE MODERN UI

[halsiin]

imagine complaining about the UI of a game that's still in alpha.... couldn't be me