DA:Inquisition - Review @ GameBanshee

GameBanshee has finally reviewed Dragon Age: Inqusition. The DLC Jaws of Hakkon is included in this review:

Jaws of Hakkon adds a new area to the world of Dragon Age: Inquisition with its own central and lengthy storyline and a number of sidequests and activities. As such, a lot of what can be said about the main game can be repeated for this DLC, and the things that Jaws of Hakkon does differently are what characterize it.

The DLC follows the Inquisitor's hunt for the remains of her preceding Inquisitor in the Frostback Basin, a region controlled by the Avvars, nomadic human tribes with a unique culture and very different beliefs from the Chantry. Storywise, it touches on many of the same themes as the main game. There are ancient histories to uncover, and the past is less convenient than anyone would like.

The relationship between common people and spirits is also explored, and provides what is the most interesting narrative material of what is otherwise a very plain DLC story-wise. There is, at least, a surprising amount of new banter and dialogue, and some of it even acknowledges whether you've finished the game or not, confirming BioWare's knack for small-scale interactions.

Frostback Basin is one of the highlights of the DLC but the first impression isn't good. Visually, it's a disappointment, a well-crafted area that doesn't really do anything that the original areas don't already do. But past first impressions, there's a lot to enjoy. The area makes mindful use of verticality and provides a lot of variety, so much that it could arguably be divided into a number of connected mini-zones.

Jaws of Hakkon also provides a few fairly challenging encounters that buck the players' expectations concerning encounter composition, and some actually good loot that isn't immediately superseded by crafted items. The side quests also feel slightly more interesting than in the main game, by virtue of better framing, stories and variety. I don't want to oversell this: we're still talking about activities that fit in the framework on the main game. Still, it's incredible what a little more dialogue can do, and how much more interesting a quest can be when it's exploring a foreign culture.

Ultimately, I can only recommend this DLC to the real fans of the original game. It offers more of what the game already offered with some slight improvements. For most, Dragon Age: Inquisition is already big as it is.

Concluding Thoughts:

Re-reading this review, I can't help but wonder if I've been too harsh. Dragon Age: Inquisition is a surprisingly relaxing pastime, and there's a lot of it. Played one or two hours a day, it can last for a very, very long time. In many ways, it reminded me of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, another game that left me very little, but was very easy to play for long stretches of time.

But that's not what I think games should strive for, and that's not what BioWare's games strove for in the past. While the developers often fell short of their reputation as master storytellers, they always tried to craft interesting universes and fill them with stories that would resonate with people. I genuinely hope they weren't trying this time, because Inquisition would be a spectacular failure.