Dragon Age: Inquisition Review

Inquisition is BioWare at its most ambitious and its most padded, often within the same hour. When it works it is the studio's best writing in years: Dorian, Iron Bull and Solas are companions with actual arguments rather than approval meters, the Winter Palace intrigue mission is a highlight of the entire genre, and the war table gives your decisions a political scale the series never had. Frostbite made it beautiful, and the Emerald Graves and Emprise du Lion rank among the prettiest environments of that generation.

The cost is visible everywhere else. The Hinterlands open with a hundred shards, herbs and rift closures that teach exactly the wrong lesson about where to spend your time, and a great many players simply stopped there and never came back. Combat splits the difference between tactical pausing and real time action and satisfies neither camp. Push past the checklist, though, and a genuinely great role-playing game is waiting, with a final act that recontextualizes the whole series.