“If we’re excited about remastering games from the very beginning,” David Gaider, lead writer on all three Dragon Age games, reflected on twitter (opens in new tab)“what about Dragon Age Origins? Its graphics were lagging behind even at the time of release… can you imagine with the new bells and whistles of the PS5 era? 🥳”
We’ll pardon the PS5 mention for treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves. After 2008’s well-received Dead Space remake, and with remakes of 2003’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, 2005’s Resident Evil 4, and 2007’s first Witcher game on the way, it sure feels like the period. While Gaider hinted at a remaster rather than a remake, there’s a fine line between the two, as another former BioWare employee, Mark Darrah, explained. (opens in new tab).
Dragon Age: Origins would be a good candidate for both. While the 2009 RPG runs on modern PCs, it’s not without its problems, and a version where the text isn’t too small to read at high resolutions would be a boon. It could also benefit from many quality of life improvements, such as a button to hide party members’ helmets and an option to have the dog as a companion without having to leave someone behind to do so.
Of course, improved graphics would be nice too, even if they didn’t opt ​​for fully ray-traced shadows as you sit around the campfire, taking turns asking everyone inappropriate personal questions. “Even Inquisition-level graphics would be great!” Gaider said. “Look, all I want is for Morrigan not to have the shoulders of a linebacker and for the sex scenes not to feel like someone hitting puppets and yelling ‘Now kiss!'”
Since this conversation took place on Twitter, Gaider was immediately informed that it’s OK for women to have shoulders as linebackers, so he provided the following clarification: “All the female models on the DAO used the men’s animation equipment. I thought this looked especially odd on Morrigan, whose unique model had a very slender frame and was altered (mostly at the shoulders) to match. I can’t ignore the change. No further implications intended. 😅
“Morrigan still looked great on DAO? , guys.”
And, yes, someone responded to speculate about the brood – a huge naked ghoul that gives birth to Darkspawn found in Origins’ Dead Trenches – and how it would look with the 2023 graphics. “Just think: extra-realistic slimy nipple textures” , said Gaider in response.
Given that EA published a remastered version of the Mass Effect trilogy in 2021, the idea of ​​giving the first Dragon Age games a similar treatment has been floated before. Gaider himself previously discussed his ideas for a Dragon Age 2 Snyder Cut. However, it’s not likely that a Dragon Age remaster will actually happen. As Gaider puts it, “I suspect EA would only do this if they thought it would sell like hotcakes* gold-plated”. .”
BioWare’s Dragon Age team is currently busy with Dreadwolf, though the most recent developer blog doesn’t tell us much about that in favor of explaining its thinking on the skill tree design. Having left BioWare in 2016, David Gaider is working on Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, due for release in 2023.
If you’re planning a Dragon Age replay, you should probably just remaster it, choosing from this selection of the best Dragon Age: Origins mods.