Summary
I’m a little worried aboutDragon Age: Dreadwolf. I worry that it’ll get delayed again. I worry thatBioWaremay suffer the same fate asBethesdadid withStarfieldand not update its systems enough in a world whereBaldur’s Gate 3now exemplifies RPGs. I worry that I won’t finish Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game I inexplicably keep bouncing off, before Dreadwolf releases. But, most of all, I worry that the game will be crushed under the weight of our collective expectation.
I call this Cyberpunk Syndrome.Cyberpunk 2077, which CD Projekt Red released in such a broken state that it was delisted on the PlayStation store as the developer wasforced to issue countless refunds, has become synonymous with promising too much and delivering too little. CDPR clawed back its reputation with bug fixes and substantial updates, but it was an awful start.
However, Cyberpunk Syndrome doesn’t refer to that. Even if Cyberpunk 2077 had been released in a polished state, it wouldn’t have lived up to the expectations that fans had built up over its decade of production. The RPG mechanics were light and ineffective,Night City was a facade, and you couldn’t really roleplay due to the constraints that were forced upon V’s story. It would have been a cool railroaded action game, but that’s not what we were sold.
I worry that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will follow a similar pattern. Fans have been waiting for this game for years, and they’re ravenous for it. We’ve also been spoiled with great RPGs in recent years, and comparisons to Baldur’s Gate 3 are inevitable – especially as BioWare laid Baldur’s Gate’s foundations with the first two entries in the series.
Cyberpunk’s marketing was directly responsible for the expectations placed upon it, and that’s in Dreadwolf’s favour. Cyberpunk advertised all manner of genre-defining mechanics and game-changing elements which never materialised. In BioWare’s case, the expectations are purely due to the precedent set by previous games. Dragon Age fans are eager for the next instalment of the story, to see their favourite characters return, and to port their old heroes into a new world.
I still remember getting a letter frommyHero of Ferelden in Dragon Age 2.
BioWare has barely marketed Dreadwolf so far. It’s a triple-A game due to release this year and we’ve seen nothing but a shadowy CGI trailer. We only know a smidgen more about Dreadwolf than we do aboutThe Elder Scrolls 6, and the latter is still years away from release. This is helpful in managing expectations, but is it enough?
Dragon Age is unique in how it weaves a narrative between its games while taking into account player decisions along the way. This will naturally get more difficult the longer it goes on, and the more decisions it has to take into account. But fans are engrossed in this interactive narrative, and it naturally sets their expectations high for the future.
Of course, expectations can be good. Elden Ring had a similar hype cycle to Cyberpunk 2077 – albeit without the developers hyping it up at every turn – and exceeded expectations to become an all-time classic. Could Dragon Age: Dreadwolf hit the same heights?
“Comparisons to Baldur’s Gate 3 are inevitable – especially as BioWare laid Baldur’s Gate’s foundations with the first two entries in the series.”
I fear it cannot. Dreadwolf is known to have already been internally delayed multiple times, which we all know leads to more crunch for the developers working on it. Crunch does not give you hope for great results. I’ll say it again: I’m worried about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. I’m worried for the developers working on it. I’m worried for their working conditions. I’m worried that they’ll have to continue to crunch long after release to get the game shipshape.
Maybe these worries are unfounded. I dearly hope so. But I hope that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf doesn’t suffer from Cyberpunk Syndrome on release, and I hope that fans set their expectations at a reasonable level. If we collectively manage our expectations, we give Dreadwolf the best chance of success.
