Dragon Age 4 now officially titled Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

By Jesse Lennox Published June 2, 2022

Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image

This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

BioWare confirmed in a new blog post that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is the title for the long-awaited next entry in the Dragon Age series. The post also shows off a new logo for the game and confirms that while Dreadwolf will not be released in 2022, EA and BioWare will have more to share on it within the year.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The bulk of the post outlines a few small details as to why BioWare chose the name Dreadwolf. According to the post, the name is in reference to the Dread Wolf Solas, a highly powerful elf from the franchise. While this character will be familiar to fans of the series, the post does claim that newcomers will not have any trouble understanding its importance when starting this new entry.

Originally announced in 2018, the new title should not come as much of a surprise, considering the first reveal came with the hashtag “#TheDreadWolfRises.” Even so, this leaves many questions open about what the game will fully focus on outside of the return of Solas.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has had a notably troubled development. Reports claim it was initially being built as a live service title, only to be reworked into a more traditional RPG-like past entries. The fact that it won’t be coming this year isn’t surprising and lends more credibility to the rumors of it being a current-gen-only title. Hopefully, this name announcement is just the start of frequent updates on this new fantasy adventure, as BioWare has already confirmed we’ll learn more later this year.

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Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…

Gaming

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf doesn’t seem to be coming out this year

Art for a Dragon Age: Dreadwolf short story released for Dragon Age day.

It seemed like the release of the long-awaited BioWare RPG Dragon Age: Dreadwolf could finally happen this year, but the latest financial report from EA suggests that the game won't be out before April 2024.
It has been about eight-and-a-half years since the last game in the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition, was released. This fourth entry in the Dragon Age franchise reportedly had a rocky development before the current, single-player version of the game really got off the ground after the release of Anthem. BioWare first teased this new Dragon Age at The Game Awards 2018 and gave it the subtitle Dreadwolf last June. Despite that, as well as leaks suggesting the gameplay was pretty far along, EA's latest financial results suggest it's not coming out very soon.

A slide in EA's Fiscal Year 2023 fourth-quarter financial results lists the games EA expects to release during fiscal year 2024, which runs from April 1 of this year until March 31, 2024. That list includes upcoming titles like Super Mega Baseball 4, F1 23, Immortals of Aveum, Madden 23, EA Sports FC, NHL 24, an unannounced EA Sports game, and an unannounced racing game, but no Dreadwolf.
Other EA games we know are in development, such as skate., Project Rene, EA Motive's Iron Man game, Respawn Entertainment's other Star Wars games, and the next Mass Effect, are all also excluded. Of course, there's the possibility that EA considers a 2023 release for Dreadwolf a secret, believes its release window is in question, or may have accidentally forgotten to include it, but if EA deliberately excluded it, that means Dreadwolf won't come out before March 31, 2024.
That is certainly disappointing for BioWare fans eagerly awaiting the developer to redeem itself after the disappointing launches of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. Still, players will probably also appreciate it if BioWare takes as long as it needs to make Dragon Age: Dreadwolf the best it can be.

Gaming

Nexon’s Project Magnum now known as The First Descendant

A character aims and shoots a gun in The First Descendant.

Nexon's bombastic Unreal Engine 5 RPG looter shooter just got its official title ahead of an appearance at Gamescom: The First Descendant.
Nexon -- a South Korean video game developer and publisher known for games like MapleStory, KartRider, DNF Duel, and LawBreakers - first revealed this game under the title Project Magnum in September 2021. It looks like a mixture of every major AAA gaming trend. The First Descendant will be a free-to-play, sci-fi, cooperative shooter. Hot off the heels of games like Outriders, The First Descendant is all about mowing down hordes of enemies and giant bosses with friends to unlock new loot to upgrade your character with.
The First Descendant│Official Trailer Teaser Reveal (4K)
Taking notes from hero shooters, players will choose from at least 12 characters, all of whom have unique abilities; meanwhile, each character's grappling hook and the game's fast-paced gunplay also look like they'll keep the action moving. While it isn't the most unique-looking game out there, The First Descendant looks pretty in Unreal Engine 5 and could strike a chord with players if its gameplay is enjoyable and the microtransactions aren't overbearing.
While we got a brief new teaser with this title change confirmation, Nexon also confirmed that it would show a lengthier trailer and reveal even more about The First Descendant at Gamescom 2022. After that, interested players will have a chance to go hands-on with the game before the end of the year. A Steam beta will occur between October 20 and October 26 this year. There's no word on when a console beta will happen, but people can sign-up for the PC beta on the game's Steam page.
Although The First Descendant's beta in October is limited to Steam, the final version of the game will be available across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X at an unspecified later date.

Gaming

The new Skate game is a free-to-play live service title with microtransactions

A player does a trick on a skateboard in skate.

In the premiere episode of EA's new dev diary series The Board Room, we learned that the next game in the Skate series -- simply stylized as skate. -- will be a free-to-play title with microtransactions and a live service title that developer Full Circle will support for the foreseeable future.
The Board Room | skate.
This approach might be a bit worrying for fans who just wanted a more traditional Skate 4, but the developer explains in the video that they really want it to be the only Skate game going forward, which is why they've stylized its title as skate. with a period at the end. Expect it to be a multiplayer-focused live service title that gets frequent updates over time depending on what the developers want to add and what the community requests.
Of course, this free-to-play approach means skate. will have microtransactions. That said, the developers are promising that it won't be pay-to-win as players can't buy in-game advantages, no areas are locked behind a paywall, and there are no loot boxes. They also teased that it's a game that they want to be available everywhere, so players can expect it on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and even mobile devices eventually.
While the business model for skate. was the biggest news from this presentation, a few more specific details about the game were also discussed. We got a look at collaborative zones where players can work together to build skate parks and got confirmation that skate. will have full cross-play when it launches. We also learned the name of the city skate. is set in is called San Vansterdam. It looks like it will be a large playground where players can spend a lot of time skating, grinding, running, and climbing over whatever they come across.
Skate. is currently in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. There is no final release date just yet, but as EA has previously explained, interested players can sign up to playtest the game before its official launch.