Sprawling hills, green pastures, flowing rivers, lots of demons – The Hinterlands of Ferelden are a lovely place. Not that other regions of Thedas are better off. Rifts that link the physical world to the demonic Fade have appeared across the land, allowing hideous monsters to pour through and terrorize as they please. To make matters worse, mages and templars cut each other down at every turn, leaving plenty of collateral damage in their wake. Now, as the leader of the newly-formed Inquisition, it’s up to you and your band of heroes to strengthen your cause through politics and battle and put an end to all the chaos. You’ll need a sharp tongue and a sharper blade if you’re to succeed – thankfully, Dragon Age: Inquisition, a massive RPG by the developers at BioWare, gives you all the tools you’ll need to restore order.
We recently got a hands-on look at the PC version of Dragon Age: Inquisition to get a sense of everything it has to offer. And because BioWare is a developer whose roots are in PC gaming, you can bet this version of Inquisition is the real deal. It's fine-tuned for excellent mouse and keyboard play; it's got dozens of visual and interface options to tweak; and, of course, it's got 4K resolution andAMD Mantle support for the hardcore rig-building crowd. In fact, we’ve teamed up with BioWare to reveal the very first screenshots of the PC version, along with its HUD and system requirements, all of which you’ll find below. But first, let's talk about how the game plays on PC.
Our strategy went off without a hitch. Almost. The enemy spellcaster was hitting hard, so we had to lock it down if we were to prevail. Thankfully our mage and two-handed warrior each had a stun ability. With a few strategic pauses and action commands (plus plenty of potion chugging), we successfully took out the threat. Of course, strategic RPG combat is but a fraction of what Inquisition has to offer. There are massive regions to explore. There are tons of characters to meet and companions to befriend. And there are tough, world-altering decisions to be made. All in a day's work for the Inquisitor.
Recommended:
OS: Windows 7 or 8.1 64-bit
CPU: AMD six core CPU @ 3.2 GHz, Intel quad core CPU @ 3.0 GHz
System RAM: 8 GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7870 or R9 270, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
Graphics Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 26 GB
DirectX 11
Or, if you're playing on a slightly older setup, here are the minimum system requirements:
Minimum:
OS: Windows 7 or 8.1 64-bit
CPU: AMD quad core CPU @ 2.5 GHz, Intel quad core CPU @ 2.0 GHz
System RAM: 4 GB
Graphics CARD: AMD Radeon HD 4870, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Graphics Memory: 512 MB
Hard Drive: 26 GB
DirectX 10
The PC version of Inquisition gives you complete control over the look and feel of the game – a true testament to BioWare's love for PC gaming. In fact, the developers are so passionate about it that they agreed to let us come up to their studio and talk to them about their legacy, heritage and commitment to making sure the PC version is one that’ll make you weak in the knees.
Good stuff, yeah? Dragon Age: Inquisition launches on November 18. We know, we know, that feels like an eternity from now. But don't sweat it! In the meantime, check out (or replay) Dragon Age: Origins, our latest On the House offer. You can download and own it right now for free! Playing through Origins is not at all necessary for understanding the events of Inquisition, but it's a great experience that will provide additional context to the world and its rich history.
During our time in The Hinterlands, we had a nasty run-in with some demons of the Fade. Using the WASD keys for movement, we charged our maul-wielding warrior into the fray, activated one of his abilities via the sleek PC action bar and smashed an enemy square in the face, incapacitating it for a short time. Unfortunately our rogue, a ranged character with a crossbow, was himself the target of some stab-happy monsters. So we quickly switched control over to our tank by clicking on her portrait, and commanded her to taunt the nearby enemies. All was going well – until our party got annihilated by the spellcaster demon, who wiped us from afar with a giant beam of magic. Ouch.
Round Two. This time, we knew we had to focus the caster demon and prevent it from destroying the whole party. As soon as it spawned we switched to the Tactical View by scrolling back on the mouse wheel. With a top-down perspective of the battlefield, we paused the game to plan the attack and strategize on a deeper level. Our rogue dealt bonus damage as long as he was at a higher elevation than his target, so we commanded him to move to a nearby hill. We set our tank to taunt the mage to draw its attention, freeing up our caster and warrior to dish out some damage. After our plan was set in motion, we resumed the action.
But now it's time for the real question: does your gaming rig have the (literal) guts to command the Inquisition? If you're looking to crank the settings up a bit, here are the recommended system specs:
And don't forget to pre-order the Digital Deluxe Edition of Dragon Age: Inquisition for some awesome bonus weapons, armor and mounts that'll make your Inquisitor rule with an iron fist (while riding a Bog Unicorn, naturally). We'll see you in Thedas.
The gameplay seems cool and I love how crisp and clean everything looks ecspecially the character portraits. Whats yout take on the HUD and everything else in general.
I predict that the Wii U will sell a total of 18 million units in its lifetime.
The NX will be a 900p machine
