Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Leaked Gameplay Spotlights Action Combat

Gameplay and images of what is reportedly Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in action have leaked online, giving fans a glimpse at its more action-focused combat that the leaker in question says is inspired by 2018’s God of War.

In a lengthy Reddit post that originally included various screenshots and 20-minutes of gameplay footage reportedly from an early alpha build (the images and gameplay have since been taken down, but can still be found elsewhere), the leaker said BioWare’s upcoming RPG is using Sony Santa Monica’s God of War reboot as a major reference point.

Combat is all real-time, with various abilities mapped to specific buttons with an interface that will look familiar to those who have played previous Dragon Age entries. Players have a basic attack combo, abilities, and a meter that, when full, can be used for a special attack. There is reportedly no way to control party members directly, but the leaker thinks there will likely be some way for players to issue commands, though such a feature wasn’t in the alpha build.

The footage takes place entirely in the Grey Warden base of Weisshaupt, which is being invaded by Darkspawn and culminates with players facing off against a dragon. The leaker makes special mention of the game’s animations, noting that “we’ve never seen animation quality this good in any BioWare game.”

The leak does line up with some of what we know about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Concept art released by BioWare has previously teased the return of the Grey Wardens, an organization that played a key role in Dragon Age: Origins but whose role was diminished in subsequent entries. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has also been confirmed to take place in the Tevinter Imperium, one of the most powerful countries in the game’s world of Thedas but one that has yet to be explored in-game. Weisshaupt, while not technically in Tevinter, is close to the empire’s border.

A recent report claimed that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is perhaps further away from release than many had anticipated and will likely not arrive in 2023. The leak mentioned above was posted to Reddit in response to that report, with the leaker wanting to give fans an idea of the game’s development progress. The leaker has reportedly had access to this footage for several months, commenting that they were “honestly shocked” when there wasn’t a gameplay reveal trailer for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf at 2022’s The Game Awards. BioWare announced in October 2022 that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf was playable from start to finish in an alpha state.