Wait…Dragon Age: Inquisition Has Multiplayer?

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Not that I plan to play — I tend to avoid most things multiplayer, Ultima Forever and a short stint in SWTOR excepted. Still, kudos to BioWare for keeping the multiplayer features of Dragon Age: Inquisition a secret until now:

BioWare wants multiplayer to work in short 20-30 minute bursts. Each of the three multiplayer campaigns available at launch randomly generates a large level comprised of smaller sections. you’ll fight through five of 10 pre-designed areas in one go, each with distinct variables. Next time, you may see the same stage in a new spot, or an entirely different collection of arenas entirely, all with different enemy encounters, ideally making multiplayer missions replayable indefinitely.

Missions have a loose connection to the campaign, but the signature BioWare storytelling is reserved for single-player. “The campaign is a story about you, and your growth, and your Inquisition,” Creative Director Mike Laidlaw said, so there’s little room for dialogue wheels in a group setting.

Multiplayer runs sort of parallel to the Inquisitor’s story — you’re working for the Inquisitor, running behind-the-scenes Operations with a squad. “One of the things that came out of early explorations is that we wanted the multiplayer characters to be characters,” Laidlaw said. BioWare didn’t want templatized, boring heroes lacking personalities. “They’re kind of like mini followers, and they banter among themselves.”

Yeah, kudos. There wasn’t a peep about this at all…not since January, at which time BioWare expressed indecision about including a multiplayer component in the game.