Review: The Dragon Age Series

When it comes to games, the idea of gay characters is sadly fairly new. Sure it’s been hinted at before, but there have been few characters that are openly gay. Most of the girl characters in games are put in skimpy outfits and given boobs that would render them useless in any real fight. That is until Bioware came along. Praise be to Bioware and its fair LGBTQ representation in games. Bioware are responsible for the Mass Effect and Star Wars: New Republic series’ and possibly their most well known and popular series: Dragon Age. Their games are often praised for their touching and realistic portrayals of relationships between characters and, what’s even better, is that they include gay characters with story lines that relate to LGBT issues.

The most recent instalment in the series was ‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ which is available on a host of platforms including the ps4. The previous games gave gamers the chance to enter gay relationships with female characters like the religious spy Leliana, promiscuous bisexual Isabela and shy, lovable elf Merill. The new game deals with LGBT themes like parents disowning their children after learning their sexuality, transgender characters facing and prejudices and a psychologically abused, self-hating yet witty lady elf named Sera.

Lady loving options aside, it’s refreshing to see the game actually steers away from objectifying the female characters in a way that’s sadly typical to epic fantasy games that get away with it because it’s meant to represent a medieval time period. The women in The Dragon Age Series are multi-dimensional, strong, imperfect and free from boob-shaped armour. The game itself is open world, with environments from desert wastelands to rich forests and stormy coast lines. Interesting main story lines aside there is a tonne of side quests to complete, from moving romances forward to defeating high dragons. Your choices throughout the game affect characters’ opinion of you (so be careful not to piss your beloved off too much) as well as changing outcomes in the story line itself.

The only thing we are upset over is the fact we still don’t get to romance the brooding Morrigan who captured our hearts in the first game. Bioware have a history of listening to their fans though, so let’s just keep praying the sarcastic, sexy witch can be ours in the next instalment in the series.