A new character, a new land, and a new console combat focus. Dragon Age II will incorporate a lot of "new." But in addition to all this, the RPG follow-up will sport a fresher "visual style" that will set it apart from its predecessor. The first two pieces of oily concept art revealed last week gave us an idea of what to expect. Now we know for sure what it'll look like.
As part of Game Informer's rolling coverage working up to the game's reveal in the magazine proper, the first two images of the game have been made public. Check them out:
== TEASER ==I think I wet my pants when I put my eyeballs on these last night. I'm not much of an art guy, but I know what makes me feel good on the inside, and this kind of oily, yet realistic-looking presentation certainly does. Oddly enough, I think when we start seeing the volcanic plumes of blood and viscera Dragon Age is known for start emerging in future images and videos, we'll actually walk away thinking this style is all the more beautiful for it. Wouldn't crimson go great with this?
A small-ish note about Hawke, the featured character in those shots: Game Informer has since confirmed my suspicions that Hawke will be a voiced character. Like Mass Effect's Shepard, you'll be able to answer questions and otherwise interact as Hawke.
After a bit of thought, I'm thinking this is a good direction. Sure, Hawke won't be "you" like your previous Dragon Age character, but he'll actually be able to meaningfully interact with characters and react to plot reveals. He won't be the shoulder-shrugging silent sociopath that your last character was.