Fans of the Mass Effect series may want to grab a copy of Dragon Age: Inquisition when the game is released in the fall of 2014, as it seems that Bioware, the developer of both games, will be borrowing many different elements of the third Dragon Age game to make Mass Effect 4.
This news comes from a series of tweets from Yannick Roy, Bioware's studio director. He first tweeted an image of a very thick binder, representing the Design Document for Mass Effect 4. When a fan commented that, based on the thickness of the binder, the game looked years away, Roy responded with:
"Don't worry: we have a large and talented team, we started a while ago, and we are "borrowing" a lot of game systems from (Dragon Age 3)."
This is rather interesting news, as Bioware must really have faith in these game systems in Dragon Age: Inquisition if they are using them to speed up production on Mass Effect 4. As part of one the most critically acclaimed series of the current generation of consoles, Mass Effect 4 has a lot of pressure to deliver a solid experience, despite the upheavals the series has triggered. The game will be appearing on the next generation of consoles, and will not see the return of Commander Shepard, whose story was wrapped up in Mass Effect 3.
Not much is known about the third Dragon Age game as well, as the game was delayed a full year from its original release date. How this will effect Mass Effect 4's development remains to be seen, but the team creating Dragon Age 3 may feel additional pressure into getting their game systems right, so that Mass Effect 4 can move more smoothly through the development cycle. Look out for more Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition news as the games get closer to their release windows.