14 DAY TRIAL // Dragon Age: Inquisition is today’s big launch, but all those who are planning to experience the most recent BioWare-made role-playing game should take some time out of their day in order to at least play the first 20 actions of The Last Court, a Dragon Age experience which is offered via the online Keep service.
The story included here, created by Failbetter Games, is told exclusively via text and focuses on the Orlesian Marquis of Serault, who lives on the edge of the Empire and needs to deal with an impending visit from the Divine of the Chantry.
The two companies claim that the experience bridges the gap between Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, but the narrative easily stands on its own and does not contain any significant spoilers for the new release, although some familiar faces do make appearances and interact with the player.
The Last Court gives gamers actions which they can use to draw situations from a pack of cards and they need to then balance the capabilities of their character and the statistics of their marquisate in order to try and push the story forward while obtaining the various items required to impress the Divine.
Dragon Age mixed with Game of Thrones
The concept sounds very simple, but in practice the very well written text and the interesting choices that gamers get to make create a very interesting self-contained story that uses the Dragon Age world but sometimes feels closer in tone to Game of Thrones.
There are plenty of mysteries and political situations to deal with, and over the course of seven days, I found plenty of new situations to deal with, even if some of the cards seem to be popping up a bit too often for my liking.
The game does feature real money transactions for a resource called Dawn, but it is not necessary for progression and I actually believe that it’s easier to enjoy the experience in bursts, with some time to think between major choices.
Even for gamers who do not reach the end of The Last Court, it delivers an interesting look at how Dragon Age can evolve in the future from a narrative standpoint and I would love to see Failbetter Games and BioWare work on similar other episodes.
Take a look at some of the screenshots taken from Dragon Age – The Last Court, showing some of the choices and the quality of the writing.
