Bioware has been “thinking a lot about Dragon Age – what it means, and where it could go,” says Dragon Age II executive producer Mark Darrah, and the company's moving onto the future of the franchise. On the occasion of DAII's one-year anniversary, the Bioware exec made a forum post to let fans know the franchise is moving forward, putting aside a mooted DLC continuation for sequel hero Hawke.
“While we will still be keeping an eye out for any issues that might crop up in DAII and supporting the community,” says Darrah, “we’re moving the entire team’s focus to the next phase of Dragon Age’s future.” Over DAII's year in the spotlight, Darrah says his team have been “both going back to the 'BioWare vault' of games and re-examining them, and looking at some new possibilities that today’s industry allows.”
To that end, the saga of Dragon Age II's Hawke may yet see conclusion, “but likely not in a playable form,” says Darrah: “Originally we had planned to do an expansion pack but had to stop to focus on what we are working on now.” That means last October's DLC, which we detailed in our Dragon Age II: Mark of the Assassin review, is most likely the game's final playable chapter.
The producer clarified that the canned expansion pack was conceived well after Dragon Age II's release, and that its cancellation won't leave fans hanging: “Hawke's actions in DA2 have changed the world. This will have an impact.” Translation: Dragon Age has plenty of places to take fans yet, so there's no need to overreact. This isn't Mass Effect 3, after all.
Take a look at this Dragon Age 2 romance guide if you want to know which characters can and can't be romanced.
