Dragon Age Creator Explains Why Remasters Like Mass Effect Legendary Edition Are Unlikely

The technical side of Dragon Age games is very complex.

The sci-fi trilogy was successfully brought back in the form of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Since then, BioWare fans have been calling for a similar release of remasters for another franchise – Dragon Age.

However, as explained by franchise creator Mark Darrah, such a release is unlikely. The reason is not the studio's desire, but the technical features of these games.

During a conversation with FRVR, Darrah said that when he was still working at BioWare, the developers wanted to release a “Champion’s Edition” of three games – Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. The idea was to combine them and retroactively present them as a single trilogy.

The problem was that, unlike Mass Effect, the Dragon Age trilogy did not run on a single engine. Dragon Age: Origins is based on the studio's proprietary Eclipse Engine, the second part – Lycium Engine (an improved version of Eclipse Engine), and Dragon Age: Inquisition uses Frostbite.

Mark Darrah explained that now at BioWare, “there’s practically no one left who understands the Aurora engine.” Outside the studio, there are also almost no specialists who understand this engine: “So, unlike Mass Effect, which uses Unreal Engine, there are practically no companies that could help you [with Dragon Age remasters].”

In addition to technical problems, there is also an organizational aspect. According to Darrah, creating a Dragon Age remaster trilogy would require a completely new team that would not be able to participate in the development of other BioWare games. However, he doubts that Electronic Arts would expand its staff for remasters, as “EA doesn’t like to hire employees.”