Dragon Age: Inquisition Box Art Revealed

[Andy Chalk]

Dragon Age: Inquisition Box Art Revealed

And lo, the Inquisitor raised his arm to the Heavens as he spoke unto his massed followers, "Hey, check out this swanky cover art!"

It may not seem terribly relevant to digital devotees but for box enthusiasts like myself, a game's cover art is an essential part of the whole package. Good cover art will draw your eye and generate interest and intrigue; bad cover art can make your game look stupid while it's still sitting on the shelf.

And what do we think of the Dragon Age: Inquisition box art? It's pretty enough and clever in a way, but kind of boring too, isn't it? That's entirely my humble opinion, obviously, but there's nothing about the "bad guy makes lone stand against the massed forces of evil" motif that really floats my boat. Feel free to point out that I didn't care for Dragon Age: Origins and thus may well be biased against the whole thing, but even discounting that, as much as a biased observer is able to do so, it really doesn't ring my bell.

Here, take a closer look:

[gallery=2376]

But enough about me - what do you think? Is this a quality cover that charges you up for more Dragon Age, or is the whole concept of box art just a silly anachronism?

Dragon Age: Inquisition is being developed for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC, and is expected to come out this fall.


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[otakon17]

Hmmm, I LIKE it. It's certainly a bit more thematic than DA II was(with it's almost stereotyped "Grizzled male lead walking towards the viewer"). It harkens back more to the first games title art with the stenciled outline made from something else.

 

[Barbas]

Well, the design doesn't do anything new for me, but I like the colors and shades. The background looks a little dull, though - a few figures of the key characters wouldn't have gone amiss here, I feel.

EDIT: It's taken me a while to notice the dragon...my skills appear to be slipping. It's a very nice touch. I wonder what the significance of the diamond inside the O is?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Well, I like one thing about it now. It's a really nice looking box art.

 

[Tactical Pause]

I like it. It isn't too cluttered, the perspective leaves the character's gender ambiguous, and green is honestly not a color I see enough of in box art these days (even if it is only a little).

 

[BrotherRool]

I think this is really good stuff compared to most box arts. I guess it might be a bit washed out, but the art is gorgeous and I love the composition.

Compared to any of the Mass Effect covers this is friggin' Da Vinci

EDIT:

the perspective leaves the character's gender ambiguous

This is really nice too. I hadn't even thought about that, but yeah definitely worth a thumbs up

 

[Ferisar]

Gonna parrot everyone else, that's pretty box art if I ever saw some box art. Certainly a break from Bioware's typical "here's some dude looking at you all stoic-like with his best buds right behind him. Mhm, yes sir."

Also ties into the story of the game with the whole demunz and green rifts and dragons and the chosen o-- GOD DAMN IT

FUCK.

I mean, yeah, good.

(I'm actually excited for it on top of that though. Seems like a genuine effort this time around)

EDIT: It's taken me a while to notice the dragon...my skills appear to be slipping. It's a very nice touch. I wonder what the significance of the diamond inside the O is?

"Sir, this O seems unmolested"
"Stick a diamond into it"
"B-but can't we occupy the negative space with something meaning--"
"Does 'meaningful' look like a studded diamond?"
"Um-"
"The right answer is, 'yes'"

You're just lucky the Q got away from the bedazzlement.

 

[ecoho]

looks pretty good to me, but then again its still early so itll probably change. Now lets see how long it takes for someone to make this all about bitching about how bioware ruins everything......

 

[oldtaku]

Looks pretty good, if generic (there is nothing about that cover that would make you think Inquisition). Heck, it could easily be a heavy metal album cover. It SHOULD be a heavy metal album cover.

The only complaint I have is how much more prominent the EA logo is than the Bioware logo. Like that EA logo is going to make you any sales.

 

[schrodinger]

I'm liking the 'hidden' dragon, keeping consistency between the previous boxart. It ranks higher than DA2, but below DAO's simple yet interesting boxart.
Getting excited with the game, and hopefully this doesn't end with hype suicide unlike a certain other game...

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Cover art isnt an issue for me when buying a game then again i do just sell games when im done with them. Anyway, the art is generic and passable for what it is.

 

[Grimh]

It's some nice piece of art and I like that it doesn't shove [PREMADE ADVERTISEMENT CANON MAIN CHARACTER] in there just standing around looking of in the distance like one series I could mention, it's even pretty much gender neutral which is cool.

But yeah not a big fan of the "stand against Dark Evil Army of Darkness" thing seemingly being in focus.
Well, at least it's not just another Blight.

 

[Genocidicles]

At least it isn't another stubbly guy with brown hair pointing a sword/gun at you.

 

[Legion]

The design itself is pretty cool, and it certainly better than Dragon Age 2's. Like many people I feel that the broody looking hero staring at the camera is overdone (and for games with character creation, rather annoying).

I cannot help but notice the orange and blue colour scheme though. I am not sure what market research has led publishers to like this so much, but once people have brought your attention to it, it stands out in a bad way.

I can safely say that it influences my decision on whether or not to buy the game in no shape or form.

 

[Eruanno]

On the downside, it's a little boring. On the upside, it's not a grizzly-looking action hero posing his giant muscles for the camera. I dunno, it's somewhere in between for me.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Nice artwork and it will definitely stand out on the store shelves. Is it a totally amazing and unique piece of art? Not really but I think it does what it's trying to do. If I had any complaint at all, it would be about the font used for Inquisition. I don't know what it is exactly, but something about that font just doesn't look right compared to the rest of the image.

 

[-Dragmire-]

It's... alright. Seems kinda flat to me with the character dead center, splitting the image. I guess moving the character to the side a bit and changing the shot angle would ruin the misty dragon thing they have going on.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's pretty enough and clever in a way, but kind of boring too, isn't it?

Name one Triple-A box cover that isn't.

These things are generally designed to look as non-confrontational as possible for the target audience. And the "meriad of stuff shaped like icon" is the hot design choice of the last 5 years, so it's really not that clever.