Dragon Age Origins-Inspired ‘The Waylanders’ Debuts, Mike Laidlaw at Helm (VIDEO)

Mike Laidlaw is likely best known for the popular Dragon Age series as well as other BioWare properties. It’s been nearly a year since the director left the company, and many have been wondering what he has been up to. Thanks to a recent look at the Dragon Age: Origins-inspired RPG ‘The Waylanders’, we now know what Laidlaw has been working on, and it’s looking rather good.

In a first look from PC Gamer, Laidlaw lends his guiding abilities to what The Waylanders is all about. The upcoming title is being developed by Gato Salvaje, with the Dragon Age directer acting as a creative consultant. The RPG will feature “12 changeable party formations” and will allow players to choose between top-down or third-person view. Plus, the game will have a bit of time travel tossed in, which will let players transport themselves between two points in time.

“The Waylanders takes inspiration from the Celtic Mythological Cycle, a rich tapestry that deals with Ireland but also the Celtic region of Brigantia on the north coast of modern-day Spain,” Laidlaw says in the video below. Not by coincidence, this is also the home to the Gato Salvaje studio.

“The Celtics believe in reincarnation, so what we are doing, we choose the companions in the Celtic period,” Gato Salvaje’s Fernando Prieto said. “Then when our main character travels to the Middle Ages, we will have to look for our companions and wake them up. They will be reincarnated in other people, and we’ll have to wake them up, but as they are in the middle ages.”

“Only the main character will be able to time travel—our companions won’t,” they continued. “[The companions] can be completely different people, though from the moment you wake them up, they’ll remember what they did in the Celtic period. But they could be an important warrior in the Celtic period, then a housekeeper in the Middle Ages. That can be very funny, and very useful for the narrative.”

Players will need to complete quests in both periods of time to advance, with parties changing between the two eras. “You need to solve problems in the Celtic period to advance in missions in the Middle Ages as well,” said Prieto. “You’ll need to be jumping from one period to another. Your companions will be the same, but with different characteristics in both periods.”

Prieto also discussed the the classes that will be available in The Waylanders. There will be six basic classes as well as 30 advanced ones. Talking about formations, Prieto said, “It’s not just a way to form the party to move around the scenario, but we want to give deeper tactical options to the game. So you can use different types of formations in every [instance] of combat, so you have multiple options to finish your mission, faster or not-so-fast.”

“Those tactical options are always available to the players,” he continued. “So you can use formations for different purposes. You can use a phalanx, for example, or an orb, or an arrow formation. We’ll have up to twelve different ones in the game. We will offer very deep tactical gameplay. It will be very easy to change from formations to the normal party, so you can try different options.”

The studio began pre-production on The Waylanders near the end of 2017, which is when they also asked Laidlaw to join their efforts. No specific release information is available at this time, but the developer is eyeing an early 2020 launch. Keep it tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers as this story develops, and for other gaming goodness going on right now, check out the following:

What say you, gamers? Are you excited to dive into the realm that is being created by Gato Salvaje and Mike Laidlaw? Can you already see all of the glorious inspiration the project is drawing from Dragon Age: Origins? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!

Eric Garrett2269 Posts

Eric is an editor and writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he is not staring at a computer screen filled with text, he is usually staring at a computer screen filled with controllable animations. Today's youth call this gaming. He also likes to shoot things. With a camera, of course.

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