There might have been almost 10 years between Dragon Age: The Veilguard and its predecessor, but that certainly doesn’t mean that ideas for it hadn’t been brewing for a long time before its initial reveal in 2018, as some old concept art from BioWare art director Matt Rhodes proves.

Over on Twitter, Rhodes has shared seven pieces of concept art that were created before Dragon Age: Inquisition had even hit shelves to imagine what could be next for the RPG series’ story. “All the way back in 2014, before Dragon Age: Inquisition had even shipped, I started sketching out what cool things might come next. We had momentum, so these quick mock-ups explored where some of the unfinished story threads might lead,” Rhodes says.

It’s fascinating to see what could have been – Rhodes has captioned each of the images so we know exactly what’s going on in each of them, too, which also gives a bit of insight into Bioware’s thoughts behind the scenes. “The world is falling apart, so the Divine sends out several elite teams to seek out answers,” Rhodes says of one dramatic piece showing the Divine looking at a burning landscape, with boats seen off in the distance. “The art team loved the idea of having at least one ‘parallel party,’ another group of awesome characters you cross paths with, to help imply a bigger world.”

There’s even a whole end-game pitch in Rhodes’ second tweet, which I won’t detail here in case you’re yet to see what actually happens. Those curious can find it in the alt text of that last art piece, though. 

BioWare seems to be constantly looking ahead when it comes to Dragon Age. The RPG series’ former lead writer, David Gaider, recently revealed that, back when the world was created for the first game, an “overall uber-plot” with “secret lore” and a potential ending for the whole series was mapped out. Apparently, this mega plot was tucked away in a “master lore doc” around the time that Inquisition was in development and was even hidden from most of the studio’s staff. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see that ending for ourselves, but for the time being, Gaider might be one of the few people who actually knows how it could go. 

Be sure to check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard review to find out why it’s one of this year’s best RPGs.