Dragon Age: Inquisition won multiple Game of the Year awards in 2014, but if you played it for the first time 10 years later, you might not know it. Inquisition is a fascinating microcosm of its place in video game history, a time when everything needed to be an open world in some way. What results is a game that shines in its moments of complex storytelling, but gets bogged down by needless fetch quests and open world design. But perhaps what’s even more fascinating is Inquisition’s final DLC, Trespasser, which manages to be the absolute pinnacle of the entire franchise. It’s a glorious encapsulation of everything the series does well, and one of the single most important pieces of story heading into the upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In fact, Trespasser feels so vital I have a hard time imagining anyone going into Veilguard without that vital context, but unfortunately, it’s not the easiest thing to play. Nobody expects the inquisition What comes next? Our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preview includes over seven hours of playtime, along with interviews with the game’s creative directorOriginally released in September 2015, Trespasser functions as an epilogue to Inquisition, rather than its own standalone adventure. What this means, unfortunately, is that you can’t play Trespasser until you’ve actually beaten Inquisition’s main story. It’s a shame, because Trespasser is, by far, the single best piece of Inquisition. Set two years after the main game, you and all your friends have reconvened at Orlais’ Winter Palace to attend a hearing deciding the fate of the Inquisition, now that the world-ending threat has been vanquished. It’s a smart setup that really lets BioWare lean into the strong characterization and writing of each party member – which is what the studio has always been best at. It’s a fascinating look at how your choices as the player have shaped each companion and the world itself – are your friends happy to see you, or reluctant? So many of your choices, even small ones, are integrated into Trespasser, truly adding to the sense of a breathing world that’s built around you. Past that focus on party members, Trespasser has it all – a strong core mystery, big set-piece battles that challenge your team’s tactics, exploration that yields extra lore and story details, and a real emotional gut-punch of a twist. It feels like Trespasser looks at the Dragon Age trilogy and piecemeal extracts its best bits – the close-knit party member dynamics of Dragon Age 2, the pondering philosophical themes of if you can really change the world from Origins, and combat encounters that feel narratively meaningful like in Inquisition. Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter