I adore the tarot cards in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Whoever came up with the idea, I could kiss you. I could happily look at the cards all day – and I have, sorry colleagues. I have bought them to frame and hang on my wall, and I’ve never done anything like that before. It’s odd – Dragon Age isn’t known for its art. Origins was ugly and Dragon Age 2 was all over the place, caught between old and new. They had art, but it wasn’t important. But with Inquisition it changed.
Inquisition had tarot cards. They lived in the menus, representing all facets of the game. They were the characters you met, changing along with your relationships, and they were the class you chose, monsters you killed, achievements you earned. And they were there the moment you started your game, in your face, dazzling in their deliciousness.
OK, so technically they’re not all tarot cards. Some are simply gorgeous pictures shaped like cards. But there are enough actual tarot to fill a 78-card deck, which EA printed for the £140/$160 Collector’s Edition of the game. I wish I’d bought it – you can’t find it for less than hundreds of pounds on eBay these days, the deck. Sure, you can buy them as playing cards (and I have) but it defeats the point.
