Dragon Age: Origins is a party based tactical roleplaying game set for release on the PC for the first quarter of 2009. It's set in an original universe, but it has been heralded as the spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series. In the game, you control a party of four characters in guiding them through an epic campaign in a single player setting. A toolset will be included for the creation of custom content. There have been few details released about the game's plot, although we'll hear more at the GC Developer's Conference in Leipzig, Germany and at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Washington starting August 29th. Bioware is scheduled to reveal details about both the gameplay and the plot at both events to the press in attendance.
This should hopefully be a return to old form for Bioware, which has mostly been focusing on console projects as of late, with their Knights of the Old Republic series and Mass Effect. While both have been ported to the PC, both RPGs tended towards aping the conventions of console RPGs more than they did their PC roots. Bioware has not ruled out a console release for Dragon Age, but one hasn't been announced yet.
The interface is similar to that of the old Baldur's Gate games, allowing you to pause and issue commands to your various companions. The combat system is completely unique to the game, but it will likely be a more traditional RPG system than in the action-RPG style of Mass Effect. All that's known about it so far is that there are three base classes - Rogue, Warrior and Mage - and presumably, you will be able to customize them beyond that point to create a more individualized and interesting character.
Although magic is included in the game, Bioware has stated that they're taking a more "dark fantasy" approach that is more akin to the novels of George R.R. Martin than some of their previous fantasy efforts. It continues the newer Bioware trend of working chiefly with original intellectual property rather than adapting that of others. The trailers released have shown large armies of humans fighting against Orc-like monsters, as well as other giant unidentifiable abominations. The look is reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings movies directed by Peter Jackson.
The game will feature a number of possible moral choices that will have strong effects on the plot, but there won't be a moral alignment slider as in the KOTOR games or Mass Effect.