BioWare: Dragon Age Inquisition sex scenes will be "mature and tasteful"

The sex scenes in BioWare's upcoming next-generation role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition will take inspiration from Mass Effect and be "mature and tasteful," according to cinematic director Jonathan Perry.

"I think Mass Effect’s scenes were done really well and I think we will take Inquisition’s scenes in that direction," Perry told GamerZines. "You might have a nude character but they are framed in such a way that parts of them are in shadow, or having characters in various states of undress."

"We also want to focus not just on the sex itself, but also that this is the culmination of spending a lot of time with a character and getting to know them, and so we’re giving scenes a mature and tasteful treatment I guess," he added. "We’ll see where it goes for Dragon Age: Inquisition; it’s something that we’re working on right now so we’ll see how these scenes pan out."

Asked if video games could match film in their ability to portray a scene of intimacy, Perry said it is "inevitable" that games will be able to do this some day, when they can cross the "uncanny valley." Ultimately though, the interactive nature of games will always separate them from films, Perry said.

"But I think that games can be powerful in a very different way because they are interactive and they are based on your choices," Perry said. "They can react to what you’re doing and that’s something you don’t get in film as you are a passive viewer."

Dragon Age: Inquisition runs on the Frostbite 3 engine, the technology also behind upcoming games Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals. Perry said creating sex scenes that feel genuine and believable will be "incredibly expensive in terms of animation fidelity."

The role-playing game was recently delayed one year. It is now due out in fall 2014 for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC. For more on Dragon Age: Inquisition, check out GameSpot's latest preview.