Dragon Age: Origins took some hits for its excessive blood splattering and overall dark and gritty aesthetic. I happen to like that style, but can see why some players think it is distracting to have their characters covered in sprays of blood throughout virtually every second of the game. Shit, before the game came out it was tough to find a screenshot that didn’t have blood sprayed all over it!

Well, if all the blood and grit of the original turned you off, Dragon Age II‘s art direction shift should make you very happy. Game Informer nabbed the first two screenshots from BioWare’s RPG sequel, and as you can see the game is much brighter than the first game and doesn’t have any of the original’s blood staining. These appear to be very early screenshots (at least I hope they are, because the graphics don’t look that much better than before), so maybe blood splatter hasn’t been added yet (there are pools of blood on the ground after all). But with or without blood, BioWare is clearly intent on bringing more color to the Dragon Age universe — and I’m not sure if I like it or not yet…

Either way, I do prefer the more realistic style of Origins, but there’s still time for this style to win me over. Two early screenshots are hardly enough to go on at this point.

What do you think about the graphical shift? Yay? Nay? Meh?

Dragon Age II: First Screenshots [Game Informer]