Dragon Age II demo dropping Feb. 22

Dragon Age II doesn't arrive until March 8, but GameStop employees are already able to take a whack at the fantasy role-playing game. A page on the official Dragon Age site currently invites employees of the game specialty retailer to an early PC demo of the RPG, provided they follow a few rules. Those rules accidentally revealed the general release date demo.

"This early demo access is being granted to Gamestop employees only," reads a footnote on the page. "Any form of distribution, recording, [and] posting of any elements of the Dragon Age 2 demo and any of its files is strictly prohibited until February 23, 2011 when the demo is made available to all consumers." (Emphasis added.) What exactly the demo will contain was (obviously) not made public, nor was it clear if the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 demos would arrive on that date.

[UPDATE] EA has since announced that the demo will arrive on February 22, not February 23.

As for the game itself, Dragon Age II will see the player transform Blight-survivor Hawke from "a destitute refugee to the revered champion of the land," with new combat mechanics for the game's three classes. Although Hawke gains fame as the Champion of Kirkwall, the game will peer into his mysterious rise to power over a 10-year period.

For more on the game, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.