Dragon Age The Veilguard is an Action RPG developed by BioWare and published by EA. The fourth instalment into the Dragon Age series since Dragon Age: Inquisition, which was 10 years ago, oddly enough it’s been 10 years in-game since the events of Inquisition happened. Dragon Age The Veilguard is a sequel to Inquisition where characters from the previous game make appearances and have several huge roles in the game.
When Dragon Age The Veilguard was first revealed back in August of this year (2024), I have been blasting through the last three games to refresh my memory on the plot and my decisions when playing it the first time. It caught me by surprise when I finished Inquisition, started playing Veilguard and couldn’t bring the save over.
I feel like BioWare thought of this and introduced the Adventurer’s Past to at least bring the choices. Having to do a Baulder’s Gate and work on customizing another model which represented the Inquisitor was a slight pain since I wish I could have just brought them over through the save file. But, we do have a lot to cover about Dragon Age The Veilguard. So, grab your closest Bianca (without telling Varric) and let’s fire up this review.
Game Concept
Dragon Age The Veilguard has you playing as The Rook, who is your custom character that tags along with Varric Tethras and Lace Harding. Your little ragtag of miscreants are venturing throughout Thedas trying to stop Solas from doing something extreme. Even after Solas, we may have solved one problem, but we ended up releasing two new ones. We’re now trying to find a way to stop these two new threats to Thedas, recruit more people to help us stop these two and maybe fall in love along the way.
Storyline
Now, when it comes to the story, I felt as if I was at a fancy restaurant, ordered the dish I wanted, and was forced to eat a lot of dinner rolls while I waited for the food I ordered to come. During the first ten hours, it seemed like the story was walking down a nice and linear path which I believed was the first major decision that would affect the ending of the route. Now normally I feel like filler moments were only the side quests we would normally choose to do ourselves.
But, I couldn’t believe how much fluff and filler the story had, that I honestly stopped playing and went back to Inquisition to make sure this didn’t happen in the previous entry. Spoiler alert, it wasn’t and didn’t have this amount of fluff in it either.
Revisiting all the Dragon Age series, made me and I bet others appreciate seeing the cameos from those same characters I just finished spending days playing with. I got goosebumps and shouted when I saw Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins alive, doing well, and helping us while we were in a different body this time. Seeing Valta, a character from a DLC in Inquisition still being included in the world, but only possible to see when doing a personal quest for one of your companions.
And then seeing my love, my life, my angel Isabela still thriving and seeing that BioWare let her be the free spirit she was always meant to be. Seeing this continuous world-building that was done by BioWare while still adding these characters shows they still really care about this world and the characters living in it.
Sounds
The SFX for the spells and weapons is actually top-notch. From breaking vases and other objects I come across, to the sound of my spells being fired and making contact on the poor victim of my “tests” were creative and had me playing my usual game of “What do they use to make that sound?!” a lot more than other games had me doing. I played the majority of Dragon Age The Veilguard on my Steam Deck while listening with my Arctis Nova Pro on both a flight and train ride to see family.
The background music, which was done by the amazing Hans Zimmer, still had me immersed whenever I started up the game and went wild through the hours I’ve spent in it. Though I’m not going to lie, the first few notes in Not The Chosen One still have me saying “Ohhh, you touch my talala?” Now that I’ve said that, and you’ve read it, you’ll never unheard it again! BWAHAHAHAHAHA
The voiceovers for each of the characters were out of this world and having Varric’s VA (Brian Bloom btw) narrating the opening part of the game was a brilliant touch. Though there were a few of the returning characters whose original VAs weren’t playing the characters either due to not reprising the role or because of other reasons that the industry won’t tell us, didn’t stop the cast from playing them with an honest feel to it.
Each character had me hanging from their every word either due to their character design, my relationship to said character, or because my brain finds their voice very pleasing.
Graphics
Holy Broodmother! The team that worked on the graphics for Dragon Age The Veilguard have a talent for creating something to be both a blessing and a curse. For example, taking a look at our character and their companion for how everyone looks would make that a blessing. While looking at some of the ideas when it came to some of the armour pieces and demons we fight is a blessing when looking at the attention to details, but a curse because there are some things that don’t need that much detail….unless you plan to cosplay any of those enemies or making the armour yourself.
When it came to the cutscenes, they look actually beautiful with both the movie you’re provided for major moments and the mo-capped scenes looked decent even on the lowest setting on my Steam Deck. The UI system for both our choices and choosing a spell, or attack for our companions is actually stunning to look at even if I’m seeing it 10 times during almost every battle. BioWare did the smart thing by having the loading screen made in a minimalist style to not kill our hard drives trying to load the next scene.
Lastly, the world of Thedas looks amazing on PC with the right graphics card and looks pleasing on the Steam Deck on the lowest settings. Seeing the details on walls and ruins always catches my eyes in most games and The Veilguuard doesn’t fail to do exactly that.
Mechanics
Dragon Age The Veilguard combat mechanics is still my favorite kind which is All Action. What that means is I’m responsible for dodging attacks and don’t have to pray to RNGesus to dictate if an attack lands or misses. With the slight heavy movement that reminds me of games with similar builds like the Witcher 3, with the added 2 other NPCs I have control over during battle.
Depending on which Class you choose, it will either help or hinder you if it doesn’t fall under your style of play. I do wish that they showed a video of each class’s playstyle to better accommodate new players who might never have played the series to understand what they’re picking.
BioWare at least recommends people to have Dragon Age The Veilguard downloaded on an SSD to give us a better experience of playing the game with no interruption due to having to load the next scene or area and they weren’t lying. I tested and played on both an HDD and SSD, only to see that three to five minutes of my life were spent waiting to get into the fight and then losing motivation because of the loading between moments.
Once I switched it to the SSD, I was in a cutscene, skipped it and was already in the fight moments later. Dragon Age The Veilguard might be almost 100 GB large, but just delete a game you have on the SSD that you haven’t played in many moons and just play The Veilguard on it instead.
The one mechanic that I think people have loved from BioWare since as early as Mass Effect, was their alignment system and choices. I remember the days when we can make a choice that we know will give us a good, bad or neutral response and plan our route accordingly.
Yet, from what I’ve read and then tried myself was trying to get a completely evil route. Normally, getting the good aliment would be the hardest thing to manage, while getting the evil aliment was as simple as shooting someone innocent. But, now I’m struggling to be an evil S.O.B in this game for some odd reason and I’m not sure if I still have the freedom of choice I had in previous games from them.
Inclusion, Inclusivity, and DEI
- In terms of inclusivity, Dragon Age: Veilguard excels, demonstrating a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that goes beyond surface-level representation. The game allows players to create a character from a range of gender identities, body types, and cultural backgrounds, empowering players to see themselves reflected in the protagonist. Beyond visual customization, the game offers meaningful cultural representations, incorporating languages, dialects, and practices specific to certain backgrounds within Thedas.
- The developers collaborated with cultural consultants and sensitivity readers, aiming to create an authentic experience that respects diverse identities. This extends to the narrative, with factions and characters rooted in experiences of displacement, inequality, and resistance, all handled with nuance. This commitment to DEI is seen not only in character interactions but also in world-building, as cities and towns are populated with varied demographics, reflecting Thedas’s melting pot of cultures.
- Companion dialogue incorporates these diverse experiences, enabling organic discussions on topics like religion, societal expectations, and gender norms. The game introduces a companion who identifies as nonbinary and another who openly discusses living with a disability. Rather than sidelining these narratives, Veilguard places them in the foreground, giving players opportunities to engage deeply with these themes. BioWare’s efforts here go a long way toward inclusivity, providing a model for other RPGs to follow.
Dragon Age series has progressively embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and inclusivity over the years. Here’s a brief overview:
Dragon Age: Origins (2009)
Diversity: The game introduced a range of diverse characters, including Leliana, a bisexual character, and Zevran, a pansexual character.
Inclusivity: The game allows players to form relationships with characters regardless of gender, promoting inclusivity in its narrative.
Dragon Age II (2011)
Diversity: Continued to feature diverse characters, such as Isabela, a bisexual pirate, and Merrill, a character with a unique cultural background.
Inclusivity: Expanded on the inclusivity of the first game, allowing for more nuanced relationships and character interactions.
Dragon Age Inquisition (2014)
Diversity: Introduced Krem, a transgender character, and Sera, a bisexual character.
Inclusivity: The game included more diverse storylines and characters, further promoting DEI within the game’s world.
Replay Value
After doing three different playthroughs and only completing two of them, I’m hoping that tells you all you need to know. But, that’s not how this works. I originally attempted to see if there was a way to finish the game with only one run and getting all the achievements during that run is nearly impossible unless you know where to save and save scum your way to it.
Besides wanting to 100% complete Dragon Age The Veilguard, I was more motivated to try and hear all the voice lines I could find while marking down which options I’d already done to prevent any repeats. Heck, even changing the Adventurer’s Past did make a difference in both playthroughs since that’s another thing I kept track of as well.
Closing Statement
Dragon Age The Veilguard is both a great sequel to Inquisition and a needed spark to reignite the flame to revisit an amazing series. Even though there were a few things they did wrong to me when it came to Dragon Age The Veilguard, I still know that over time, just like Inquisition, I’ll grow to love all its faults and maybe finally realize that these cracks are what makes the game fun and unique from its older siblings.
I’m glad that they went down the route of using a whole new character for us to work with and not the inquisitor from the previous game, who knows if that might have been a route they could have taken. So, to veterans of the series, please play this game with an open mind and to newbies, I had you Bianca and will be the first to say “Go, create Chaos.”
Dragon Age The Veilguard Trailer
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Written by Ruddy Celestial
