Dragon Age: The Veilguard gets one major thing wrong for me, but delivers some of BioWare's best characters ever

As a long-time fan of the Dragon Age series, I must say that my experience with The Veilguard was nothing short of exhilarating. The solid audio design and fantastic feedback as blades ring and spells fly brought me right back to the world of Thedas, and the shattering glass sound associated with parrying a deadly blow sent chills down my spine – turning an impact of otherwise-imminent death into a second wind for a fight.

As a researcher, in the heat of the skirmish, I successfully delivered three precise headshots, leaving a Venatori mage crumpled before me. In a swift maneuver to evade an incoming fireball, I executed a backflip, but my agility was not enough this time as I found myself engulfed in flames, further depleting my already scant health reserves. With urgency, I summoned my necromancer companion Emmrich for healing, and in the nick of time, my scout Harding delivered a crushing blow that sealed the mage’s fate, securing our victory in the battle.

Rook embarks on new adventures as the latest character destined or compelled to save Thedas, the world featured in BioWare’s Dragon Age series. Dragon Age: Veilguard is the fourth installment in this franchise and represents the first new game since 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, which was released nearly a decade ago at the time of writing.

Dragon Age is a franchise that’s close to my heart, and has been ever since I stayed up all night playing the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, falling in love with tales of Darkspawn, Grey Wardens, and a dark fantasy world that still found levity and humor in the characters that inhabited it. I’ve spent 50 hours playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and now that the credits have rolled, I’m ready to share my thoughts.

Dragon Age: Veilguard speeds up many aspects and emphasizes action over story development, which gives it a vibe more like Mass Effect 2 than other Dragon Age games. Although the plot is interesting, it doesn’t always allow for proper build-up or focus on significant revelations. Despite this, the characters are some of BioWare’s best, and their relationships drive this new adventure towards greatness.

What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Veilguard is an interactive storytelling game that combines elements of action and role-playing, created by the studio BioWare and distributed by Electronic Arts.

Creating your character, Rook, you have the freedom to choose their race, gender, occupation, and allegiance – be it an elf, human, dwarf, or any other. You establish a group known as The Veilguard, on a mission to prevent ancient elven gods from causing global destruction. As you progress, you gather better equipment such as enhanced weapons and armor, which boosts your power as you advance in levels. Along the way, you acquire new abilities that either provide passive benefits or active skills capable of changing the course of a fight.

Similar to other BioWare titles, you’ll face choices about whom to ally (and potentially court romantically) as you progress through primary objectives and optional tasks in various locales. Your choices will impact not only individuals but also entire nations.

Instead of sticking to the traditional Dragon Age approach, The Veilguard places a greater emphasis than ever before on dynamic, fast-paced action. It focuses more on real-time decision making and quick use of skills rather than strategic planning and thorough preparation.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Story and characters

10 years following the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition (and 8 years beyond its Trespasser DLC), The Veilguard serves as both a direct sequel and unique addition to the series. Solas, known as Fen’Harel, The Dread Wolf – this elven deity of guile and falsehood has multiple aliases, but one constant objective: to shatter the Veil that divides Thedas from the Fade, a realm inhabited by spirits and demons. Varric, once an ally to Solas, is resolute in his efforts to prevent him from bringing about destruction.

Rook, originating from a part of Thedas up north, joins the scene. Despite the plentiful role-playing customization choices, Rook possesses a distinct character, functioning as a sturdy tool attempting to guide their team effectively. Interestingly, Rook shares similarities with Hawke rather than the Hero of Ferelden or the Inquisitor, demonstrating both individual character traits and serving as a player’s representative, making them more than just an avatar.

In the game that was initially called Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, due to its main adversary, Rook’s struggle against Solas is intriguing to observe. This relationship between them is captivating and one of the most fulfilling dynamics I’ve come across in a BioWare game. Without giving away any specific spoilers, it’s truly worth the wait for longtime fans. The story was so moving that I even shed a few tears along the way.

Without a doubt, the Veilguard, the friends Rook acquires during their journey, might be even more crucial than Solas in BioWare’s storytelling. The dynamics between party members is one of the key elements that make this game stand out, and the Veilguard certainly lives up to that reputation. Initially, I had my doubts about some characters, but as the story unfolded, I grew fond of them, eagerly anticipating their future developments in terms of friendship or romance. Each of the seven companions – Harding, Davrin, Emmrich, Taash, Bellara, Lucanis, and Neve – is unique, yet they all deserve their place within this story.

Beyond the main allies lie various factions scattered across Northern Thedas, such as the Antivan Crows, the Grey Wardens, Mourn Watchers, and numerous others who might join forces with you.

In this game, it’s a pleasure to engage with a variety of characters, from allies to enemies and everyone in between. However, some of the game’s revelations don’t receive as much focus as they deserve. The Veilguard isn’t shy about shaking things up, introducing unexpected twists and challenging established beliefs within the universe. I appreciate this bold approach, but unfortunately, many of these surprises are only touched upon casually or addressed briefly, outside of casual comments. It’s a pity because these concepts are intriguing and thought-provoking.

In addition, I’d like if the consequences from previous games were still relevant here. The Dragon Age series hasn’t been as connected as the original Mass Effect trilogy, but it was always exciting to see characters reappear in a new game after you had helped them in the previous one, or find a codex entry that referenced a choice you made. Here, they’ve done a good job, but that sense of continuity is largely absent, except for a few significant decisions from Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Gameplay and features

As a tech enthusiast, I can’t help but notice how Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition have significantly shifted the Dragon Age franchise from its CRPG (Computer Role-Playing Game) origins found in Dragon Age: Origins. However, with the decade-long gap between releases, Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t tiptoe but rather jumps headfirst into the deep end of action-RPG territory.

Playing as a Rogue has never felt more enjoyable and agile than it does now. Instead of laboriously maneuvering into position, my Rook swiftly darts across the battlefield, evading and weaving in and out, using a bow and arrow to turn foes into targets at a distance, then closing in with poisoned blades. It’s not about enduring or accepting; it feels fantastic to play. There’s a clear Mass Effect influence here, and it fits perfectly.

In this game, similar to previous ones, you’ll advance to higher levels by accumulating enough experience points. These points will grant you skill points that can be utilized to expand the abilities of your character, Rook. Notably, these skill points help you unlock specific specializations, making it seem organic as you essentially broaden your skill set in a particular area. In my game, Rook specialized as a Saboteur, enabling more powerful explosive traps.

The lasting impact of Mass Effect is evident in a minor yet frustrating aspect – you can only have two team members with you at once in your squad, limiting your control to giving orders rather than directly controlling them. This change, coupled with less dialogue exchange between characters, results in fewer tactical options during intense battles. In my past Dragon Age experiences, I often found myself in tough situations where only one ally was left standing against a formidable foe. Unfortunately, when Rook falls (and cannot be revived), this isn’t an option here, making the gameplay less engaging and satisfying as a result.

The action primarily unfolds in confined territories, where both exploration and battles are dominant, featuring missions that are generally linear with limited opportunities for free roaming. It would be nice if these spaces were expanded, offering more freedom for meandering around, but it effectively steers clear of the exhaustion caused by expansive zones found in Dragon Age: Inquisition, which frequently slowed down the game’s tempo significantly.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Visuals and audio

Moving forward with themes of continuous evolution, each Dragon Age game has showcased a significantly distinct visual style compared to its predecessor, and The Veilguard is following suit. Instead of adopting a hyper-realistic feel, The Veilguard chooses a more dreamlike appearance initially. Majestic, shadowy structures and vibrant coastlines are bathed in color, lending the game an almost hand-painted quality.

The visual appeal of The Veilguard is truly captivating and sometimes hypnotic, particularly given the diverse array of locations it traverses. In this game, we finally get to explore legendary lands such as Antiva, Rivain, and Tevinter, which have been spoken about in Dragon Age lore for so long. These regions are stunningly portrayed, living up to all expectations.

Despite some simpler character designs compared to what I’ve encountered before, the art direction continues to outshine sheer realism, brimming with character and aesthetic appeal among your allies and the various factions you engage. Notably remarkable is the hair physics, which represent a significant advancement over any previous BioWare titles. Previous Dragon Age and Mass Effect games lacked the depth in hair animation that this latest installment has corrected effectively.

In my tech-loving perspective, the Darkspawn, once terrifying adversaries across the series, have unfortunately taken a turn for the less engaging in this latest installment. They’ve been transformed into monotonous, slime-filled targets. Now, there’s a narrative reason behind their altered appearance, but it doesn’t quite make up for how much their new look dampens the excitement.

On my high-performance gaming computer equipped with an RTX 3070 graphics card and NVMe SSD, I managed to launch Dragon Age: The Veilguard at nearly top settings while sustaining a steady 60 frames per second, by slightly adjusting or disabling certain features to prevent VRAM bottlenecks and stutter. This configuration functioned well for the majority of the game, but I observed that some denser regions in Arlathan forest seemed particularly demanding, causing dynamic resolution to activate noticeably, though it wasn’t quite sufficient to prevent occasional frame drops.

Solid audio design work complements the game’s visuals, with fantastic feedback as blades ring and spells fly. I particularly love the shattering glass sound associated with parrying a deadly blow, a noise that turns an impact of otherwise-imminent death into a second wind for a fight.

Dragon Age has a strong musical legacy, so I’m relieved to say The Veilguard also features a great soundtrack, with a rousing main theme co-composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe that kicks in across pivotal moments of the game. There’s a strength but more importantly an urgency in this score that suits the game’s high stakes. It’s different, lending a unique tone to The Veilguard that helps set it apart from the grander, more epic scale that Trevor Morris lent to Dragon Age: Inquisition, which itself stands apart from the haunting wails that Inon Zur composed for Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Accessibility and approachability

Similar to numerous popular games released in recent times, Dragon Age: Veilguard offers a wide range of accessibility features. This includes adjustable font sizes, colorblindness settings, options to minimize screen shake, and a persistent dot to help those sensitive to motion sickness. Moreover, it caters to individual needs by offering customizable difficulty levels, allowing players to tweak enemy aggression and combat pacing according to their skill level or preferred intensity of battle.

In terms of accessibility, Dragon Age: The Veilguard makes an effort to orient new players by introducing important characters and ideas, while additional information can be found in the game’s codex. However, it should be noted that this is a conclusion to a storyline that began with Dragon Age: Inquisition, so some concepts might not resonate as strongly for those unfamiliar with the Dragon Age universe. While newcomers can still enjoy playing The Veilguard, I strongly advise getting acquainted with the world of Dragon Age prior to starting this game for a richer experience.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Final thoughts

Dragon Age series consistently sparks discussion, boasting a one-of-a-kind franchise structure. With each new installment, the gameplay formula has adapted and transformed, sometimes to great effect, other times not so much. This evolution is particularly noticeable in the latest addition, The Veilguard, which arrives a decade after its predecessor.

In a distinctly new fashion, the battle sequences and overall mood have shifted, but what remains constant is the essential, impactful essence that BioWare consistently delivers – their characters. Though it strays considerably from the fantasy series I cherished growing up, Dragon Age: The Veilguard maintains its standing among previous adventures in Thedas with honor. Similar to Ferelden’s Hero, Hawke, and the Inquisitor before them, Rook demonstrates that Dragon Age still has some surprises up its sleeve.

The Veilguard is a hit.

On October 31, 2024, the game “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” will be released simultaneously on various platforms including Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (available on Steam, EA App, and Epic Games Store), and PlayStation 5.

2024-10-28 18:10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard gets one major thing wrong for me, but delivers some of BioWare’s best characters ever