Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review

Bioware has had a tumultuous history over the last decade after being a beloved studio for many years. They created some of the most entertaining story-driven games of all time in the Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Dragon Age series. The studio was on top of the world until the ill-received Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem’s flop. Many people, myself included, wondered if Bioware could ever return to form, especially being owned by studio-killer Electronic Arts. I can gladly say that this version of Bioware has crafted one of my favorite games of the year in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, even if it may rub some fans of the original games the wrong way.

Story

The story begins with our hero, Rook. We join the dwarven archer Varric, arriving in Minrathous to track down the elven god, Solas. We ended Solas’s bid to end the world after we knocked down a few well-placed statues. It was a fast-paced start to the game. This continued as we were thrown into a plot to defeat two elven gods. These gods escaped their prisons when we disrupted Solas’ ritual. We then visit a handful of areas as we recruit the seven RPG members in the game. The plot carries on quickly in the first 10 hours. The game then opens up, allowing you to pause and explore the vast world that Bioware has created.

Presentation

The visual design of the areas consistently left me in awe. No two areas looked the same, and each had its own unique personality. One of the first spots we visited was Arlathan Forest, which is full of waterfalls, streams, and foliage. It makes a great first impression and holds a lot of secrets. Grand Necropolis was another standout. It’s an underground garden with a mysterious vibe that I enjoyed exploring. You can tell a lot of love went into crafting these different areas because their characteristics are so unique. It also helps that they are not huge, sprawling worlds. These are more constrained maps with corridors and clearings. Each has traversal puzzles to navigate to find chests, gear, and statues that grant you more health/skills. You spend less time roaming and more time doing the fun stuff because fast-travel points are everywhere.

Gameplay

Classes

I chose to be a human Rogue as my class for the game because I like using a bow and arrow where I can, and I feel like everyone likes to choose the Mage (including me). The character creation was about what you would expect from any modern-day RPG, and there wasn’t much about my character that I couldn’t customize in some way. The nice thing about the Rogue class is that it has two single-handed swords coupled with the bow and arrow, which gave me a lot of versatility in combat right from the jump. Rogues are quick and can strike at a distance or up close, doing a decent amount of damage. This is even better when you add elemental damage, such as necrotic damage, a perk of one of the swords I used. There are a variety of enemies, from mages that strike you from a distance to brooding suits of armor to blighted demons whose heads explode.

Armor

There are tons of different items and pieces of armor to find in the game, all with various buffs. Armor is classified as light, medium, and heavy, but I was less worried about the class of armor and more about the benefits of wearing it. One granted me an extra potion slot, which was valuable in more challenging dragon battles, but many combinations exist. Depending on the item, you can customize your character even more granularly with amulets and other accessories that grant different positive or negative perks. You can even enchant items and upgrade them at the Caretaker’s workshop if you acquire enough momentos. There are endless possibilities to make your character your own and complement your playstyle.

Combat

Dragon Age: The Veilguard leans into real-time combat to align itself more with Mass Effect or Anthem than the early Dragon Age games. This may be polarizing to some people, but it works well for this type of game. There is a system of setups and detonations in place that you can combine to damage enemies more effectively. You’ll need to use that to your advantage more often than not, as these enemies can be sponges for damage, especially in the higher difficulty levels. Each class has its own skill tree in Veilguard. It’s a similar experience to any other RPG, with different specializations you can go into as you level up and gain skill points. You have a lot of freedom and flexibility in approaching your build in Veilguard, being able to respec your or your teammate’s skill trees at no cost at any time.

Equipment and Gear

I love what this game did with its equipment and gear. Each item in the game has perks attached, but those perks are usually locked. Finding a duplicate piece of equipment will upgrade the rarity of the piece you already own instead of having a handful of the same item in your inventory. This was a game-changer for me, and it helped push me towards opening as many chests as I could find and searching every area I went through extensively. Gear is tied explicitly to the character it’s meant for. There’s barely any inventory management to be had here because there are no carry limits. This may be a negative for some RPG enthusiasts as the game skews more towards action/adventure than an actual RPG, but I felt it kept me exploring the world a lot more often this way, so it didn’t bother me.

Characters

Party

Your party of companions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a memorable cast of characters that include a suave assassin, a returning Inquisition scout, and a Grey Warden, amongst others. These companions are members of different significant factions that we’re trying to help out with our crusade. With that said, they bring you on faction-specific side quests and some of their personal side quests. Most of these side quests did a good job tying into the story in some way or at least giving us some context about their personal lives and feelings, such as Taash’s quest lines, which have become the subject of great debate online. Your companions have their own customizations and skill trees to keep up with as you play with them in your party, and they can even use their unique abilities to help you solve puzzles. Taash can set things on fire, whereas Harding can raise and lower rock walls to create new paths.

Companions

I was drawn to Neve Gallus, a Tevinter mage affiliated with the Shadow Dragons, which she has in common with my Rook. We bonded over this in the game, and I found her very useful in combat with her ice magic. Bellara is a quirky engineer who is usually seen talking to herself and is very sensitive. Davrin, the Grey Warden, has an awesome baby griffin and a tough exterior. The characters all have their quirks, and all feel very different from one another. I had a lot of fun bringing different combos along my journey and completing their quest lines to learn more about each character.

Zero Tension

I don’t know if this will be the series’ most memorable set of characters, but I liked my squad. They’re often standing together talking, with lines of banter you can listen in on. Some even show up in others’ conversations with me. My only issue was that I felt they were far too agreeable. There isn’t much conflict between the companions; when there is, it’s quickly diffused. I expected more tension between characters and more in-depth debates about my decisions. Instead, I mostly saw x character approves. The moral quandaries are few and far between.

Decisions

You can make four decisions about Dragon Age: Inquisition events to impact the world in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It’s not much to go off of, but I’m glad they did anything because I wasn’t sure they would tie this into the past games in that way. The decisions you make during this game are more important to me and matter regarding the plot. You’ll frequently see little bubbles pop up, telling you how your past choices are affecting the events that are currently transpiring. It’s honestly a little too much hand-holding for my liking. It’s the same with romantic options, highlighted by a heart, so you can’t miss them. I don’t necessarily think players need to be walked through this in this genre.

Conclusion

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a genuinely fun experience from beginning to end, but I think hardcore fans of the series might not enjoy it quite as much as earlier iterations. This action RPG lacks the refined storytelling that made previous Dragon Age games popular. Despite that, I haven’t been able to put the game down since the release date, and I don’t think I’m the only one.