Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s got exquisite style, slippery-smooth combat, and all the subtlety of a Saturday morning cartoon.
The writing quality immediately rang alarms — it drops not one but two “I’m getting too old for this” cliches in its opening minutes. The quips and platitudes that passed for dialogue had me rolling my eyes so violently they nearly popped out of my skull. Most damningly, the game traded nuanced explorations of faith and society for a marketable tale about bad guys, good guys, and — you guessed it — found family.
But I fell for the game despite myself. I love its intricate levels, its gorgeous purple UI, its screamingly satisfying combos, and its rambunctious action scenes. I tested it on my Steam Deck to confirm the “Verified” status BioWare claimed it had and found it so compelling I endured its stuttering framerate and soupy resolution for dozens of hours before switching to my desktop’s crisp graphics.
Some of the quests can rival the depth of Dragon Age games of yore, and I even came to tolerate the character writing (which, admittedly, had its moments). I whooped when my Vincent Price necromancer friend slithered off his mortal coil — not because I hated him, but because I had badgered him into fulfilling his lifelong dream of eternal lichdom. Positive depictions of the undead — how’s that for representation!
Never has my critical opinion slammed through such a roller-coaster. I edited Andy Bickerton’s NPR review of Veilguard this week, and we traded texts detailing our frustrations, surprises, and triumphs throughout the nearly-60 hours it took us to complete the game. I agree with most of what he wrote:
Compared to its predecessors, Veilguard often feels ripped from a different franchise. Some scenes are distinctively Dragon Age, while others feel more like a Disney movie. It’s an M for Mature game with an excess of tonally conflicting E for Everyone moments. […] Relationships are the horse driving the cart rather than, say, the political and religious complexities of Inquisition. It feels more like Mass Effect than Dragon Age in that sense — and that’s not always a bad thing. […]
The lasting consequences of many decisions tie together seamlessly in Veilguard’s stellar finale, and the scale of potential outcomes feels grander than any past BioWare game (it’s not as grand as the ending Larian pulled off in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s still quite impressive). One choice hit me with a gut punch so hard that I’m still grappling with it days after finishing the game.
But like Mass Effect 3, if you’re hoping for decisions from prior entries to matter, you’re in for a letdown. There are only three choices that you can set for Veilguard’s world state, and they’re all from Inquisition — flying in the face of the “Dragon Age Keep” system that recorded your decisions across the whole series. I can understand how complex it would have been to honor every choice made in prior titles, but it’s a tragic lost opportunity not to reward fans who have been playing since Origins.
It’s easy to see how this squandered potential, along with the tonal inconsistencies, could have arisen out of Veilguard’s near-decade of troubled production. David Gaider, Dragon Age’s lead writer and creator, left BioWare in 2016. Originally designed with substantial live-service components, Veilguard shifted to a full-on single-player RPG in 2021, six years after development began.
But I’m ultimately hopeful. Even though BioWare didn’t quite hit the mark in Veilguard, if it could take its best innovations and stick the landing with consistent storytelling, the anticipated Mass Effect 5 could restore the company to its prior glory.
“Expectations are so high — whether from the fans of the franchise or the perspective of the company — there’s tremendous pressure.” says game director Corinne Busche. “One thing I’ll say about this team: They really rise to the occasion.” […]
“We sort of lost our way in a couple of previous titles, moving away from that character-focused storytelling that made Mass Effect and Dragon Age a success,” says John Epler, Dragon Age series creative director. “This project really coalesced when we consciously identified that central aspect of the experience: the characters.” […]
“It’s a deeply personal experience,” says Busche. “You’re creating your own character and that might be a representation of you, that might be reflective of the kinds of choices you'd like to make.”
For the first time in BioWare history, that customizability allows player avatars to be transgender and access unique dialogue options around that identity. There’s also a prominent storyline about a party member coming out as nonbinary.
“I'm an openly queer trans woman — I really believe that representation matters,” says Busche. “Everyone is welcome in Dragon Age, and we want people to see themselves and feel like they can have a heroic place here.”
I’ve played a lot of RPGs I liked but didn’t love this year — from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to Granblue Fantasy: Relink to Unicorn Overlord to Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year door. I hold Dragon Age:The Veilguard in higher esteem because it didn’t leave me lukewarm — it managed to simultaneously thrill and disappoint me (not unlike last year’s Fire Emblem Engage). Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has even higher highs and lower lows, but for all Veilguard’s predictable moralizing, BioWare still held my attention through its riveting conclusion. I doubt I’ll ever play it again, but I’ll always look back fondly on the bleary week I binged most of the game.
