This review of EA’s “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” is much later than most of them for two reasons. One, it’s the busiest season of the year for just about everything in the entertainment world, and this review copy came late on a run of major video games, movies, TV shows, etc. Two, I wanted to really spend my time with it instead of rushing a review—doing side quests, exploring the world, getting to know the characters, etc. So, after dozens of hours with “The Veilguard,” I have emerged from this dense fantasy universe impressed by the overall experience, even if it doesn’t quite live up to my memories of how much I adored 2014’s “Dragon Age: Inquisition,” one of the best RPGs of its era.
While it has its issues, mostly around repetitive combat mechanics, “The Veilguard” does a lot of things very well, including a depth of character we don’t often see in games like this and an emphasis on rich storytelling over mere accumulation of unlockables like weapons, skills, and outfits. A game that largely slid under the radar this crowded season and was surprisingly ignored by the Game Awards deserves another look. After all, better late than never.
“Veilguard” is a sequel to “Inquisition,” but it’s gotten a bit of criticism for how indirectly it manages that fact, focusing more on new characters than those beloved by “Dragon Age” fans (after a trio of choices one can input regarding their preferred ending to the last game). The end of “Inquisition” revealed that a major character named Solas was actually a deity responsible for most of the chaos of that game. Solas returns in the prologue of “Veilguard” as he is caught in an attempt to destroy The Veil, the barrier that keeps the real world of Thedas safe from the mystical one populated by angry Gods and their horrible monsters.
To stop Solas, players take on the new role of “Rook,” whose entire identity can be shaped through an extremely malleable character creation function. Appearance options are plentiful, and your Rook can be from one of six factions: the assassin Antivan Crows, the warrior Grey Wardens, the treasure-hunting Lords of Fortune, the guardian Mourn Watch, the resistance faction Shadow Dragons, and the agile Veil Jumpers. The choice of faction immediately impacts the storytelling, making different characters friendlier and even opening up different markets for items and dialogue options. Your player will encounter all the factions throughout the game, and who you choose to work with or ignore, again, impacts the arc of the entire story. It gives “Veilguard” an immediate sense of authorship in that I’m sure my “Rook” is like no one else’s from minute one.
The first several hours of “Veilguard” are about “getting the band together.” Like most BioWare games, this “Dragon Age” hinges heavily on interactions with allies and selecting the right partners to go on quests together. You will gather an “Avengers”-esque team and have to generally choose two to take into battle, although some major story events involve everyone. Who you choose and how you treat them on those missions helps build bonds, and even romantic entanglements, with your team, which includes “Dragon Age” vet Varric Tethras, a scout named Lace Harding, a Veil Jumper named Bellara Lutare, a Grey Warden named Davrin, a Mourn Watcher named Emmrich Volkarin, an Antivan Crow named Lucanis Dellamorte, a Shadow Dragon named Neve Gallus, and a Lord of Fortune named Taash.
Why name all the NPCs in a review of a fantasy game? Because this is a game about its characters. You come to know their strengths and weaknesses, relying on a few—I used Harding, Neve, Taash, and Darvin most and came to honestly care about them—and legitimately building relationships with them through side quests and dialogue interactions. It gives the game a depth of character and world-building that fantasy titles often lack. “Veilguard” is a game that puts most of its creative energy into developing its characters, their relationships, and the worlds from which they come. They all have rich backgrounds and fluctuating relationships with Rook in a way that keeps the game interesting outside of its combat and mission structure.
About that combat—it’s not great. At first, battle mechanics feel exciting, especially when you combine all powers to achieve the desired effect. (For example, you can order Harding to use a specific power followed by a Neve follow-up that enhances both.) And Rook has a rich skill tree that allows for great customization in combat style—mine became a “Reaper,” using certain powers that siphoned health as they caused necrotic damage. All of the combat mechanics are pretty cool. Still, they become numbingly repetitive through long battle sequences, which eschew strategy for button-pushing attacks while you wait for a cooldown meter to expire for your special powers. While there are literally thousands of combos to take into battle given your character and the allies you take (who also have customizable powers and weapons, by the way), you will find a favorite loadout and pound it like a kid with a toy hammer. There are some multi-stage boss battles that go on for a remarkably long time with the same attack/special moves over and over again, and I wanted a bit more strategy to the combat.
The puzzle-solving is also a little thin, and most of the missions feel a bit like “fetch quests” (go get this item and bring it back). But what kept me engaged outside of all of the flaws of “The Veilguard” was the density of the storytelling and the characters within it. Every time I would get bored with the combat or simple side quests, there would be something impressive about the character or world design (especially on a PS Pro, where the game looks gorgeous) that would bring me back.
Much has been made of how many of the original “Dragon Age” writers left this project (sometimes controversially) over the years of its complex development. I think that tarnished its reputation on release (leading to lower-than-expected sales). Still, I have to say that I was addicted to “Veilguard” more than a lot of recent fantasy games, even ones significantly more acclaimed (looking at you, “Dragon’s Dogma 2”). I’ve always been drawn to the Bioware “team” approach to gameplay. After all, it takes a few friends to save the world.
A review copy of this title was provided by the publisher. It’s now available on PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series.
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