Review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard – A Decent RPG but Falls Short as a Dragon Age Game

Developer Bioware didn’t intend to make it easy with Veilguard. It’s been 10 years since the last Dragon Age game, a decade of fan theories percolating and expectations spiraling out of control. Not to mention all the strife that ensued at the studio after the disappointing Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. Veilguard isn’t a bad game by any means, and there are plenty of interesting characters and new locations to meet. But the core of the previous games, the writing, is surprisingly bland, and the new combat style quickly becomes repetitive.

You play as Rook, Varric’s companion who served as a companion and storyteller in previous games. Varric and Luke have been searching for the elf god Solas for the better part of a year. Just when it looks like he will be able to pull back the veil between the physical world and the underworld, releasing a horde of demons in the process, a magical accident frees even two other demons. It will be. bad Gods. These new villains are comically evil, but in the end, they’re disappointing compared to Solas’ compelling character there. Veilguard also tells your side of the story through side quests.

As you travel across Thedas, you’ll visit locations never before explored in the game, including the sorcerer-led city of Tevinter’s Minrathus and the sun-drenched Rivan Peninsula. Each location is gorgeous and full of detail, from the glowing butterflies flitting around the forests of Arlasan to the lifelike skeletons brandishing brooms in the graveyards of Nevarra. Veilguard allows you to travel freely, but certain areas of each map are off-limits until unlocked through quests. This may feel uncomfortable, but it also gives you the freedom to explore without getting overwhelmed. Exploring is fun as you can find lots of treasures. Each area is inhabited by characters from different factions, who will immediately start asking for favors. These tasks are of different types and unlock important equipment for each companion.

Combat is now fully real-time. I can also command my companions to use skills via the ring menu, similar to Mass Effect, but without my direction, the companions won’t do anything useful like heal Luke or slow time. I have had to do that sometimes because they don’t work. But most often they act autonomously. All I have to do is attack and dodge. You press the same three buttons over and over again, throwing in the occasional combat skill or finishing move as your allies yell at you to watch out for impending ranged attacks or explosions. This helps, but we’ve seen it before in countless other games, and it doesn’t leave much room for strategy. However, the boss battles are quite difficult. Evasion is key, and you can’t advance by blindly slashing at enemies.

In general, Veil Guard cannot be let go even for a moment. Many of the default damage numbers, wayfinders, and flashing treasure indicators can be turned off in the options menu, but this article seems to assume that players won’t be able to retain the information for more than a few seconds. The characters endlessly repeat what just happened and point out what you just saw. Often they use the exact same words: “Our rogue necromancer might be behind that door.” “Well, I hope our rogue necromancer is on the other side of that door!” And just in case that wasn’t enough, there’s a synopsis of each mission so you know what happened. You can check for sure. Important matters are discussed again in team meetings.

There are very few big decisions that affect the story, and the game tells you exactly what outcome your choice will lead to before you make it. In most cases, decisions have real consequences. That’s great, but it would have been better if the game hadn’t told you that so many times before you made your decision. Over time, these options become rarer, as if they ran out of time to implement them late in development.

Luke is our hero now because, as they themselves admit, “there was no one else to do it.” It’s nice to play as someone other than a magically chosen superhero for once, but Luke doesn’t have much personality behind his ill-timed banter. No matter which dialogue option you choose, many of them will inevitably end in some kind of joke, and sometimes a slightly embarrassing pop culture reference or idiom. (I definitely don’t want to hear a character say to a griffon that he’s “feeling oats,” please. please.) Veilguard isn’t a Guardians of the Galaxy-esque joke fest, which fans were worried about after the first trailer, but Luke is more of a witty person than an opinionated figure. He is written as if he were an observer.

The core story is the least interesting thing about Veilguard, both narratively and gameplay-wise. Many quests require you to endlessly plug crystals into containers to open doors, or to conquer plagues or pulsating flesh growths that prevent you from moving to locations to fight monsters. This isn’t unusual for Dragon Age, but combined with the unsatisfying cameos and by-the-numbers gameplay, I was left disappointed.

Friends will help you out of trouble. The quality of the writing varies greatly, but it’s fun to get to know new teams. Emrich, a necromancer, wields magic like a conductor and cares deeply for the dead, while Tarsh, a Qunari dragon hunter, struggles with issues of identity and gender. Romantic options don’t immediately turn you into awkward flirting and often just make up the kindest words you might say to someone you’re struggling with. However, the game has a habit of jumping in and ruining the fun by saying “Watch out!” That’s romantic! Are you sure you want to commit to a romance? What’s even more frustrating here is when you take them on a mission together and they make small talk like two co-workers meeting at an office party. It’s their attitude. “Speaking of which, Tarsh, do you hunt dragons? You hunt monsters.” This is far from the joke of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

There’s a lot to like about Veilguard, but there were times when I had to dig deeper to overlook the flaws, from the repetitive gameplay to the story that just didn’t know how to tie it all together. So, as an RPG it’s perfectly fun, but as a Dragon Age game it’s underwhelming.