Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review

BioWare undoubtedly needed Dragon Age: The Veilguard to happen.

One can only wonder and investigate what The Veilguard was before now. Back when it was Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Or when it was meant to be a live-service title.

But ten years after Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare’s resiliency is facing its ultimate test. Mass Effect proves to be a triumphant moment for the developer, especially the game’s second entry. But Mass Effect: Andromeda started a downward trend that bordered on irrelevancy with Anthem, the live-service game that was not able to capture any of the magic that allowed BioWare status as a household name.

With The Veilguard now fully in frame, Anthem–and to a lesser degree, Andromeda–feels like a blip, a forced error that needed to happen. Often we produce our best work when our backs are against the wall, I know I do.

Some would argue that Inquisition‘s status as Game of the Year in 2014 was due in part to a relatively lackluster year. Inquisition‘s disparate parts still managed to resonate with a large portion of the audience who found an intricate story with deep characters in “typical Bioware fashion” an absolute epic worthy of the mantle.

Where Mass Effect carried the studio into the future, Dragon Age felt like a hearkening back to BioWare’s CRPG roots of Baldur’s Gate and even Knights of the Old Republic. Yet after such a torrent of change, The Veilguard absolutely pays homage to a different era but manages to carve a path forward for the developer, one where the magic may be replenished.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an outrageously dense game but not one that disrespects the player’s time with meaningless errands and overt busy work. One may call The Veilguard an example of lessons learned, especially ones learned in the acidic crucible of critical and internet discourse.

I look back to my playthrough of Inquisition from a few months ago as a kind of primer for The Veilguard. Oh how I loathed the clashing nature of its vast expanses of open zones and how my limited number of potions would often mean a frustrating trek back. What’s that you say? Characters in my party can now heal me? Green jars scattered through missions refill my potions? It almost feels like a novelty in that framing.

Yet The Veilguard works to instill personality more than anything–a key element that felt as if it had been kidnapped from Andromeda and Anthem.

While it may feel dismissive to put those two games in the gallows so frequently, I imagine it is going to be a common sentiment across The Veilguard‘s reception as a whole. I look at Anthem‘s world of Bastion and how lush and sprawling it felt, especially when flying through its humid skies in a Javelin. But then I remember how empty it was waiting for a clutch of enemies to phase in and then move on. Or the “tired faces” of Andromeda. But Inquisition was not without its own problems. Its side quests were paltry, often relegated to uncovered letters or playing errand boy. Its open areas felt designed to merely plop points of interest and baddies across, not actual lived in spaces.

The Veilguard opens as if the player has no preconceived notion of what’s going on. If this is your first Dragon Age game or not, the stakes are planted firmly into the ground. Player-created Rook and Varric–an ally since Dragon Age 2–meet up after a scuffle at a tavern and walk through the streets of Minrathous. One of the first things players see is a bustling bar packed with people standing around it cavorting. In the distance the Archon’s Palace floats above the ancient towering structures. Then hell breaks loose as demons laying siege on the city.

The chaos stems from Solas, the target Rook and Varric are hunting who was revealed to be an ancient elven god at the end of Inquisition‘s story. Solas is attempting to restore the elven race to its former power but to do so must tear a hole in The Veil, a magical barrier between the living world and the metaphysical realm of The Fade. Unsurprisingly, plans go awry and Rook, Varric, and a team of seven other companions–the titular Veilguard–must gather forces to tackle a potential greater threat.

It’s that sense of personality, of purpose–that steadies BioWare’s hand so frequently over the course of players’ journey through Northern Thedas. From those opening streets of Minrathous to the magical woods of Arlathan Forest to the European-styled Treviso, players are meant to explore and enjoy. Bustling streets and elven ruins are static fixtures, sure, but in The Veilguard they don’t feel like a pre-baked canvas to put quests on.

There was a shocking moment about 20 hours into the game where I returned to Arlathan and noticed there were branching pathways and shortcuts that I couldn’t access, whether opened up by a quest or from a means of gated progression, my concept of The Veilguard‘s scope was drastically altered. Unlike the Hinterlands or the Storm Coast, locales in The Veilguard don’t come across as video game levels. BioWare has crafted intricate lands meant to expand fans’ perception and understanding of the Dragon Age universe and merely delight any and all who step foot into it.

Personality is reflective in The Veilguard‘s aesthetic. Where Anthem went hard into crafting realism and high visual fidelity, BioWare worked to make their language here more fantastical and stylistic. Colors are rich and bright when they need to communicate a sunny beach where dragons roost, or gloomy and muted when at the Grand Necropolis or blighted ruins of a village.

This is not to say BioWare’s angle is unpolished or a detriment to the realism. From my experience, The Veilguard runs exceptionally on PlayStation 5 and each time I walked through a magical Eluvian mirror to a new location, I relished the opportunity to explore every inch and gawk at the exceptional skyboxes. Players will walk in awe as a friendly travels with them, potentially opening up the Codex to learn more about where they are.

For players who want an enriched role-playing experience, BioWare knocks it out of the park with The Veilguard‘s character creator. This is perhaps one of the best available and will certainly delight anyone who wants to create an ideal version of the Rook they have in their mind, barring a few meager exceptions. It is claimed that every NPC in the game was created using the specific creator players have their hands on and it tracks, partially because of the dozens of hairstyles and cosmetic features, but also because of the ability to mold and shape a face based on three different head types.

Though The Veilguard does not have an intricate opening based on what faction history players align with such as in the first game, selecting this detail from Rook’s background will have interesting ramifications on how the character is addressed by others in the game, along with opening up varying dialog trees.

Told across three acts, The Veilguard spends valuable time focusing on the player building up their team and recruiting each member. Neve is a private investigator and an ice mage. Harding is an old friend from the Inquisition who teamed up with Varric as a professional archer. Lucanis is a demon-possessed Antivan Crow, a highly-skilled group of assassins based out of Treviso. Darvin is a Grey Warden monster hunter with his griffon Assan by his side. Bellara is knowledgeable in ancient elven artifacts and The Fade, using her prowess to open up new paths with magic. Taash is a Quinari dragon hunter that is young and rough around the edges but has her own hidden secret. Emmrich is a necromancer of the Mourn Watch who has a knack for raising the dead and even has a skeletal assistant named Manfred.

Games featuring “end of the world” narratives often struggle with player expectation on timeframes. Some often express concern that their character is taking on busy work all while the world burns away. In a sense, The Veilguard eliminates this issue by introducing its primary threat early on in the game and letting it simmer for several hours based on how expedient players choose to be.

While I had a bit of an issue with certain elements of the plot feeling rushed, BioWare handles the golden path fairly well. I think the introduction of Taash and Emmrich are slightly rushed as Rook is basically told “go here” and those characters are encountered shortly after. However, it is not similar to Inquisition which featured almost no quest at all for several of its allies. Before any member of the Veilguard is recruited, players will go on a mission with them to flesh out that character’s initial personality.

During the course of the first act, players will receive side quests usually tied to a character who is also tied to a specific faction. These can be taken at most points in the game but thorough players who wish to understand everything about the cast will do well to fulfill all requests.

Expect to sink around 80 hours into the game if you want to do everything. At about 60 hours and hurtling towards the final act, I still had a few things left to clean up that I had to forgo for a Rook with more time on their hands.

But The Veilguard‘s narrative is not just one of a world on the brink. Those stakes are established well and the overarching narrative goes in many extremely surprising places that may confound newcomers with delight but bring deep satisfaction to fans. More importantly, the work BioWare has done to establish its characters and Rook as an extension of the player is the mythical formula that has felt missing for so long.

Suffice it to say, The Veilguard features immensely captivating character work that makes any notion of romance, betrayal, or loss an intrinsic part of the player’s feelings. Almost immediately I set out to romance Neve because I loved her cool demeanor and style. But as new characters started to pour in and more dynamics grew, I watched Neve and Bellara bond over magic and was worried that I may have competition. Or I went with Lucanis to drink coffee and watch over a potential lead to the assassination of a member of the Crows.

These people in this fantasy world are full of history, feelings, and drive. As Rook, players are free to work to explore these connections and foster them in any way. But working to complete the multi-layered personal quests will not only increase the bonds Rook has, it makes it more difficult when big decisions come into play.

One decision early into the game leads to a choice that will not only alter one of the playable spaces but affect a companion greatly. In The Veilguard, choices made by Rook can leave allies dead, visibly injure companions, or cause a companion to become hardened–making them more powerful in combat but harder to grow a bond with.

Where Inquisition had fairly unremarkable combat, The Veilguard makes the act of fighting significantly entertaining, especially when compared to the fairly enjoyable combat of Anthem. Regardless of choosing a mage, rogue, or warrior, Rook will wield a number of powers that are based on cooldowns. Both Rook and their companions have skills acting as primers or detonators for varying status ailments inflicted on enemies. Applying sundered on an enemy will allow another character to use an ability that detonates that affliction, causing damage in an area and damaging or afflicted nearby enemies.

Initially the combat can feel slightly sluggish if players are simply working to focus on varying cooldowns and Rook’s active powers. But a ways into the game, I began to learn the intricacies of not just instantly triggering detonations on enemy groups. Many of the tougher foes have barriers and armor that must be whittled down to inflict health damage. Applying status ailments may do more damage to these bars so it would be wise to wail on an enemy before stripping the affliction with a detonation.

The Veilguard also uses an intensely more active combat system that Inquisition‘s typical stand around and hold a button and wait for a cooldown. As a mage, my Rook could equip a staff to fire bolts of magic from a distance or using a dagger and orb to do damage at close range. Warriors can bear two-handed arms or a sword and shield, while rogues focus on dual blades and a bow.

Having played all three, the choice is really down to preference. Mages start kind of slow as there are less resources and methods of generating mana. Rogues emphasize quick movement and precise headshots while warriors often act like tanks and buffs to companions. Picking a favorite class may prove difficult because they are all significantly enjoyable to play. As Rook, players can dodge and parry, use heavy and light attacks, and string together their weapons to better adjust to a diverse combat encounter.

Making use of proper companion skills allows players to fill in the gaps where they may be weakest. At level 20, specializations open up on the vast skill tree. As players learn more about their class and lean into a particular specialization, certain companions may be more viable over time. As a Mourn Watch mage, I decided to focus on a build that swamped enemies with necrotic damage. If I wanted to truly dial into this build I could bring along Emmrich and Lucanis, both who can deal necrotic damage with their skills. But it may also be wise to have a mage, warrior, and rogue in your three-person party to maximize effectiveness.

Without the ability to control each member of your party, BioWare enables players to focus the wealth of the action on Rook. Pulling up the ability wheel or memorizing the hotkeys to execute skills takes little time and after several cycles of varying combos, players will become familiar with their favorite synergies. And for an added bit of control, there is an ability to direct control of your companions towards specific enemies and doing so may trigger unique effects based on the equipment the party has on.

The Veilguard‘s depth of combat truly makes it some of the best action BioWare has ever done and I see fringes of the live-service trappings in its loot system–but only the best kind. In treasure chests or at shops, players will find pieces of gear at a certain level or rarity. Collecting a piece you already own will increase the rarity of that item, unlocking a new perk. One can imagine that the wealth of items for both Rook and their companions will vastly add to build customization over the course of the game and the various skills unlocked. In fact, the gear chase made me further scrutinize environments, searching for hidden alcoves for a tantalizing upgrade.

A pillar of The Veilguard experience is the Crossroads, acting as another open area for players to explore. This realm is in The Fade and features branching paths leading to other Eluviums. But across Thedas players can also fight blight champions that open up locked paths in the Crossroads. It’s here that players will also uncover crucial fragments of Solas’ memory, fleshing out his distant past and perhaps unlocking important information for the battle ahead.

Across the numerous locations players will visit, The Veilguard provides one of the most expansive looks into Thedas yet. As such, BioWare gracefully creates numerous opportunities to explore these locations with quests, elven statues, and character moments that reward curiosity and any lore fan wishing to invest just a few more seconds into the universe.

A game so rife with history, especially from three prior entries is bound to get lost in the weeds, even a tiny bit. While The Veilguard does its best to carry the weight of expectations, players who hope that every crucial decision made since Origins has an impact will need to reign it in. It isn’t that BioWare has failed its own long-running storytelling. It’s just that The Veilguard is so massive and sprawling that the choice-based framework being made as Rook would perhaps become diluted if having to work with such a massive narrative.

The tradeoff is that Rook is a capable protagonist for players to fulfill their role-playing whims upon. There’s a hefty amount of dialog options to flavor how a conversation will play out and the game respects players changing up their banter to specifically cater to various companions or the needs of a situation at hand. Most choices made will influence a companion negatively or positively and approval is not guaranteed–though bringing someone along for a mission is a guaranteed way to grow their bond and supplement their skill trees and equipment.

The culmination of varying choices constantly gripped me in The Veilguard with boy elation and devastation riddling me in equal measure. Choices are not meant to be easy, even ones where the player may choose to have Rook be a little flirty and take things too far. But being a game that bears the brunt of several years of storytelling, I admired the effort in place to incorporate multiple threads and characters from the past into this spiraling web.

It would be difficult to ride the razor thin line of player expectation that The Veilguard has between its announcement and release. The game will no doubt be subject to vast amounts of scrutiny both fair and unjustified. But one cannot deny the strength of BioWare’s delivery in totality.

Never would I have thought that The Veilguard would have some of the studio’s best combat, better than what made me addicted to Mass Effect 3‘s multiplayer mode for a handful of weeks. This game is so fun to play and that is such an outstanding relief when previously I trudged through Inquisition to get to the story bits. I spent over an hour in the character creator almost thinking my Rook looked like a freak and now I can’t stop admiring her charming smile and can-do attitude.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard certainly closes a chapter for Dragon Age as a whole. But one can’t help but look more brightly at the future, one where Bioware has seemingly broke a curse it has been shackled with for years. As labyrinthine as a task it would have seemed, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a promise to fans that BioWare is one of the best storytellers in the medium, one capable of bombastic gameplay and enthralling narratives that linger for years.