The newest entry to theDragon Ageseries has finally been released and is available to fans of this beloved series.Dragon Age: The Veilguardis a long-awaited sequel and many have been looking forward to exploring the world once again, diving deep into the rich lore and environments that enraptured many of us since the release ofDragon Age: Origins.Nothing beats a solid and well-written game with traveling companions that help us take on massive dragons, gods and demons of all sorts. But doesDragon Age: The Veilguardhold up and carry the torch that was passed along?
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Dragon Age is Back
Dragon Age: The Veilguardtakes place after the events ofDragon Age: Inquisitionand shows off what the world is capable of. What we knew as the world previously has changed in many unexpected ways; some cities have flourished while others are now struggling to evolve and the world has become something new entirely in a short amount of time. Witnessing the evolution of a series of games loved by many fans is amazing to see how much the world has changed while our characters have gone off on their own adventures now. The environments are stunning and filled with detail, each area giving us a new piece of this brilliantly-crafted world that doesn’t get old. The downside of these amazing new places to explore is that they aren’t substantially large anymore. New environments that were sprawling and magical exploration experiences inDragon Age: Inquisitionare now missing, favoring a smaller and more confined area for players to explore. The feeling of finding something new is now extremely limited and is surely enjoyable for some, but those seeking a deeper experience may find this lacking.
When starting the game and creating a character, there are four choices we have for the race of the main character: Elf, Qunari, Human and Dwarf. Character customization is in-depth but still lacking in some areas for each character’s race. It’s still awesome to have full control over how we look, but something just seems off about the options at first. Some of it comes across as a bit cartoon-like, with the characters' heads being too big in comparison to the rest of their bodies. Some legacy characters from past games appear, but you might not recognize them due to this stylistic change. Some just look nothing like they used to in the more realistic and grounded versions we’ve gotten before. Other than completely changing some of the already-established characters, the art style chosen for the game is still fitting for the world. It just takes a bit of time to get adjusted to this new change in art direction when compared to the previousDragon Ageentries.
Faction choices will also influence your Rook’s backstory and they each gain separate perks. From extra potions to bonus damage to undead and demons. There are six factions total to choose from and all perks from them are the same for each class, so you won’t miss anything when picking a Grey Warden Warrior over a Grey Warden Mage, or Antivan Crows Rogue over an Antivan Crows Warrior. Each provides you with a new backstory of how your Rook came to be before the events of the game happened. The only downside to this is that we get this backstory only in passing and we don’t get to play the backstory of our choice to become attached to our characters even more.
Getting into the Fight
Multiple combat difficulty presets are available for players, each allowing you to pick what works best for you and how you operate. you may be a glutton for punishment right away and pick the harder options to increase incoming damage, enemy aggression, tactical challenge and defense timing. It should be said that the “Nightmare” option is not available in a new playthrough right off the bat. A custom option is also available, allowing you to change each of these at will for your unique experience that would suit you best. How it is handled is a nice way to give players of all types to create hand-tailored challenges if the default options don’t suit them.
The combat is enjoyable in its own right and provides a smooth combat experience that allows you to look for some flashy ways to dispose of enemies.
Combat feels like an evolution of the combat withinDragon Age: Inquisition, which isn’t bad for many players. We won’t have anything like the combat inDragon Age: Origins, which was a superb experience on its own, but this is still a nice evolution that gives us some new action gameplay in a fantasy setting that people know and love. Each class has several subclasses to gear towards, all being very different from each other. For example, a Warrior can become either a Champion, Reaper or Slayer once you reach level 20. Champion is more sword and shield focused, Reaper applies tons of status effects and Slayer focuses on two-handed weapon attacks. All three are fun ways to play the game and you don’t have to commit to just one at any time as you can refund all of your skill points whenever you’d like to try a new subclass.
Another big part of combat withinDragon Age: The Veilguardare your party members. You can issue orders to them via the skill wheel and have them attack targets with you, for you and provide assistance with specific skills. Party skills can combine to not only slow an enemy down but also provide some massive damage to enemies that are giving you trouble. It adds a little more variety to the combat and makes it interesting when facing a tough enemy that needs a new strategy to take it down. Some of these unique combos will not be available right away, though, and will need some story progression for these to start unlocking for the player.
Attempting to Carry the Torch
While the story we are given does provide us with villains we are aiming to take down, it all feels too easy. The biggest problem withDragon Age: The Veilguardis that it ignores everything from the series that happened previously and tries to work with the last act ofDragon Age: Inquisitionto move the story forward. We get three choices about what transpired at the end of this previous entry and the other games are sort of abandoned for the most part. It’s known that this was done to avoid contradicting plot points and decisions that would impactDragon Age: The Veilguard’s story, but it’s still disappointing when everything players have gone through to this point doesn’t seem to matter. We aren’t shown what has changed as time has gone on, but told in ways that don’t do a great job at painting the bigger picture. Right away, the main character gets dropped into the middle of a big event before everything slows down for us as players. The story isn’t abysmal, but it isn’t great either. It does the job and at least provides a new experience for players, but it isn’t anything groundbreaking.
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The dialogue isn’t the most engaging part of the game either, at least at the start. It’s fairly basic, nothing horrible but also nothing amazing at the same time. It’s serviceable writing for the most part that doesn’t quite feel like what some Dragon Age fans are used to at this point in the series' lifetime. Some of the given dialogue options also do not match what the character says, which can end up feeling wrong and sometimes frustrating when you want to treat a companion one way, but the dialogue says something different entirely. Most of the NPCs you encounter throughout the cities you visit don’t have many lines either. The ones you encounter will talk at Rook, but not to them or with them. It’s probably not a dealbreaker for most players either, but it does lack some of that world-building that makes RPGs special for players. What we do see building the world is in the side quests and flavor text spread throughout them, which is something seen in the other entries ofDragon Age, and it’s nice to see these carried on in this new game.
Closing Comments:
When all is said and done,Dragon Age: The Veilguardis a solid experience. It’s flashy, pretty and entertaining, standing out through the combat and environments. It no longer feels like this sprawling world that we explore and save from the brink of destruction, but rather a small pocket that needs constant supervision. This is a more on-the-rails experience when compared to any of the pastDragon Agegames. Considering the struggles that Bioware has undergone sinceDragon Age: Inquisition,however, it’s still awesome that we received a game of this quality. It doesn’t share much in terms of style and gameplay, but we do see characters we love again in a beautiful world and fun combat. It isn’t the most mind-blowing entry to the series and does play it safe, but it’s still a good game. The combat and soundtrack are solid, the environments are gorgeous and the game is still filled with a ton of world-building.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
