This review of EA’s “Dragon Age: The Veilgard” is much later than most of them for two reasons. One, it’s the busiest season of the year for everything in the entertainment world, and this review came late per year after major video games, movies, TV shows, etc. Two, I actually wanted to spend my time with it instead of rushing into the review – doing side quests, exploring the world, getting to know the characters, etc. So, after dozens of hours with “The Veilgard,” I emerged from this dense fantasy universe impressed by the overall experience, even if it doesn’t suit me. I remember how much I liked 2014’s “Dragon Age: Inquisition.” Which was one of the best RPGs of its era.
While it has its issues, mostly around repetitive battle mechanics, “The Veilguard” does a lot of things very well, including character depth we don’t often see in games like this and just being unlockable. The emphasis is on telling rich stories over the accumulation of things. Like weapons, skills and outfits. A game that largely slipped under the radar this crowded season and was surprisingly ignored by the Game Awards deserves another look. After all, better late than never.
“Villegard” is the sequel to “Inquisition,” but it’s getting a bit of criticism for how it indirectly handles that fact, with “Dragon Age” focusing more on new characters than existing ones beloved by fans. (After the trio of options anyone can input their favorite ending of the last game). The ending of “Inquisition” revealed that a major character named Solas was actually a god responsible for much of the chaos in that game. Solas returns in the prologue of “Veilgard” as he is caught attempting to destroy The Veil, the barrier that protects the real world of Thedas from a mysterious world filled with angry gods and their terrifying monsters.
To stop Solas, players take on the new role of “Rook”, whose entire identity can be created through an extremely flexible character creation function. Appearance options are abundant, and your Rook can be one of six factions: the killer Antivan Crows, the warrior Gray Wardens, the treasure-seeking Lords of Fortune, the guardian Moran Watch, the Resistance faction Shadow Dragons, and the agile Veil Jumpers. . Faction choice has an immediate impact on storytelling, making different characters friendlier and even opening up different markets for items and dialogue options. Your player will encounter all factions throughout the game, and who you choose to work with or ignore will, again, impact the entire story arc. This gives “Veilgard” an immediate feeling of authorship because I am sure that my “Rook” is not like anyone else’s from the first minute.
The first several hours of “Villegard” are about “bringing the band together”. Like most BioWare games, this “Dragon Age” relies heavily on interacting with allies and selecting the right partners to go on quests together. You’ll assemble an “Avengers”-like team and usually have to choose two to engage in battle, although some major story events involve everyone involved. Who you choose and how you treat them on those missions helps build relationships with your team and even lead to romantic entanglements, including “Dragon Age” vet Varric Tethras, a man named Les Harding. The scouts include a Veil jumper named Belara Lutare, a Gray Warden. A Mourner named Devrin, a Bereaved named Emmrich Volkarin, an Antivan Crow named Lucanis Delmorte, a Shadow Dragon named Neve Gallus, and a Lord of Fortune named Tash.
Why name all the NPCs in a fantasy game review? Because it’s a game about its characters. You get to know their strengths and weaknesses, trusting a few – I used Harding, Neve, Tash and Darwin the most and honestly grew to care about them – and legitimately interact with them through side quests and dialogue interactions. Started having a relationship with. This gives the game a depth of character and world-building that fantasy titles often lack. “Villegard” is a game that puts most of its creative energy into developing its characters, their relationships, and the world they come from. They all have rich backgrounds and tumultuous relationships with Rook that keep the game interesting outside of its combat and mission structure.
About that fight—it’s not great. At first, the battle mechanics seem exciting, especially when you combine all the powers to achieve the desired effect. (For example, you can order Harding to use a specific power, after which Knave follows-up and boosts both.) And Rook has a rich skill tree that allows for great customization in battle style. Have – Mine became the “Reaper” by using some powers that destroyed health as they caused necrotic damage. All the battle mechanics are great. Still, they become numbingly repetitive through long battle sequences that eschew the strategy of button-pushing attacks while you wait for the cooldown meter for your special powers to expire. While there are literally thousands of combos to take into battle given your character and the allies you take with you (who also have customizable powers and weapons), you’ll find a favorite loadout and use it like a kid with a toy hammer. Will have to be hit. There are some multi-stage boss battles that last remarkably long with the same attacks/special moves repeated over and over again, and I wanted a little more strategy to the combat.
The puzzle-solving is also a little thin, and most missions feel a bit like “fetch quests” (go get this item and bring it back). But what kept “The Veilgard” apart from all its flaws was the density of the storytelling and the characters within it. Every time I got bored of the combat or simple side quests, there was something impressive about the character or world design (especially on PS Pro, where the game looks gorgeous) that brought me back.
Much has been said about how many of the original “Dragon Age” writers left the project (sometimes controversially) during its complex development years. I think this tarnished its reputation at the time of release (which led to lower than expected sales). Still, I have to say that I was more addicted to “Vailgard” than many recent fantasy games, even significantly more acclaimed ones (looking at you, “Dragon’s Dogma 2”). I’ve always been attracted 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 is available now on PS5, Windows and Xbox Series.