BioWare, the RPG developer we all know and love, is dead. Long dead. The company made its name from crafting magnificent CRPGs. They made the two games that preceded Baldur’s Gate III, 2023’s Game Of The Year as proclaimed by many. They made one of the most compelling Star Wars games with Knights Of The Old Republic. And they brought RPGs to the masses with Mass Effect and a fantasy RPG set in their own created universe, Dragon Age: Origins.
But the streak of mainstream success from the dual prongs of the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series had a cost. BioWare slowly, but surely, made their games more action-oriented and less RPG-ish. Mass Effect 2 was peak BioWare; the 2010 hit blended the two elements just well to hit critical mass. And after that, well, apparently the developer kept putting more and more points in action gameplay in their character sheet. And at some point, they have entirely respecced.
The last Dragon Age title before this was Dragon Age: Inquisition. The 2014 game went back to being more of an RPG after Dragon Age II had mixed reception. Inquisition was their last big hit, as the next run of games was universally panned. Mass Effect Andromeda promised a new narrative set in a new galaxy, yet that BioWare magic was nowhere to be seen, released in poor shape, full of bugs and uncharacteristically bad writing. Anthem was the studio’s attempt at a live service game, and the worldbuilding was uncharacteristically bland with no gas for a games-as-a-service (GaaS).
The BioWare that we all know and love, which writes fascinating stories and immersive narratives, is dead. Long dead.
But this new BioWare has been rather competent with its action gameplay.
This is a long setup to stage this review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. And I have to. This is the narrative that runs in my head. This is the context you need to know that informs my opinions of this new action-RPG. I want to make it clear that I’m not hoping Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be a return to form as an epic, gritty CRPG that the series is all about. I know some folks still cling to the idea of the golden years of BioWare to arrive again, but no. The many folks that were there have left, either to make other games or leave the industry entirely. That BioWare is long dead. Yet I want to believe in this new BioWare, that they can come back and make something magical again.
And after playing The Veilguard to the end, I’m still not sure if I truly like it. But there is glimpses of brilliance.
This new action-oriented BioWare has more or less addressed its weakest aspect, the writing, and has doubled down on their strengths. The Veilguard, ironically, isn’t playing on defence. It challenges every aspect of the RPG gameplay the series has established and turned this into a marvel of an action-RPG. But it also doesn’t quite pierce the veil of standout titles in 2024, a year rich in quality RPG releases.
Presentation
EA and BioWare haven’t talked much about the Frostbite engine as of late, the game engine designed for FPS games that at one point was mandated to be used in all EA games. It has a bad rep these days. But the game engine remains competent in delivering high-quality visuals without much performance drawback.
I’ve been playing solely on performance mode on the PS5 and it’s locked to 60 FPS, as my eyes perceive, that is. The visuals look a tad fuzzy, but it’s still pleasant to look at, a stark difference to some games where you can tell the massive visual downscaling it’s doing to get the framerate up. And here, Veilguard is doing it almost effortlessly. This ninth-generation console game can run on a Steam Deck; it’s that optimised.
The world of Thedas looks remarkable thanks to the game’s variety of locales spanning across the large, previously unseen lands of northern Thedas. From the autumnal trees of Arlathan Forest to the bustling, rain-soaked Dock City district in Minrathous. From the spooky depths of the Necropolis in Nevarra to the picturesque azure coast of Rivain. It may not be an open world game, but there’s plenty of visual splendour and breathtaking vistas to take a look at how beautiful the scenery s. Until all hell breaks loose and bodies, gooey Blight, and other calamities strike, that is.
The character models also look amazing. Your playable character, Rook, is fully customisable, and there are plenty of ways to make them look beautiful, handsome, or cursed. I don’t know if I like the more yassified Qunari look; that particular race of people has been getting redesigns every game, but I don’t necessarily loathe it either. It looks fine.
But what’s more than fine is the hair. The hair looks immaculate. Everyone in The Veilguard can be a model for a shampoo ad with hair this fabulous. The trade-off is you don’t get to mess around with hair extensions or add bangs like some character creators offer, but the hair, and the way it flows when moving and traversing, are majestic to see. Yet it comes at a heavy cost. All of the helm options, including hats, for Rook will cover their entire head completely, covering the hair. You either go full free-hair or fully hijab, as we say here. Of course, the hair and clothes regularly clip through objects, but there’s definitely an effort made to reduce them or make them look less jarring. It’s impressive.
The music here is one of the examples where the developers are breaking the mould of this RPG series. It’s a fantasy setting, yet the music has been infused by synthesisers and electronica. By Hans Zimmer, no less. And yet somehow, it blends rather well. The eerie synths mix in well with the more traditional orchestral score, and thankfully it doesn’t come off as generic orchestra. There’s character in the music; it’s there to enunciate the setting but never to be in the spotlight, with each location having bespoke exploration and combat music that flows in and out dynamically. Who would’ve thought synths belonged in a fantasy RPG?
The voice acting is competent. The main cast is lively and has been successfully brought alive by the voice actors. And unlike past games in the series, the larger selection of explorable regions across the Dragon Age setting allows for more English accents to appear. We’re far enough from Ferelden and Orlais, where its citizens are stereotypically depicted as having British and French accents, respectively, that you can hear people speak in more accents, regardless of race. One person has a Japanese accent, even. Northern Thedas definitely is more of a melting pot of culture.
The sound design of the game also caught my attention. It’s a good example of how 3D audio should work. I can hear the party banter at the back reflected between each ear. I can get lost in the enchanting sounds of a waterfall that propagates its majesty in and out of my headphones as I slowly rotate the camera around. Many games throughout this console generation have used some form of surround sound and 3D audio, but of the ones I’ve played, Veilguard does it the best.
The UI is not snappy enough. Going in and out of the menu (which you will do a lot) has a few seconds of delay and fade-in, which gets annoying over time. I don’t see the value of using a Destiny-style cursor for the inventory management when simple d-pad directions could do that faster and slicker. And honestly, I don’t like that when a notification appears, it turns the menu button into a shortcut. The shortcut function is fine, but let me have access to load into the long-loading menu screen at all times.
That said, the icons to show status effects are made clear. The system where you can track an objective and have an updating waypoint show you where exactly to go without additional inputs is absolutely killer. The UI has its moments where it shines and fumbles, a recurring theme about this game.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a AAA game, and it delivers AAA-quality presentation.
Gameplay
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s story picks up long after the events of Dragon Age Inquisition have transpired. Varric has assembled a team to stop his old buddy Solas, who happens to be one of the Elven gods, from piercing the veil and unleashing daemons into the world en masse. The crew includes this new character, Rook. It’s not short for rookie, but Rook, like the chess piece.
(Chess exist in the Dragon Age setting? Apparently so.)
After the opening events of the game, Rook takes charge of the team and must recruit more companions and factions to join their cause to stop the Elven gods from piercing the veil and unleashing the countless demons en masse that will surely doom the world. And so The Veilguard, or to use the proper term, “the team,” is formed.
As you know, Dragon Age: The Veilguard plays more like an action game with RPG elements. And some of you may not know, but BioWare lately has been very good at this. My point still stands that Mass Effect Andromeda has amazing combat, and that translates well into Anthem. While BioWare didn’t just turn Dragon Age into a third-person shooter, they did revamp many aspects of the series’s CRPG gameplay so that it plays like an action RPG.
Having a light and heavy attack where you are encouraged to press buttons precisely rather than just holding them down is already a big change for Dragon Age, but you can also shoot some form of projectiles as well by consuming class-specific resources.
Each of the three classes has a bespoke skill tree that sprawls with different passives and active skills to unlock. It’s a mini Sphere Grid (shout out to Final Fantasy X), but just as complex and robust. Definitely a far cry from Inquisition’s smaller skill trees and the CRPG-style distribution of stats and abilities in past titles. There’s no more sustained abilities or a row of equippable abilities. Everyone can only have three skills equipped at the time, so make your choices wisely. You don’t have to drink stamina and lyrium potions; class-specific resources used to activate the abilities can be accrued to active combat. Press buttons, get stamina/momentum/mana.
Veilguard has effectively stripped away the combat system from its RPG roots. Yet in its place is solid action combat. Rook controls well in battle. As a mage, their light and heavy attacks involve a lot of staff twirling and posing with long animation startups, as any badass mage should, but they can be cancelled into dodges and short teleports if you press the buttons just right. The combat pace is not fast; you’re better off pressing buttons in time with the animations to get a good rhythm. No need to button mash. But precise button pressing is needed here, as enemies can swarm and overwhelm you in all kinds of ways.
And there’s also the change in how party members function. In past Dragon Age games, your companions were treated as equal members of the party. Except in Dragon Age II, any party member can be controlled.
In The Veilguard, party members can’t be controlled. Their skill trees are smaller than what’s in Inquisition; all their abilities are on cooldowns as they don’t even have resource bars. Or even health bars for that matter.
On paper this looks like they’ve streamlined the game to the point that it feels dumbed down, yet in practice it isn’t. You’re still making important choices when speccing out the skill trees. Companion’s gear is still meaningful in what support buffs they carry. And they still fight alongside you and can operate independently as such. This isn’t like Final Fantasy XVI, where party members are mere suggestions. With the active skills (and other passives you unlock, which can include the ability to trigger skills independently), they still play a big part in the combat. It’s just that you don’t need to babysit them and think really, really hard to spec them out.
Though I wish enemies didn’t just immediately aggro on Rook only. They do attack the other party members, but since they will never die, the enemy AI smartly prioritises Rook if they have the chance. And if you’re playing a mage, there will be instances where the whole gang is just ganging up against you in an unwinnable situation. Unless you bring a warrior that can taunt and draw aggro away from you, or be very good at parrying, as a mage can also use a “mage knife” that has some rogue-like knife attacks.
And the combat does suffer if you’re not properly geared up, as it should for an RPG. There are optional bosses that serve as a gear check where they fight you in many annoying ways. If you neglect gearing up, you’re going to fight absolute damage sponges, and when that happens, the combat immediately loses its juice.
There is a sweet spot to the combat. Roughly halfway through the game, when you are about Level 20+, you should have enough of an understanding of not only the combat system but also how to create a build. And once you figured that out, popping out skills and doing simple combos while actively dodging out of harm is absolutely fun. It requires some getting used to, but you can feel the action goodness. That’s the sweet spot where you can see and feel how BioWare, the current iteration of this team, is firing guns blazing. And they don’t miss. Until they do after you leave the sweet spot.
The main mechanical game loop of gearing up, exploring for new gear, and engaging in combat somehow loses gas in the late game. I figured out a good build by Level 30, and by Level 40 I really didn’t know what skill I should spend points on anymore to the point that I was glad it’s capped at Level 50. Once you’ve locked in a build, there’s no real reason to experiment or mess about with the systems anymore. With enemy variety only slightly changed via modifiers, combat is basically “solved,” and as a result, it becomes a chore. I derived no enjoyment out of the combat by hour 50 of the game.
Was it my fault I overleveled for engaging in side content that involves fighting Level 40-50 enemies, and now the rest of the late game becomes rote? Why was it accessible so early in the first place, then?
Some of the unique loot sounds neat on paper, as they drastically change your playstyle (can’t heal with potions of ally abilities, but extra boost to health leech on each attack, for example). But the way the numbers are presented, and the lack of enemy variety in the late game, means there’s no reason for me to figure out a whole new build around unique gear when the one I have right now works fine. If only these gimmicky unique gear had bigger stat numbers than my straightforward +10 Legendary gear.
As a result, The Veilguard’s combat, while promising at first to be the thing that carries the whole game, feels only superficially deep. The ingredients to make satisfying combat are all there; they just didn’t cook it right. I definitely enjoyed the first 30 hours, where combat felt ridiculously fun. But not more than that.
Outside of combat, you’ll be exploring the world of northern Thedas, split across multiple maps. As mentioned earlier, these aren’t open-world maps in size. Yet still, you can get lost around the canal city of Treviso or decide to just fast-travel from one point of Dock Town to the other because it’s a long walk across. You’ll only be travelling on foot, and portions of the maps are designed to be engaged during a specific story beat or side quest, so yes, some of them are technically long corridors. And some are literally long corridors like Necropolis. But the designers and artists hide these long corridors well by blending them into a believable slice of a liveable world. It’s amazing to explore.
And you do get to do a lot of exploring. Treasure chests are aplenty around these maps, and it will require some traversal, use of each companion’s special power, and some puzzle solving to get to them all. It’s all neat, not too obtuse but not too simple either. So if you like the idea of jumping around and climbing up places in search of loot, the gameplay when you’re not off killing something is good. Adding a jump button in Dragon Age is quite the game-changer.
I love what they did with the gear system in The Veilguard. Inquisition’s gear system was very CRPG, but with crafting and resource gathering involved (tied to those ludicrously large open world maps), it becomes cumbersome. Veilguard streamlines the system but still hits the same RPG progression notes. Instead of acquiring random loot, you can find duplicates of the same gear, which allows it to be upgraded in rarity, unlocking a new passive. And you increase the raw numbers up to a +10 as you progress through the game. So all the weapons, armour, and accessories you acquire (outside of the starting gear) will remain feasible until the end, so long as you find the dupes of that same gear somewhere in the many treasure chests and merchants across Thedas or as quest rewards. It’s still complex in that it allows for buildcrafting and rewards you for playing thoroughly, but without all the unwieldiness of a free-form crafting system.
Like any Dragon Age game, The Veilguard will have you make decisions with consequences. The dialogue wheel is back, and yes, each segment of the wheel corresponds to a specific emotion or personality you can let Rook express. It’s a bit more nuanced now.
The middle option, the “sarcastic” option to use the Dragon Age II term, isn’t necessarily the “crack some stupid/cringe one-liner” option. Sometimes Rook just politely makes light of a particular situation. And yes, that means there are more chances where the choice you pick and assume what it is supposed to be in the head doesn’t quite match what Rook ultimately says. But that’s just the flaw of the dialogue wheel in general; nothing new. Non-native speakers of the language they are playing in will always struggle, as there’s a chance they misunderstand the short blurb and are not expecting the actual dialogue to be a whole different thing than what they assumed.
The Veilguard has a smarter way of making choices matter. Instead of doing the whole Telltale thing of informing you that this dialogue choice will have an effect later, the game tells you that this particular event is the result of your actions.
It starts off silly at first; the game remembered me mocking Solas by making a Marvel-esque call-and-response quip, only for him to recall and say the same quip. The game’s UI notifies that him saying that was the direct result of what I did earlier. That’s neat.
With this style of notification, it really gives more impact to the player that they did this. And there are moments in the game where I went, “Oh shit, this is my fault?” as I see something heartbreaking appear, only for the game to reaffirm to me that it is, indeed, my fault. Oh shit.
But it works with little moments too. The early banter with Solas may be a bit cringe, but later on, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what impact your actions have made, some of which are not from dialogue choices. I think it’s a good, if not better, way of making players feel their choice mattered. A bit gamified, but it’s better this way than being held to the promise of your choice mattered only to see the impact is minimal, if any.
There are some harrowing choices you have to make; some of them are gun-to-your-head situations in that they come from nowhere, and you just have to pick. And that’s the core of The Veilguard’s, and Rook’s experience. Your character, regardless of what origin you pick, had prior experience of going through a Trolley Problem where not everyone is happy and sacrifices have to be made. And you’re expected to go solve Trolley Problems throughout the game, so this doesn’t come off as lazy or not fun; the game intentionally wants you to make difficult decisions with not much information to work with and deal with the aftermath of it. It is woven into the story’s fabric. Don’t worry; the game tries not to guilt trip you too hard, though they do make attempts.
Content
In my first draft of this review, which I started doing with the assumption I had reached the late game, I said that it took me nearly 30 hours to complete a playthrough of The Veilguard.
In reality, doing every sidequest after what I assume was the start of the late game has added another 30 hours of playtime, for a total of 60 hours.
The pacing is rather odd. It seems to move at brisk speed at first as I unlocked PS trophies for what seems to be chapter progression in just a few hours of play. But by Part 7 or so, around the time when all the companions join the team, it slows down to a halt, mostly due to the abundance of side quests and the ability to explore the many maps. And the maps open up over time as you complete more side quests.
The odd pacing extends to how you level up and unlock the skill tree. It feels like you make rapid progression from level 1 to 20. I unlock so many points, all the while still having no idea how to traverse the skill tree/Sphere Grid and plan a build. And by the time I do have an idea of what skills I want by level 30 or so, the level-ups dramatically slow down. But then by level 40 or so, I’ve basically settled on a good enough build, and now the combat feels stale because I’ve technically “solved” it. I have my build figured out. To change the setup means losing every configuration I’ve meticulously made. The game could’ve used a loadout saving system like Andromeda had to encourage build experimentation.
Similarly, the plot seems to be moving fast in the early chapters, only for it to hit the brakes mid-game. The game establishes its main goal and villains early on. But then the development of the main plot takes a backseat as the game introduces the companions and factions across northern Thedas. The gap between the first full-on bombastic cinematic level, like the one at the start of the game, was like 20 hours deep.
And I find it very peculiar that the team is only referred to as “the team” in conversations. There’s no “We Are The Veilguard!” moment or a bombastic establishment of “the team,” unlike in Inquisition, which had multiple cinematic team-establishing cinematics. The Veilguard is supposed to be heroes that unites the various factions of power across northern Thedas. This is basically The Avengers; they sometimes quip like them even. It has the approval and support of the last big hero Thedas has seen. Yet, for most of the game, this is just “Rook and the team.” There was no reason given why this team doesn’t grow in fame among the common folk or if they are supposed to be a secret team.
The mid-game is dreadfully mid, bad even, when it comes to pacing and storytelling. Even the linear story missions felt meh. Thankfully, the game ends strong, Mass Effect 2 style.
Story-wise, it’s not the best I’ve seen in a video game this year. And I understand why some folks would be entirely put off by the writing. It has forgone the dark, gritty tone of previous games for something more pulpy, more comic book-like. There are clear villains that are pure evil. There’s no redeeming quality for the two humanoid enemy factions. Dialogue during linear, cinematic sequences is more quippy, designed for an action blockbuster movie experience. There’s a lot more wholesome banter and vibes going on within the team, with most of the tension being quickly resolved. Well, except for one specific bit that involves a major dialogue choice, and that bit is so impactful throughout the game, which is a shame that it’s more of an outlier.
The story tone feels like it’s attempting a JRPG story; you’d be surprised how many boxes it ticks on the proverbial bingo card. But this year has been overwhelmed by great JRPG-style stories, which The Veilguard pales in comparison to.
And I certainly know that not many fans will feel comfortable with The Veilguard breaking so much established lore. It makes sense that the more restrictive aspects of the lore would only apply to more conservative locales like Ferelden; the game makes it a point by having incidental conversations exploring how different customs and traditions in northern Thedas can be compared to the southern lands as depicted in previous games. The Chantry behaves differently in the north; that’s fine. But even the supernatural rules are being broken. And there’s also massive power scaling concerns. We’re facing literal gods. So what’s next then? Are we just going to see more and more powerful human-adjacent entities threatening Thedas? Are we just playing as superheroes now?
BioWare has shot all of its credibility for storytelling with its recent two games. storytelling with its recent two games. The once much-loved storyteller in RPGs is no more.
But as someone who still vividly remembers how awful the writing of Mass Effect Andromeda was and how much of a nothingburger the world of Anthem was, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an amazing glow-up.
It’s a pathetically low bar to clear, I know, but there is some competency in that writing room. They just lack a bit of cohesion. The tone can be hit-or-miss.
The strongest part of the writing has to be the companion stories. Given how their reveal was met with a lukewarm response, I’m delighted to say that they all grew on me over time. I was really hesitant with the idea of an old necromancer guy, another token Qunari, and another quirky awkward nerd in the party. But it turns out Emmrich is wholeheartedly passionate about his undead studies because that’s normal in his homeland; Taash is having a genuine identity crisis, which you have full RPG powers to influence what kind of person Taash should be, and Belara is masking her anxieties from past trauma. These are properly fleshed-out characters that one can relate to and form relationships with. The defeat-the-villain/rival character arc that some companions had feel off though. Strong opening, weak resolution.
They haven’t changed my mind in regards to romance; I abstained from banging a companion as I don’t find any of them attractive for my character. So I’m very happy to see Rook can play wingman and help other party members romance their fellow co-workers.
On that note, I also like Rook as a do-over of what Mass Effect Andromeda’s Ryder done better: a newcomer suddenly entrusted to lead a team. Rook can be a competent commander or a fake-it-until-you-make-it makeshift boss, depending on your dialogue choices. The game’s tough decision choices are designed to paint Rook that way. The team around Rook is aware that their leader can be convincingly competent and sometimes not. And thank the Maker, a character like this does have mentor figures that can act as a moral compass or someone to confide in. And it’s cleverly done.
Long story short, The Veilguard has a semblance of good writing, but it is far from the best story you’d see in a video game this year. And the pacing feels rather off.
Personal Enjoyment
For quite some time, I was on the side of history that thinks BioWare are overrated. I eventually did play all the mainline Mass Effect and Dragon Age games; some I like more than others. Yes, that includes the games from the dark ages, Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem.
But now that this company has fallen from grace and become a punching bag for sketchy grifters peddling hate, I do feel bad for them. I wish BioWare found their nebulous magic again. I want to see them succeed, especially after two major big fumbles.
So I approach the game, and this review, from an angle of wanting this to be a success. A return to form. In some ways, The Veilguard is that, but not quite there.
If The Veilguard can be completed in under 30 hours, with a lot of content being cut, I think I would have left with a more positive impression. The core gameplay is fun; the progression system has the right ideas. The companions are platonically more lovable than early marketing materials suggested.
Yet the game felt like it fumbled in the midway point, with out-of-place quips and weak storytelling that made me forget and not care about how menacing the villains are and how high the stakes are supposed to be.
If it can take 30 hours less to do a sort-of completionist run (I raised each companion to achieve Hero of the Veilguard status and beat the super boss), then this is probably a game of the year contender, even if the story is a bit botched.
But it’s not a mediocre game. It’s just that not all of the systems and story beats coalesce together quite well.
As a reluctant BioWare fan, I love bits of The Veilguard. There’s still room to explore the Dragon Age setting further, as demonstrated here. More lore to uncover, more societies and people to meet. And more ways for conflict to happen.
And it made me care enough for the ancillary characters you meet, from Assan who’s clearly animated by big fans of How To Train Your Dragon, to Vosgoth whose words are all capitalised in subtitles. There’s love being poured into making this game, despite not all of the parts not quite meshing together well.
Verdict
BioWare today isn’t like the BioWare the games industry and its friends cherish so much back in the good old days. But at least this team has produced something that is fun to play and has a somewhat okay story.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard excels in its action-RPG combat and provides tons of exploration fun across the many locales across northern Thedas without suffering from open-world monotony. Clever designs, like how loot and gear are improved over time, and the level design should be celebrated. And for a AAA game, it delivers a wonderful, beautiful world to be immersed in.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a much better game than Mass Effect Andromeda and Anthem were. And even if that’s a low bar to clear, it’s still a remarkable improvement to what today’s BioWare can do. This game won’t convince its old fans that this team can write amazing stories again. But at the very least, The Veilguard is holding the line, keeping the proverbial veil in place from being pierced, until the team can regain its mojo.
I can safely say Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the best game Bioware ever did since Dragon Age: Inquisition. But it still needs to do better. At the very least, this team can ship good-enough games.
Though in these trying times where one flop could be the end of a studio, I hope this is good enough.
Played on base PS5. Review copy provided by the publisher.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the best game Bioware ever did since Dragon Age: Inquisition. But it still needs to do better.
- Presentation 9
- Gameplay 8
- Content 7.5
- Personal Enjoyment 7.5