Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an approachable, expansive action-oriented RPG and feels like a true end to whatever the franchise was before. Undoubtedly different in many ways from its predecessors, there's a lot to love about the new normal and what is hopefully a foundation for what's to come.
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00:00In many ways, Dragon Age The Veil Guard feels like a true return to RPG form for Bioware.
00:06Traversing the world of Thedas with pals, juggling abilities and stats and levels and
00:10skill points, and making questionable choices with narrative repercussions is exactly what
00:16I would have wanted out of a new Dragon Age game, and The Veil Guard certainly delivers
00:21on all of that and more.
00:23It's by no means perfect, and I have my fair share of frustrations with it after roughly
00:2876 hours, but between surprisingly satisfying combat mechanics and lovingly crafted narrative
00:34arcs that touch on everything from morality to identity to family, it's hard to fault
00:40the game too much over minor quibbles.
00:43Even after devoting an obscene amount of hours to Dragon Age The Veil Guard over an extremely
00:48short period of time, my overwhelming feeling as the credits rolled wasn't relief at being
00:52done, so much as curiosity at what I could have possibly done differently.
00:57Satisfied, but eager for more, which is the highest possible praise for an RPG like this.
01:06Dragon Age The Veil Guard's combat completes the series' slow transition over the years
01:10from a classic CRPG, think Baldur's Gate with its tactical, almost grid-based battles,
01:16into something more akin to Fantasy Mass Effect, an action RPG where you swing swords and cast
01:22magic in real time.
01:24This is not exactly new news, as Bioware has been moving in this direction ever since
01:29Dragon Age Origins got put on the shelf, but it has certainly reached a natural conclusion
01:34in Dragon Age The Veil Guard.
01:36Picking between warrior, mage, and rogue at the start affects the cadence of play, and
01:40speccing into one of three specialisations for each allows you to refine your style further,
01:45but combat plays out similarly regardless of those choices.
01:49It's a mix of quick positioning, weapon attacks, class abilities from you and your two tag-along
01:54companions, your specific ultimate ability, runes, and a whole lot of ugly enemies that
02:00want to bash your head in.
02:02You can dodge, you can defend, and you can even make a ranged attack, in my warrior's
02:07case, tossing her shield to and fro hither and yon.
02:11There's a lot going on, and early on I frequently struggled to keep track of both the chaos
02:16of combat as well as the cold, hard math beneath it.
02:20In time, Dragon Age The Veil Guard's scuffles became second nature.
02:24I'd picked up or upgraded enough items that my warrior was dealing a whole mess of bonus
02:29fire damage, as well as inflicting burning on enemies with a hefty amount of death also
02:34being dealt through shield tosses.
02:37Balara, my elven tinkerer mage, and Harding, the dwarf rogue with her deadly bow, served
02:42to lock enemies down through magic or detonations, one ability from one companion causing a debuff,
02:49another from a different companion making it explode with much fanfare, while I sliced
02:55and diced and generally set everything ablaze.
02:58It's not my personally preferred combat zone when it comes to combat mechanics, as I've
03:03usually found tactical, turn-based combat more to my liking.
03:06I'd typically find myself grumbling alongside all the other curmudgeons about this long-coming,
03:12real-time shift.
03:13But I have to admit, it does work.
03:17Having Nev, my detective mage companion, freeze a whole bunch of enemies along one side while
03:22I helped detonate a bunch of critters on the other, only to turn around and shatter the
03:26frozen baddies that remained, was extremely satisfying all the way through to the end.
03:33For the fourth game in a mainline fantasy gaming franchise, with a unique setting and
03:38massive amounts of worldbuilding behind it, Dragon Age The Veilguard is about as approachable
03:43as it can be for both new players and those that have previously thanked the maker.
03:48Appropriate context is given when proper nouns are brought up, going some way to avoid being
03:53impenetrable and making it as fine a point of entry as any to dive into.
03:57But it also answers many questions that long-time players have had over the years, while introducing
04:04even more tantalising hints at what might come next.
04:08My only hope is that we don't have to wait another ten years to find out more.
04:12The main antagonists of Dragon Age The Veilguard are two would-be tyrants and ancient self-styled
04:18elven gods that have been accidentally freed.
04:21If you're not familiar with the previously established panthenons and cosmology, knowing
04:25that Elganan and Gilanan of the Evanorus have been released from their prison in the Fade
04:30behind the Veil due to Fen'Harel's ritual being interrupted is just a mush of proper
04:35nouns.
04:36Instead of relying on that level of knowledge, the game attempts to provide context early
04:40on whenever those are dropped, tying together through dialogue.
04:44As an example, the concept of Evanuris and ancient elven gods who were basically just
04:50powerful mages.
04:51That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of callbacks, cameos, references, and so on
04:55to everything that's come before.
04:57For people like me that have played and loved each Dragon Age game as they've been released
05:02over the years, there's enough to fill, well, a codex.
05:07It's just something either contextualised or presented in a manner that adds depth rather
05:12than explicit meaning.
05:13For example, if you've never played Dragon Age Inquisition, you might simply think, cool
05:18music as you wander around Docktown to the dulcet tones of bards and their tunes.
05:23But if you have, you might instead be able to pick out the chords of Serra Was Never,
05:28if not the lyrics.
05:32Without spoiling any particular outcomes, Dragon Age is famous for being a franchise
05:36about companions and your relationships with them, as well as meaningful choices followed
05:41by consequences, and The Veil Guard very much continues this lineage.
05:46With six factions, seven companions, and dozens of hours in total of running about the northern
05:52part of Thedas, there are a lot of different ways to get it right, as well as absolutely
05:58beef it.
06:00Factions come in effectively three types, Main Story, Companion, and a combination of
06:05Faction and Region.
06:07That's also roughly the priority of them, as Main Story quests are what might be considered
06:12the critical path, and everything else is supplementary, though you're likely going
06:16to have a bad time in the end if you ignore everything that isn't specifically moving
06:21the core plot forward.
06:23All of these largely meander through one specific region associated with each faction, Docktown
06:28for the Shadow Dragons, Arlathan Forest for the Veil Jumpers, and so on, with a few additional
06:34points of interest as well as your base of operations, the Lighthouse, where you can
06:38spend time with your pals and collectively plan what to do next.
06:42On paper, it might seem like a small amount of space to traverse, but it doesn't feel
06:47particularly small while playing, and the ability to dip in and out of areas for different
06:52quests as you please means you're often only really stuck in one place for as long
06:57as you want to be.
06:58This is all very much my bread and butter, narratively and mechanically, and if the constraints
07:04of this review weren't so specific about spoilers, I would happily write one twice
07:09as long about the hows and the whys and the what it all means at the end of the day.
07:13For the most part, it really works.
07:17All of it.
07:18I even accurately speculated in my notes about a major reveal an entire week before I confirmed
07:24it, though there are plenty of other twists and turns I never saw coming.
07:29But while I love all of my stupid companions equally, Tarsh was a romance dark horse for
07:34me that came out of nowhere, and you'll understand why if you play.
07:39I found the vast majority of choices to be lacking significant teeth.
07:44Barring the very end of the game, I struggled with basically only a single choice, and even
07:49that one left a sour taste in my mouth despite the significance due to the fact that it appeared
07:54seemingly out of nowhere and ultimately locked me out of some progression by automatically
08:00failing a series of quests I hadn't gotten around to quite yet.
08:04It's a relatively small gripe for a game this size and scope of Dragon Age The Veil
08:08Guard, but one that will likely frustrate many others.
08:13Perhaps colouring all of this for me is that one of the earliest events of my career was
08:17an E3 2009 hands-on briefing for Dragon Age Origins, where I haphazardly played through
08:23the Dalish elf Origen.
08:24There is a kind of beautiful symmetry to me playing Dragon Age The Veil Guard 15 years
08:30later, and I can only hope that I've aged as gracefully as a writer as Dragon Age has
08:35a franchise.
08:36Newer, shiny, and different than it was, but very much featuring the same solid foundation
08:43as before.
08:45Despite some small caveats, playing through a new Dragon Age game after 10 long years
08:50has been both personally cathartic and surreal, and likely would have been even if I'd not
08:56genuinely largely enjoyed myself throughout.
08:59To absolutely butcher the Grey Warden motto in service to my point, if this was all a
09:04war for our collective time and money, Dragon Age The Veil Guard feels like a victory.
09:12Will you be playing Dragon Age The Veil Guard?
09:14If so, what are you most excited for?
09:17Are you a newcomer or a returning fan?
09:20Let us know in the comments and stick with GamesRadar for the latest reviews, news, and more.