Introduction: The long-awaited sequel of the Dragon Age series arrived at the end of 2024 and brought a massive game to the action RPG audience. Many years in the making, Dragon Age: The Veilguard provides a mix of role-playing combat excellence, technical polish, and a huge content offer, but also includes some substantial issues that drag it down. Because of that, while it does not stack up to the best titles from the Dragon Age series, it is a worthy addition to the same franchise, as well as a game that once again rekindled interest in the same series.
Article: There has been a period of over a decade between the last two video games set in the Dragon Age universe. The developer of the series, BioWare, has a reputation for creating massive games, set in very expansive universes. Dragon Age: Inquisition, the previous title, came out in 2014 when it generated a lot of interest and critical praise. However, as years passed, so did the interest in this gaming franchise. It is also true that there were not many other huge RPG releases that pushed the milestone of this genre’s future. Arguably, the Witcher series is another example of this kind of huge RPG game, but its last sequel came out just a year after the Inquisition. Recently, Baldur’s Gate 3 was released in 2023 and showed that the gaming audience for these kinds of games remains enormous. Because of this, the developers at BioWare, just like EA, the game’s publishers, decided that the time was right for the next Dragon Age game. This was the entry point for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which got its official release on October 31, 2024. From that point on, it became available for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. As the dust of the release and the marketing promo campaign settled, the players and the critics got a better chance to assess the game, as well as what it means for the global RPG market.
The Story Continues
The narrative of The Veliguard picks up the story where the Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC left it. Here, the character Solas decides to bring the Veil down, thus breaking the barrier separating the real world and Fade with its demon infestation. The purpose of this is to add much-needed magic to elves and thus allow them to become immortal again. Here’s where the players get into the action, taking over the role of Rook, a character who can be customized in whatever shape or form anyone chooses. From there, the gameplay follows the efforts of stopping Solas and undoing the damage that already occurred. While the narrative has a direct tie-in with the old Dragon Age releases, its setup is very familiar to all high fantasy fans and works just as well with that part of the audience that never got a chance to play the older games. Besides, the simple setup also allows the game to focus on its other elements, especially the role-playing core gameplay mechanics.
Strong Combat Focus
While the game’s story is not on the level of great works of fiction, its combat mechanics are among The Veilguard’s strongest points. Too often, complex RPG titles with a heavy narrative focus leave their combat either feeling intentionally underdeveloped or clunky in their execution. Here, it looks like the team at BioWare decided to avoid both pitfalls by creating a gameplay system that encompasses both apparent initial simplicity and very engaging development of combat later on. The game offers just three classes, which are Warrior, Mage, and Rogue. These are initially very self-explanatory, as the warrior characters focus on direct heavy combat, mages wield spells, and rogues utilize stealth as their main tool. However, the game quickly offers a much-appreciated overlap between these three. That is why a Warrior might call upon powerful spells, for example. Additionally, the players quickly get their companions and these further enforce the appeal of combat. With them, players can issue specific commands and utilize their abilities to help the entire group. Together, these elements shine through and the bigger the fight, the more this union of player and companion plays a part. In the case of boss battles, these individual and collective synergies provide some of the best RPG combat seen in the last 10 years.
Rich World of Fantasy
Another big element that the BioWare team’s designers took from recent developments in the field of AAA gaming is to disregard the open-world principle. Instead of allowing the players to endlessly roam huge expanses of the game’s world, The Veilguard took a page from recent games like Black Myth: Wukong and made its experience generally linear and relatively structured. This later on enforces the main storyline and allows the game to become more in line with its premise as the players venture deeper into it. At the same time, those who wish to explore the same rich world of fantasy can do that through explorable regions that carry side quests and the chance to find valuable loot. With that, players can basically decide to stop the main storyline for a while and go for a nearly unrelated adventure. That provides a very high level of clarity for players but does not take away from those who wish to get more from the game’s content.
Old RPG Formula
In many ways, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a game that focuses on the things it does well and disregards those elements it never even tried to introduce. Open world and super-complex or ambiguous storyline are the key elements where The Veilgaurd did not choose to compete with the current trend. It did not seek to take on Elden Ring’s complete player freedom nor did it want to compete with Baldur’s Gate’s award-winning narrative design. For many, this made the game feel lacking in terms of its character development and its place in the generic save-the-world storyline. Furthermore, the linear process in which it offers its content is also likely going to be off-putting for those accustomed to more free-flowing gaming like FromSoftware teams tend to offer. But, at the same time, it does offer a fun gaming experience for those who wish to see their RPG party get better and better as they advance through their grand adventure. Fun combat and clear progression of the game’s plot allow for that and offer probably the best version of the same formula in many years. While Drago Age: The Veilguard misses both elements and their synergy to become a truly great modern RPG, it does bring a tried-and-tested role-playing formula in a polished and engaging game.
Author: Ivica Milaric, game designer and assistant professor of game design at the Novi Sada Academy of Arts, Republic of Serbia