Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review

It’s been a decade since an explosion interrupted the Conclave in Dragon Age Inquisition, tearing open Fade Rifts across southern Thedas, but to me, it feels like it was only yesterday. DA is a series I revisit year after year, trying to stave off anticipation for the next instalment, so I never feel too out of touch with Thedas and its heroes: the Warden, Hawke, the Inquisitor, and now, Rook. The long-awaited arrival of Dragon Age: The Veilguard (which I still catch myself calling Dreadwolf occasionally) takes us to places we’ve only heard tales of or read about in codex entries from the previous games, and though we’ve travelled far from the south, the threat that Inquisition left us with remains: Solas’ plan to tear down the Veil at the cost of the world.

Rook, our player-created character, and Varric Tethras have tracked Solas to Minrathous — the capital of the Tevinter Imperium — and we meet the duo right in the middle of an interrogation. What begins as a search for private investigator Neve Gallus turns into a full-blown fight through the city as Solas begins his ritual, sending demons into the streets and Venatori cultists in our path. Eventually, we reach an Eluvian which sends us to Arlathan Forest, where we ruin Solas’ plan. It’s anything but a victory, though, as two elven gods escape in the chaos, giving us a new problem to solve as well as the driving conflict of our main story.

Immediate action, reunions, and high stakes — Veilguard knows how to make an impression. I felt like I opened a book and skipped the first five chapters. On the one hand, it’s exciting to get right into it, and on the other, it made me wish for a slower start, as I suffered a bit of onset detachment from this new protagonist and would’ve preferred to see how Rook was recruited into Varric’s quest. For others, especially those new to the series altogether or those feeling a bit hazy about the events from the Trespasser DLC, it might feel like, well, opening a book and skipping the first 10 chapters — though any confusion is swiftly solved by Veilguard’s persistent exposition dumps throughout the first quarter of the game.

Doing away with Inquisition’s open-world approach, Veilguard’s main locations are much more contained, and the quests on offer are substantially more focused, so while a playthrough can run from 60 to 80 hours, it doesn’t necessarily feel as bloated as its predecessor. You’ll revisit these places repeatedly over the course of the game, building renown with the various factions in each hub as you progress. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel particularly compelled by most of the quests, whether they were faction-specific ones, major narrative moments, or companion activities — less than a handful were memorable. Poorly crafted minor antagonists (who have a tendency to go on villainy speeches that fall flat), dull puzzles, and repetitive fights all contributed to my overall sense of boredom, as I found it difficult to do long play sessions. That said, I did find the singular, deeply fleshed-out arcs for each companion to be interesting, and the decisions given to you at the end of them feel impactful, making up for those parts of the journey that felt lacklustre.

Veilguard’s cast left me conflicted. While I could find a lot to love about each character, I disliked a majority of the dialogue delivery and just the dialogue itself, such as in Lace Harding’s case, whose personality feels far different from her Inquisition self. Much of the humour didn’t land with me either, whether I was choosing a sarcastic answer for my Rook or happened upon a light-hearted squabble between companions. As a whole, I think I was disappointed that the team didn’t evoke the feeling of found family in a way that previous DA titles have. The companions definitely bonded amongst themselves, but my Rook seemed to be the odd one out, only ever conversing with them when they needed something or debriefing about a mission gone wrong. Allowing Rook to freely chat with companions at any time, asking various background and lore questions, would’ve helped quite a bit in terms of feeling like you’re building a relationship with them. I did, however, root for every single cast member at the end of the day, so they must have done something right.

The writing quality overall doesn’t meet the calibre established by BioWare in the series’ previous titles, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s awful. It is serviceable and, at times, very good. I found the worst offenders of poor dialogue came from the main antagonists and, surprisingly, my Rook, as some moments felt closer to a first draft than a final copy. On the other hand, the writing consistently excels with Solas’ dialogue in particular, so much so that it feels jarring when compared to the rest of the cast. I will say that the last few hours offer excellent story beats paired with much better dialogue, taking the narrative to a level that I wish it met for the majority of the playthrough. Additionally, there’s something about the narrative and setting that made Veilguard feel quite detached from the DA universe to me — and it’s not just because we’re in Tevinter. In part, I think it’s a tone issue, but I also believe if the game had handled its cameos with more care and taken more steps to incorporate past player decisions in previous titles, the experience narratively would’ve felt more rooted in the world we’ve come to know.

The combat system is much more action-focused with Veilguard; any remnants of Origins' tactical system have all but disappeared, despite Inquisition’s attempt to reincorporate it. The flow of battle is rather quick, as I never found myself stagnant. If I wasn’t dishing out my flashy rogue abilities, I was dodging ranged attacks or heavy melee strikes. What will feel quite different to long-time fans is the inability to take full control of your companions mid-battle. Instead, you’ll queue up abilities via a radial menu. I didn’t mind the change as much as I thought I would, as it still gives some semblance of control and strategy, especially with combos you can make by triggering certain abilities close together. I wish we weren’t limited to three active abilities and one ultimate, however, as some skills were clearly better picks or more versatile than others, so I’d end up just running the same ones for a long while, making combat a bit stale since nearly every quest involves multiple fights. Compared to the overwhelming amount of passives the skill tree offers, I think letting us access more abilities at once or including a wider variety to choose from would’ve greatly improved the system. On the brighter side, you can change your entire build by resetting all your skills easily from the tree, which can keep things feeling fresh if combat gets repetitive (I did this and highly recommend it).

Perhaps the most frustrating feature of Veilguard’s combat is the companions’ global ability cooldown, which triggers whenever you use one. For instance, if you use Neve’s Icebreaker, you’re locked out of using that ability as well as Blizzard and Time Slow until the cooldown is up. Though there are passives that can reduce the amount of time you have to wait, it still felt like a noticeable lull in combat, even when I hit max level. What it takes away from each battle in terms of flow and, well, fun makes me wonder what this widespread cooldown was meant to offer in the first place.

Visually, Veilguard is mostly excellent. I have way more screenshots than I need of gorgeous environments, and if I close my eyes, I can recall the gross Blight boils with more detail than I’d like. Additionally, the armour sets are a big upgrade from what we got in Inquisition — chef’s kiss. Where it becomes “mostly” excellent is the new art direction and its odd character proportions, which distracted me for a good portion of cutscenes and conversations. Maybe it’s because I played an elf, but my Rook felt so short, almost kid-like height. Characters’ large heads don’t really help the proportions feel balanced, either, and it ultimately draws your eye to some of the stiff facial animations. That said, I did get used to it (eventually) and paid much more attention to my Rook’s fabulous hair physics (thank you, BioWare, for finally giving us long hairstyles).

Thinking back on it, Dragon Age’s identity has been ever-changing since Origins — visually and mechanically — and after spending over 70 hours with Veilguard, I’ll admit it’s the title that feels the most unlike DA to me. However, for better or for worse, the definition of what constitutes a “real” Dragon Age game will vary greatly depending on who you ask, and long-time fans of the series are likely accustomed to its penchant for transformation by now. If I’m being honest, I’ve never been good with change, whether it’s spontaneous dinner plans or the way Dragon Age II set its adventure in a single city, but over time, I change my tune. But at the moment, I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t wait a year before writing this review to determine if Veilguard will eventually grow on me in the same way its predecessors did.

What I can say right now is that if you have a strong preference for how BioWare handled dialogue, companions, and RPG elements in previous titles, you might want to wait to pick Veilguard up on sale or watch a good let’s-play to see how the narrative plays out. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a game with gorgeous environmental design, a ton of content to keep you busy, and a fantastic final few hours, then perhaps you’re more likely to embrace this new iteration of DA. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, you are bound to have fun, but how much fun is hard to gauge. I won’t be replaying Veilguard as much as I thought I would prior to its release, but it is a serviceable entry in the series.