There’s Lots To Be Said About Dragon Age: The Veilguard, But Did We Enjoy It?

Image: BioWare

In This StoryAmong our coverage of Dragon Age: The Veilguard this week was our official preview of the game, a deep dive into how BioWare has avoided conforming to a single canon, a look at how factions affect relationships throughout your protagonist’s journey, and, of course, our reactions after having full freedom with the RPG’s much-talked-about character creator. Since the reveal of the concept art and abilities of Veilguard’s companions, the game’s robust cast of characters is something we’ve been interested in. None of us have held this interest more passionately than Kotaku staff writer Kenneth Shepard.

Read on for Kenneth’s early impressions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a game he found impressive but not without some imperfections.

Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku

I have been waiting for Dragon Age: The Veilguard for 10 years. The last game developer BioWare put out was 2019’s Anthem, an ill-fated loot shooter that chased live-service trends and felt like a misuse of the team’s talents. In the years since, there have been reports and admissions from the studio that the fourth entry in the studio’s fantasy RPG franchise had undergone multiple revamps, including pivoting away from a live-service, multiplayer-driven game in 2021. At a glance, The Veilguard, with its emphasis on narrative and on the multiple well-developed, three-dimensional companions you can befriend or romance, seems like a strategic shift back to core principles for a studio that has been fumbling to find its voice again. — Kenneth Shepard

Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku

With series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, BioWare has made a name for itself as the “choices matter” studio. These games have allowed players to import their choices from previous entries in order to keep a consistent world state that feels shaped, to some degree, by your actions. The process by which players do that has changed over the years, with the Mass Effect games reading your old saves and Dragon Age getting a separate app to craft your world state for Inquisition. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will handle this differently, allowing you to make a few key decisions in the character creator that reflect choices made in Inquisition before you get started on your next journey. Still, for all its apparent concern with making players feel like their decisions have lasting impact, BioWare’s track record is arguably a bit spotty in this regard, and at times the studio has outright undone the effects of major choices players have made. At a preview event earlier this month John Epler, creative director on the Veilguard, talked a bit about the studio’s philosophy for handling these decisions. — Kenneth Shepard

Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku

When you boot up BioWare’s long-awaited RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard on October 31 and create your custom character, you’ll be asked what Faction your protagonist Rook came from before the game starts. As you’ll notice as you recruit new teammates throughout your journey, each of these Factions has a corresponding party member. When I was making my character during a hands-on preview at publisher Electronic Arts’ Redwood City studio earlier this month, I started to wonder, if I wanted to get closer to a certain character, would it benefit me to choose that character’s Faction so we’d have common interests and history? I asked BioWare at the event and it sounds like while relationships won’t be locked behind your Faction, the shared background may bring new layers to some relationships. — Kenneth Shepard

Image: BioWare

It’s been 10 years since Dragon Age: Inquisition launched in 2014. Despite waiting a decade for a new game in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, fans haven’t been without stories within the fantasy world of Thedas in the years since. There have been novels, comics, anime, and even an audio drama showcasing each of the party members in The Veilguard. But if you haven’t been keeping up with the series over the years and now find yourself wondering what you should check out before the new game launches on October 31, I asked creative director John Epler that very question at a hands-on demo event earlier this month. Here are the three major Dragon Age extended universe projects BioWare says you may want to catch up on before The Veilguard. — Kenneth Shepard

Gif: BioWare / Kotaku

Earlier this month, myself and several other content creators and members of the press got to go hands-on with BioWare’s long-anticipated RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I came away from my seven hours with it really impressed with what feels like the most cohesive game BioWare has put together since probably 2012’s Mass Effect 3. And part of that time was spent exploring the capabilities of the game’s character creator, with which we had full freedom. — Kenneth Shepard