Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The latest installment in the series suffers from several issues, most of which come from a sense of blandness and flat characters that fail to engage. At times, it feels as if the game is trying too hard to avoid offending anyone while still aiming to be universally liked, which makes it feel cautious rather than bold. Is this the game I was hoping for? Not really. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. In a single sentence: It’s a good RPG, but it’s not a good Dragon Age game.

Veilguard delivers a solid sequel filled with epic story moments and a fascinating world, yet it doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessors. While the character writing feels weaker, battles can be repetitive, and the beginning is somewhat unsteady, the game still offers much for devoted series fans. However, it lacks that spark needed to fully restore BioWare’s former glory.

It should be said that for all of the criticism to be made about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there’s nothing it outright does poorly. It is absolutely lots of fun in the moment, and the cast is worthy of note. However, when all is said and done, there’s little that sticks in the memory. Combat is heavily diluted by a lack of variation and strategy in its encounters, while the locations have little that draws them to life outside of their general premise. The quest to emulate Mass Effect 2 is all well and good, but there’s very little that The Veilguard does that it makes its own. The game will certainly garner plenty of highly satisfied fans, but in a time of much greater competition it’s far from a must-play recommendation.

Depending on expectations, Dragon Age: The Veilguard can provide an enjoyable action RPG experience. If you’re seeking a worthy successor to Dragon Age: Origins or even Inquisition in companions or plot, it doubtless falls short, feeling more comfortably bland than outright terrible. The combat may be worth the price of admission if you’re keen on real-time action without too much thought for your companions beyond choosing which targets to detonate. Similarly, the visuals can be gorgeous, backed by incredible music, even as the facial animations, odd image quality, and voice acting can feel uneven. It’s nowhere near BioWare’s best, especially in the storytelling department, but after all its past failures and uncertainty, there are certainly far worse alternatives than “good enough.”

The Veilguard is not the sequel I dreamed of ten years ago, when the Inquisition's credits rolled on my screen. Nonetheless, the game reassured me that there are still people at BioWare who sincerely respect and love the Dragon Age world. However, if the series is to return to its golden age, the developers cannot allow themselves to take shortcuts and water down the key elements that made it special in the first place.

Veilguard is easily the best game BioWare has released since Mass Effect 3 – it has a better story and gameplay design than Inquisition (which I found mediocre at best) and is a better game than Andromeda in every way ( I won't even mention Anthem ). But what used to impress me now just seems good – maybe I've changed, maybe other developers set the bar too high. Maybe the students have surpassed the master; maybe that's just the way it has to be.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a return to form for this once-lauded RPG studio that should satiate Dragon Age fans quite well after a decade-long wait. But returning to form and perfecting form are not the same thing. BioWare has plenty of room to regrow as it gets back on track making the kinds of games RPG fans want them to create.

Fortunately for fans who’ve been waiting over a decade for it, The Veilguard mostly succeeds in both heading in a new direction and showing the climax of what’s come before, even if the growing pains of its new combat system and an uneven story keep it from being truly great.

This is formulaic BioWare set in a fantasy-fiction story with the feels of a summer movie, and while we think it’s a very well put-together game, we ultimately couldn’t find the oomph that could push it over into greatness.

Let's not beat around the bush: we didn't like the new direction Electronic Arts and Bioware have given to the Dragon Age franchise. The original idea must have been to expand the public for this third entry, but the result is a game that won't probably appeal to anyone, especially long-time fans. Just give us a Dragon Age Origins remaster at this point, please.

BioWare have returned to Thedas with a solid, albeit, unspectacular RPG experience. The visuals excel, but where the world is glorious to behold, the action, storytelling and levelling struggle to maintain their allure past the first ten hours or so. It's a valiant effort from a beloved developer and a step in the right direction after Anthem, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard has plenty of vulnerabilities in its formation. Though it's a long slog to get there, the finale is a real spectacle.

When all is said and done, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a solid experience. It's flashy, pretty and entertaining, standing out through the combat and environments. It no longer feels like this sprawling world that we explore and save from the brink of destruction, but rather a small pocket that needs constant supervision. This is a more on-the-rails experience when compared to any of the past Dragon Age games. Considering the struggles that Bioware has undergone since Dragon Age: Inquisition, however, it's still awesome that we received a game of this quality. It doesn’t share much in terms of style and gameplay, but we do see characters we love again in a beautiful world and fun combat. It isn’t the most mind-blowing entry to the series and does play it safe, but it's still a good game. The combat and soundtrack are solid, the environments are gorgeous and the game is still filled with a ton of world-building.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is terrified of what players might think of it and so it plays it safe. So safe, that it trivializes combat, minimizes exploration and almost completely disregards players choice. In the end, all that’s left are pretty graphics and a decent story.

Dragon Age: Veilguard leaves us with the impression that we bought the wrong title. Instead of a true RPG, we get a mediocre action adventure game. A scenario stretched to the limit, a poorly constructed world and monotonous gameplay bored me to tears.

There are moments where The Veilguard is BioWare’s best game, but it’s bogged down in everything else. I’d recommend skipping the throwaway side content and mainlining the brilliant main quests, but you’ll be punished in the final mission if you do. So you have no choice but to fast-travel from combat encounter to combat encounter, all while wondering where the moral dilemmas are in a series known for its player choice. Like the character I created at the start of this journey, I can’t separate The Veilguard from its history, and this isn’t the Dragon Age I remember.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like BioWare playing it too safe. While it nails what it does best, like the excellent cast and interpersonal relationships, from a gameplay perspective it feels out of date.