Dragon Age: The Veilguard is such a weird game to talk about primarily because of how unremarkable it is. Sure, it’s got some good looking graphics and a decently fun combat system, but by any other metric it feels so creatively bankrupt that you’re ultimately left with something that feels like the phrase, “playing it safe,” was made into a video game.
To be clear, I have no skin in the game with the Dragon Age series. I’ve never enjoyed the way those games played in the past, and the lore always felt impenetrable to a degree that was off-putting. I understand that a lot of people would disagree with me on those points, hence the fact that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the fourth entry in the series.
Smartly, Dragon Age: The Veilguard includes a glossary of terms for newcomers to utilize when NPCs prattle on about the Chantry, Venatori and other words that I had no prior knowledge of. Despite referencing that glossary a lot, I was still barely able to keep up when characters were talking about the state of the world. The one thing I do know about the story, however, is what the main quest-line is about. That’s because every other conversation with one of your party members involves someone summarizing it or restating your objectives.
While annoying, it’s kind of necessary considering there’s a lot of game here and very little of it has to do with the main quest. A great deal of the missions feel like padding as you go from city to city, completing mindless quests to boost your faction reputation enough that said faction will help you at the end of the game — I assume. None of the side quests are very interesting and ultimately require you do the same two things: find an object to interact with and then kill some enemies.
Along those lines, it never really feels like any of my conversational choices are making a difference. Outside of a handful of heavily telegraphed “big” choices I had to make, there hasn’t been a lot of decision making or role-playing in this action-RPG. The main character, Rook, doesn’t really have to many opportunities to be anything other than the hero of the story. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, conversational choices boil down to how earnest you’re being as opposed to taking any moral stand or making any decisions. I don’t think you can be a bad guy in this game let alone make any actual choices that will change how the story plays out, but I haven’t beat it yet so maybe I’m wrong.
Choice seems like an illusion in The Veilguard, largely because it feels like the outcome of any given conversation is predetermined regardless of what you actually choose to say. You can be stern, snarky, or sincere, but you’ll never say ‘yes’ or ‘no’. There’s no ambiguity or question about the results of what you’ll say, just how it’s delivered. Even romance boils down to you just picking the flirty option over and over on the person you want to do sex with at every possible moment, and it’ll eventually happen.
Everything about Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels a little too clean. Sometimes your party members will have a scene depicting a minor conflict with one-another, but it’s always immediately resolved by the end of the very same scene. For instance, one party member was vehemently against the whole concept of necromancy, which they and necromancer on our team were arguing about. Despite making it clear that reanimating dead bodies was despicable and immoral, once Rook picked the right conversation choice, the two characters squashed their beef and were able to see the value in the other’s opinion. Dragon Age: The Veilguard makes sure to tie a neat little bow on all of these interactions in a way that would make any HR representative swoon.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t something for people looking for good stories to latch onto, because some of your allies do have some interesting stuff going on. But the way The Veilguard handles the concept of you, as both a leader and a player attending to your companions, is so frustratingly stupid. In Bioware games of yore, you’d chat with your teammates and get to know them over time. They’d eventually give you a quest or two that would shed some light on their backstory and better humanize them or whatever. Do enough of that and then maybe you’d kiss them or keep them from dying through the power of your friendship.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard will have these moments after you complete a big story mission where everyone on your team will stop to tell you that they need to take care of their personal business, hammering home the idea that your team won’t be up for the final conflict with all of these ‘distractions’. It’s basically the game’s way of telling you that new side missions have been unlocked and you’re going to want to do them or else your final mission isn’t going to go well. Every time this happens it’s a total momentum and immersion killer, as Dragon Age: The Veilguard makes sure to remind you that you’re playing a game and new companion missions have been unlocked.
I know that this all paints a pretty bleak picture of the game, but I actually don’t mind the moment-to-moment gameplay that much. The new combat system is fun and satisfying even if it barely evolves over time. There’s a big skill tree to navigate, with each class boasting 3 unique specializations for you to spec into, although not being able to change my character class is annoying. But even having gone sword and board had its upsides — namely the fact that I could Captain America-style ricochet my shield off of enemies and punch it back like a yo-yo over and over. You can also pause time and have your teammates focus fire or use specific attacks that might combo together, but I rarely ever needed to make use of that on the default difficulty.
Additionally, I think the world is pretty and most of the levels are interesting enough to poke around in, even if there’s rarely a good reward for doing so. Usually you’re just picking up crafting and upgrade materials or some piece of gear that you probably don’t need. Aside from that and the occasional piece of written lore that might trigger a side quest, there isn’t a ton of reason to leave the critical path outside of your own curiosity. At some point I stopped caring about money because I didn’t need to buy anything, and that’s a direct result of just finding better stuff in the world so easily that spending money on any of it seems ridiculous.
To that end, as someone who isn’t big on the loot grind in other games, Dragon Age: The Veilguard does something I appreciated, which was automatically upgrading my armor and weapons I had in my inventory when I found duplicates of them out in the world. It also allows you to level up your weapons and armor as you go, so you don’t really have to worry about new stuff if you’ve found something that works for you.
What’s really disappointing is how singularly focused this game is. There is no room for you do anything outside of progress the main story and kiss a party member. There are no diversions, no distractions, no role-playing in this role-playing game at all. There’s barely any puzzles in the world, and the ones that do exist are so alarmingly simple that you’re left wondering why they’re even included at all. There is one path to take, and you will walk it.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a game that’s sanded off all the rough edges and provides little to no resistance to the player, instead opting for a more streamlined approach that feels less like an RPG, and more like a traditional action game. It’s not a bad game, rather, it’s a bland one. It’s a game that really feels like its been made by a company who needed a win so badly that it didn’t dare to take any chances on anything. It’s as if every decision about its content was made after extensive focus group reviews. Dragon Age: The Veilguard plays it safe, and in doing so manages to alienate long time fans of the series, along with newcomers who are looking for a good action-RPG. It’s pure filler, and some folks might be more okay with it than others.
The Bonus World 