Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review: BioWare’s Big Comeback

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Our verdict:

Dragon Age: The Veilguard impresses with fantastic graphics, strong writing, and solid gameplay. It isn’t quite a return to some of the studio’s earliest days. However, there’s enough here for fans to sink their teeth into for dozens of hours.

Pros

  • Exciting gameplay
  • Excellently written characters
  • Impactful decisions
  • Deep class systems

Cons

  • Generic fantasy narrative
  • Inconsistent dialogue

Dragon Age: The Veilguard at a Glance

Category Our Rating (Out of 10) Comments 
Graphics 9 The Veilguard takes a stylized approach to realism that allows all of its fantastic characters and creatures to feel cohesive.
Gameplay 8 This is by far the most satisfying game to play BioWare has made that really shines in the tougher fights. Unfortunately, some of the bigger bosses end up feeling unfair and clunky.
Story 7 The initial setup to The Veilguard was strong, but what replaced it after the opening is generic fantasy fare that is only saved by the strong side content and character writing.
Replayability 8 Several key choices have tangible impacts on the world and characters that would give a new perspective on events, though they are signposted quite heavily. Each class also has distinct and deep systems that completely change how you approach combat.
Overall 8 The Veilguard is a sign that BioWare can still deliver the type of games we loved in the past with modern mechanics. If this is a taste of what’s to come, it is safe to say BioWare is back.

From Dreadwolf to The Veilguard

When I booted up Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it felt like more than just the world of Thedas was at stake. For myself, and many like me, BioWare hasn’t released a game of the quality we expected from it since Inquisition in 2014. If The Veilguard wasn’t a return to form for the once esteemed RPG developer, it might not get another shot.

It isn’t a return to BioWare of old but a natural evolution. It strikes a middle ground between delivering strong writing and RPG systems with modern expectations of how a game should feel to play. Not every compromise feels worth it, but the overall product has shown that BioWare still has some life in it. Our full Dragon Age: The Veilguard review goes over what makes the latest chapter in the saga so compelling and why it’s one of the best RPGs to play in 2024.

Action With a Side of Tactics

Dragon Age: The Veilguard combat is satisfying and smooth.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard combat is satisfying and smooth. Source: EA

From the jump, The Veilguard is the best feeling game BioWare has made. Playing the Warrior class, I found myself clicking with the combat from the first encounter. Swings feel weighty, enemies (for the most part) telegraph attacks well, and Rook responds with little delay to my inputs.

The ability to cancel nearly any action into a dodge, parry, skill, or finisher allowed me to flow with my approach to combat. I felt more invited to take risks and play aggressively, knowing that I could pivot out of a bad situation in most scenarios. Simply put, Dragon Age: The Veilguard gameplay is smooth and consistently impresses.

In particular, parrying is a devilishly satisfying mechanic. It doesn’t hit that level of pure bliss like a pure character action game, but it is immensely rewarding to pull off.

As fun as ripping through trash mobs is, it wasn’t until around 10 hours in that I stumbled across an optional boss that was over 10 levels above my character. Where I could normally rely on my basic attacks, parries, and dodges to get through the game before, this encounter pushed me to use my entire toolkit, not out of necessity. Carefully positioning out of marked AoEs, dodging unblockable strikes, exploiting weaknesses, and commanding my companions to combo skills together felt like a beautiful dance when it all came together. The Veilguard’s combat really clicks in scenarios like this.

When I found myself itching to find my next fight, not just for the XP but for the feeling of the combat, I knew all that time honing the gameplay was well spent.

The fact that these tougher encounters are such a highlight only makes the fact that the most epic battles – those against giant fantasy beasts like dragons – are the lowest points of the game. The camera simply does not do an adequate job of keeping enough information on screen to feel fair. Fighting my first dragon, I was constantly blindsided by attacks that came in from off-camera. It completely deflates the grandeur these moments are meant to represent when you cannot properly respond to the boss’ moves.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard classes are deep and innovative.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard classes are deep and innovative. Source: EA

I was concerned prior to release about the lack of direct party control, but the greater focus on direct combat made the choice feel more appropriate. I do think it leaned too far in that direction, much in the same way I did with Final Fantasy 16, because my companions essentially became nothing more than skills I triggered from time to time and never felt like actual participants in the fight.

Within my Warrior class, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of ways I could customize and tailor my build. The skill tree is large and intentionally sprawling, with far more nodes than you could fill even after hitting max level. Refunding skill points is free and encouraged me to test out new builds and skills while still requiring me to think critically about what I want to prioritize and what I would do without. You’re not necessarily locked in with your Dragon Age: The Veilguard classes thankfully.

Not for Thedas, For Its People

Being thrust back into the world of Thedas after 10 years away, I was expecting a few hours of acclimation. Mercifully, The Veilguard didn’t overwhelm me with proper nouns for every race, group, nation, guild, and magical McGuffin all at once. It stayed relatively constrained for the early hours and did a good job of slipping in terms within contexts which I was easily able to infer their meaning.

After the opening few hours, however, The Veilguard throws caution to the wind and hopes you’re keeping up.

There is a handy codex with simple one or two-line explanations for every term, but you may feel a little lost in the early hours, unsure if you’re about to attack a person, race, guild, or nation.

There's a wealth of new Dragon Age: The Veilguard characters to meet in the game.
There’s a wealth of new Dragon Age: The Veilguard characters to meet in the game. Source: EA

The Dragon Age: The Veilguard story starts far stronger than it turns into. The initial setup of Solas attempting to tear open the Veil had far more depth and nuance on all sides — it was a complex scenario with sympathetic characters on both ends — than what follows after the opening.

What it ends up being replaced with for the majority of the game is dreadfully boilerplate for a fantasy RPG. Again holding back spoilers, it all boils down to an evil force trying to take over the world for no other reason than they are evil. Sure, the stakes are high, and you’re given no moral qualms about doing whatever you can to stop them, but that is far less interesting than the taste of what the game presented earlier.

Anyone who played Mass Effect 2 specifically will notice the strong parallels with the game’s structure. It is essentially another version of recruiting a team to take on a seemingly unwinnable mission. It is familiar, but it works just as well here as it did then, thanks to the strong character writing.

As safe as the main story plays it, it ended up being the companion quests and side missions that enthralled me. I might forget the main quests in Mass Effect or KOTOR, but characters like Garrus and HK-47 are remembered like old friends. I imagine the same will be true for The Veilguard’s cast.

It is noticeably silly how quickly you go from introductions to companions ready to give their lives for one another. Once the game slows down and lets the characters breathe, they start to shine, especially when they engage with each other at your base or chatter while on a mission.

If you take only one thing from this Dragon Age: The Veilguard review, it should be to not skip your companion’s personal quests. They turn good characters into real, relatable people with goals, doubts, and growth.

These interactions also bring back the familiar BioWare dialog and choice system, but not in its best form. Choices do have weight here on a micro and macro scale, but the way it is presented shows a lack of confidence in the game’s writing.

There is some “Marvel writing” that sucks the drama out of otherwise dramatic scenes with a flat quip or joke, but my main issue is with how The Veilguard is so explicit about telling you exactly what the result of your choices was. The few major choices, in particular, are signposted to the point where you know almost every detail about the repercussions of each option. That’s good for making an informed decision, but it does drain some of the desire to replay the game to see how things could’ve changed.

This also extends to your dialog and Dragon Age: The Veilguard companion interactions. There are the typical pop-ups of characters approving or disapproving of your words or deeds, but it goes beyond just that. After giving advice to a companion, I not only got a description spelling out the choice I had made but later on, the game felt it necessary to tell me (not show me) that X character felt Y way because I told them Z.

It’s a Small World After All

While not an open world game, the map of The Veilguard is beautiful and detailed.
While not an open world game, the map of The Veilguard is beautiful and detailed. Source: EA

Visually, The Veilguard graphics strike a balance between realism and stylization. Characters are emotive and detailed, but with what feels like a painterly filter overtop that prevents the more fantastic characters from feeling out of place or uncanny.

Environments are full of life and personality that make them great to fight and travel through but not particularly memorable. Unless you stop to admire the skyboxes, you’ll move through the various woods, mountains, and city streets without much impressing or distracting you. There is a nice variety of environments, but they all end up feeling samey, thanks to annoyingly constrained map layouts.

Most of the cutscenes take place in your typical conversation format, but BioWare did make a concerted effort to make cutscenes more dynamic. There are still some basic shot/reverse shot conversations, but they are hardly in abundance.  More action-heavy cutscenes, while rare, do a great job of pulling you into the scene.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t an open world game but is filled with many, many hubs you travel between. Being a game on such a grand scale, that tonally makes sense. What doesn’t is how the forests and mountainsides feel just as narrow and linear as the cities.

I was looking forward to exploring Thedas on my own, but The Veilguard is more of a guided tour than a free-roaming adventure. I won’t hold it against the game if that’s not what it was meant to be, but it did make revisiting and “exploring” zones feel more like a chore.

Adding to that feeling is the overwhelming amount of items littering the world that act more like time-wasters. You’ll constantly be tempted to veer off the path by shiny bags of loot that end up holding useful but inessential materials or sellables. Take my advice and only deviate from treasure chests that contain actual gear.

The Bottom Line

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has finally found the perfect middle ground between deep RPG systems and choices with satisfying and rewarding combat. The main plotline plays it a bit too safe for my liking, but the character work and side content reminded me why I fell in love with its games over a decade ago.

It isn’t without some nagging points and areas I’d like to see improvements, but The Veilguard delivers where it counts. This is a game you will want to spend time getting to know your team, diving into the lore of the various factions, and testing your build against tough enemies.

If this is an indication of what we can expect from the studio, BioWare’s future has never looked brighter. The Dragon Age: The Veilguard release date is October 31, 2024, meaning there are only a couple of days left until you can play the hotly anticipated RPG. It’s available to pre-order for $59.99 on Steam and $69.99 on PlayStation and Xbox for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, respectively.

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Jesse Lennox
Games Writer
Jesse Lennox
Games Writer

Jesse Lennox has been a games journalist for over 10 years. He began writing as a volunteer for enthusiast sites before going full-time to contribute to outlets like Digital Trends, Pocket-Lint, Classic Nerd, and many more. When he isn't grinding in the latest 100-hour JRPG you can find him at the gym or on the trails.