Having now performed seven hours of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I believe it’s honest to say that so far, the sport’s advertising and marketing messaging hasn’t fairly landed.
After I noticed the sport again at Summer season Video games Fest 2024, I got here away with the impression of a role-playing sequence nipped, tucked, and truncated to fulfill the calls for of an motion game-driven market. However after enjoying the sport at size, that feeling has dissipated: The Veilguard is excess of EA’s advertising and marketing has up to now managed to light up.
Again in June, I in contrast Dragon Age’s newest outing to Ultimate Fantasy 16, one other franchise sequel that’s actually moderately good however that additionally visibly struggles to grapple with its franchise legacy and the shadow forged by the likes of God of Struggle 2018. However really, The Veilguard seems to have navigated these uneven waters with a far defter hand – and the consequence left me completely chomping on the bit to expertise the ultimate, full factor.
Let me put it this manner. Dragon Age Origins was conceived as a non secular successor to Baldur’s Gate. Dragon Age 2 structurally borrowed a lot from the primary Mass Impact. Dragon Age Inquisition supplied an open-world take for a post-Skyrim, pre-Witcher 3 world.
The Veilguard’s biggest inspiration, at the least in construction, seems to be each Mass Impact 2 and three. These are BioWare’s best video games, in order that’s no unhealthy factor – however then layered atop it is a far deeper, and much more D&D-faithful RPG development providing.
Let’s speak about general sport construction first. That is very a lot nonetheless in that BioWare wheelhouse. This time round, your model of the Normandy or Skyhold is known as The Lighthouse. Right here, you’ll hang around together with your companions, advance your relationships, craft, take inventory, and customarily train your management chops as ‘Rook’, the de facto boss of the Veilguard. To date, so acquainted.
If you go away the Lighthouse, you’ll be going to one in all two varieties of zones. The primary sort are linear phases that advance the story (most of those are action-driven, however I performed at the least one which was extra targeted on grim atmospheric vibes) whereas the second sort are functionally secondary hubs (suppose Mass Impact’s Citadel or Omega) which might be house to normal hangouts with quite a lot of pleasant faces, outlets, facet quests, and fight, .
The developer is eager to not make any precise numbered dimension comparisons to Inquisition, however broadly talking it’s sensible to say that whereas Inquisition featured a handful of really enormous zones, The Veilguard as a substitute pivots to fastidiously curated smaller areas – however a whole lot of them.
In my day with the sport, I noticed fairly various areas, all seemingly from the sport’s first act or thereabouts. I must also observe that I did see some zones deftly reused – a metropolis first visited as a thriving city at peace as an informal hub, then revisited within the guise of a linear motion stage after one in all my selections put it underneath siege. After which, afterwards, as a shattered city making an attempt to rebuild. There is a intelligent economic system of property right here, although deployed in a manner that doesn’t really feel low-cost.
You may sense that the builders didn’t need the extra linear motion phases to easily be a rush of enemies – and a lot is achieved by way of visible storytelling that enlivens the expertise of every. One quest sees the characters in a sort-of magical air bubble underwater, exploring flooded ruins (curiously a setting I additionally noticed in Expedition 33 at Gamescom). Outdoors the barrier, fish and aquatic flora shimmer within the haze. In locations, the magical barrier holding again the ocean is at breaking level, water perilously dripping from cracks throughout its floor.
In addition to combating, zones like this are punctuated with little puzzles. You realize the kind; crystals to destroy to unlock doorways, or one other sort of crystal you’ll have to escort to energy up some magical machine to open up the following location it’s worthwhile to progress to. Perhaps some malevolent blight must be destroyed to open up a path, or a gap blasted in a wall with a ballista. It’s easy stuff, nevertheless it retains you busy, and breaks up the fight. That is the circulation of many action-adventure video games – however what units a BioWare providing aside is how this all dovetails with attending to know a forged of characters and making the story really your individual.
All of this feels, like I’ve mentioned, rather a lot just like the second and third Mass Impact video games. However there’s one space the place Dragon Age’s fourth entry units itself aside: within the nuts and bolts of crunchy, satisfying role-playing techniques. Put merely, there’s a hell of lots right here. Second-to-moment this might need a contact of full-blown motion sport about it; at occasions it may possibly even look somewhat bit Satan Could Cry. The motion feels official and satisfying moment-to-moment, too. With that mentioned, underneath the hood beats the courageous coronary heart of a full-on, full-fat role-playing sport.
I in all probability ought to’ve seen this coming. After I spoke to The Veilguard’s director earlier in the summertime, she in contrast what they’d constructed to Ultimate Fantasy 10 & 12’s beloved Sphere and License Grid setups. After we spoke once more throughout this preview occasion, we ended up nerding out about Xenosaga. She’s the actual deal. However seeing her RPG proclivities expressed in-game is a complete different matter to easily listening to about it. It’s there, it’s actual – and it supplies a complete new layer of chance to every fight encounter or each ‘linear’ motion stage.
The Mage’s ability grid, as an example, has over 100 abilities unfold throughout six subsections – and that’s with out counting three mutually unique Class Specialisation timber on the extremes of the completely different construct instructions you’ll be able to go in. It’s as much as you what path you beat by way of the tree’s interconnected internet of talents, which specialisation you go for, and what kind of fight expertise you need to have.
A Mage may give attention to abilities that provide you with battlefield management, arresting the motion choices of enemies to entrap them. Or you possibly can grow to be a Spellblade, mixing melee and magic by pairing your magical employees with an enchanted dagger for up-close assaults. The choices are myriad. There’s an identical breadth throughout every of the three lessons (Warrior, Mage, and Rogue) – in order that’s three sprawling, distinctive participant character ability timber to toy with throughout a number of playthroughs.
This isn’t precisely earth-shattering innovation – it’s stuff we’ve seen earlier than. With that mentioned, it’s a form of mechanical depth that has hardly ever been paired with RPGs that construction the remainder of the sport in a extra approachable, bite-sized, action-adventure method. Often the newborn of mechanical role-playing depth will get tossed out with the bathwater – however not so right here.
Crucially, that is the form of RPG system that has sufficient depth that it is best to be capable to crack the sport open like an egg. You don’t have to do this, after all – however for the min/maxers amongst you this actually seems to be the form of sport you’ll be capable to fastidiously construct game-breaking setups in, between the ability timber and the gear that’s on provide. It’s the form of sport the place a single new piece of armour you discover might need some bonus that’ll ship you to craft a wholly new construct designed to maximise its bonus. The Veilguard is constructed for this, too – making respeccing and refunding ability factors simple and limitless, encouraging wild experimentation.
So, there may be meat on the bone. Don’t let trailers that target quippy, attractive characters that you simply’ll need to romance and helm-splitting fight idiot you. That fashion is there, sure. However so, too, is substance.
After I name that stuff fashion, too, I need to be clear: it’s not all floor. The characters, the world, the narrative – they’re all substantive, too. There’s bravery in taking the sequence in new locations on present, for one. There’s some mild shaving off of a few of the sharper edges – generally within the type of pretty quality-of-life adjustments just like the in-game map making it completely clear when a companion has one thing new to say, however different occasions in barely extra controversial streamlining, like dialog choices now principally at all times boiling all the way down to Good, Sarcastic, or Powerful choices.
There’s issues that may’t be judged in a day’s hands-on, after all. The developer says it is proud to have structured the sport round companions this time – they name them “load-bearing pillars” of the complete expertise. The logic, it’s defined, is that BioWare is actually good at doing companions – so why not construction the entire sport particularly round them? It is smart. It may well’t be judged on only a slice of the sport – however for what it’s value, after a day with them I did start to really feel like this may be the perfect Dragon Age ensemble but. The story had me intrigued, too.
The star of the present stays how the sport performs, although. Fight feels good – the Rogue is ridiculous. The RPG techniques have stunning depth. Your entire sport is simply giving greater than I anticipated.
In reality, the sport’s largest sin up to now is solely that Bounce and the Work together button are one and the identical – a pet hate of mine. However I can forgive that. Particularly if the remainder of the expertise lives as much as this primary prolonged hands-on. Roll on October.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches October 31 for PS5, Xbox Sequence, and PC. It prices $69.99/£69.99 on PS5 and Xbox Sequence X/S, and $59.99/£49.99 on PC, and there are numerous particular editions obtainable.
