How role-playing a trans or nonbinary Rook works in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t have the identical broad, sweeping selections on the finish of each chapter as its predecessors, but it surely does spend fairly a little bit of time permitting the participant to determine how they really feel about their Rook. Does your Rook consider within the Maker, the Dragon Age equal of God? What’s your Rook’s favourite espresso, or are they extra of a tea enjoyer? One route that shocked me is which you can set up your Rook as trans and/or nonbinary, and dialogue choices regarding which are sprinkled all through the sport in surprising locations.

Early on within the sport, Rook unpacks their room on the Lighthouse and ponders 4 gadgets: an merchandise regarding their heritage; instruments of the commerce for his or her class as a rogue, mage, or warrior; a token from their background faction; and a handheld mirror. The hand-held mirror permits Rook to replicate on their very own id as a hero. This consists of some further bushes for scars, tattoos, and a trans/nonbinary id. (For instance, a Dalish Rook may take the chance to touch upon the satisfaction they really feel over their vallaslin facial tattoos.)

The wording of those choices generally is a bit complicated. If I choose an choice regarding being trans whereas gazing into Varric’s mirror, I get a message: “Establishes transgender id and unlocks new dialogue choices in future conversations.” I didn’t choose these choices, and so I assumed that I may be locked out of all future branches. This isn’t true; even when you don’t determine as trans whereas inspecting the mirror, you possibly can nonetheless select trans and nonbinary dialogue choices later within the sport.

I’ve to confess, I used to be skeptical once I first noticed this department come up. I’ve had the choice to determine a trans id throughout character creation in different RPGs, like Saints Row 2 or Cyberpunk 2077, however I haven’t skilled an enormous RPG the place that comes into play throughout conversations. Trans illustration in RPGs could be hit and miss; when executed properly, it rounds out the world and provides depth to the supporting forged. When it’s executed poorly, it’s clunky or maybe a bit cringe. The Veilguard is a sport about combating gods and saving the world. When would the celebration even have time to say these questions of internal id?

Because it seems, The Veilguard’s writers did a fantastic job at setting the stage for these dialog choices. The primary few hours of the sport are a dash, the place Rook collects a celebration of adventurers, confronts the gods, and fights their approach by hordes of Darkspawn and Venatori. As soon as the complete celebration is collectively, the narrative slows down, and the celebration members every understand that all of them have their very own internal struggles to deal with. That is the place The Veilguard shines — I don’t actually care an excessive amount of in regards to the elven gods, however I like my staff and relish the chance to spend extra time with them.

It’s throughout these low-stakes moments, once I’m commiserating with the Antivan Crow Lucanis in regards to the stresses of rising up because the inheritor to an murderer empire, or flirting with the Gray Warden Davrin, that I’ve the chance to have Rook seek advice from their nonbinary or trans id. These choices are maybe probably the most helpful with Taash, a Qunari who’s scuffling with their very own gender id and relationship to each the Qun and Rivain.

The Qun, much like some real-world theocratic societies, is ok with binary trans people; their id is acknowledged, and they’re assigned to the appropriately gendered function below the Qun. Nonbinary people, nonetheless, aren’t acknowledged. This places Taash in a troublesome place, one which I clearly sympathized with as a nonbinary participant. As soon as once more, that particular dialog tree opened up — and I used to be shocked to seek out that it led to a touching dialog that was natural, clearly written with empathy, and each true to my expertise and pure to the Dragon Age fiction.

Ultimately, these choices don’t considerably change The Veilguard. However it is a sport the place the journey is as essential as, if no more so than, the vacation spot. Hanging out with my buddies, serving to them type by their points, and fostering these bonds is a big a part of the sport. It has at all times been an enormous pillar of the Dragon Age franchise. The Veilguard simply takes {that a} step additional, and delves deeper into a selected wrinkle of illustration. I’m glad this experiment was a hit, and I’d like to see this care put into future RPGs.