Dragon Age: The Veilguard starts slow but strong

After 40 hours with BioWare’s latest fantasy RPG, it feels like I’m just getting started.

I expected to get emotional playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, but I didn’t think it’d happen as early as it did. It’s been nearly 10 years since Dragon Age: Inquisition, and the time since has been difficult for BioWare, with the studio beset by layoffs, high-profile departures, and poorly performing games. This led to speculation, if not outright fear, that Veilguard would be the latest in a string of disappointing releases. I shared those fears. Dragon Age is a special franchise for me, so naturally, I hoped Veilguard would live up to such expectations.

After 40 hours, I can’t say right now if it has. Inquisition became one of my most beloved games over months of digestion, new playthroughs, different choices, multiple romances, and discussions with internet acquaintances who, because of our shared love of Dragon Age, have become my dearest friends. Veilguard deserves similar consideration. But while I can’t definitively say if Veilguard is the RPG that I hoped it would be, I can say that within minutes of starting the game, I experienced a jolt, a spark, an unnamable thing that let me know that Veilguard has the potential to be the same kind of special Inquisition was. It all started with the character creator.

Spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard below.

My avatars in previous Dragon Age games never looked like they did in my imagination. Dragon Age has always been a franchise where your choices inform the world around you. But as a Black player, the choices I could make for my appearance have always been limited, constrained by what the game’s technology could allow or simple developer oversight. But one of Veilguard’s biggest improvements over its predecessors is its enhanced character creator. There’s a wealth of skin colors, hairstyles, body types, facial features, blemishes, birthmarks, tattoos, and even top-surgery scars. I enjoyed picking my way through the choices, crafting a Rook to suit my tastes.

Image: BioWare

In Veilguard, Rook isn’t your name but your title, given when you were recruited to track down Solas, a companion from the previous game who was an elven god in disguise. Rook must thwart his plans of tearing down the magical barrier that separates the material world from the magical one. But when Rook and their team do manage to stop him, they unleash worse monsters. Now, Rook and Solas must work together to stop a pair of corrupted gods and their plans to destroy the world.

None of the Dragon Age games are direct sequels to one another. Each game only vaguely alludes to the events of the previous one, and sometimes major characters return as minor cameos. Both Inquisition and Veilguard use returning protagonists as a way to establish connection and to add drama for longtime fans. Like Inquisition, Veilguard offers the opportunity to customize a second character who you won’t control but will have an impact on the story — the Inquisitor, the main character from the previous game — and creating her knocked the breath out of me. I felt the same spark of recognition one gets from seeing an old friend after a long absence. Even though this person doesn’t exist, I knew this woman. She was the character who got me through some of my darkest days. It sounds so silly, but it meant so much to see my Inquisitor as I always envisioned her, to finally have reality match my imagination.

The leap in technology from Inquisition to Veilguard is noticeable beyond the character creator. Companions and environments are arresting in their design such that I couldn’t stop gawking. Lace Harding, one of your companions, is so dang pretty, a goodly portion of my screencaps are just of her — and I was tickled to see the game reward my obsession. The first big choice in Veilguard is who to take with you on a dangerous mission to stop a magical ritual. Because I chose Harding, she became grievously injured, with her face covered in bruises. But later, as I continuously visited her as a part of my “squeeze every bit of fun dialogue out of my companions” routine, I noticed that her bruises progressively got better. I could see not only a neat visual representation of the passage of time — something I’ve never seen in a Dragon Age before — but also the progression of our relationship. It felt like I was really checking up on her like I would a real friend. As her bruises healed, our relationship deepened.

Locations are richly designed such that they feel like characters in their own right. Arlathan Forest, the game’s first big quest zone, is distractingly gorgeous. Someone on the environment team is very obviously a fan of Alex Garland’s Annihilation because the forest literally shimmers with colorful films of magic and is dotted with the bodies of tree people frozen in time. Because Treviso is under occupation by one of Veilguard’s enemy forces, its citizens are destitute, and the streets are littered with beggar bowls that I always drop a few coins in no matter what.

With the help of my companions, I really got to know those areas. Neve, my detective companion, took me on a tour of Dock Town, introducing me to her contacts and friends. Lucanis, my assassin companion, did the same for his hometown of Treviso. The game artfully made those places as dear to me as my companions were, to devastating effect.

I won’t spoil what happens directly, but just know that when the decision wheel popped, I groaned and giggled at the same time. Making impossible choices that have disastrous consequences is what Dragon Age is all about. It’s why I play. I won’t tell you what I chose, only that it hurt to decide, and it felt so good, so ironically comforting that, once again, a choice in a BioWare game caused me pain.

In previous Dragon Age games, these decisions usually only resulted in personal consequences that weren’t all that substantial — damaged reputation here or a different type of enemy there. Veilguard is the first time my choice felt consequential to my character, to the world around her, and to me as a player.

At the start of my time with Veilguard, I was so worried that I wasn’t going to feel what I felt playing Inquisition. I was dazzled by all the pretty, and happy to get to explore all the new locations. But it took getting to that second big decision before the game really clicked.

These first 40 hours with Veilguard were a slow burn, and I liked the change of pace. Unlike the other games with big, explosive beginnings — literally, in Inquisition’s case — Veilguard took the time to build a world around me before shattering it just as I was getting comfortable. Now, the game really starts.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on October 31st on Xbox, PS5, and PC.