Hands-on: Dragon Age: The Veilguard has action, companions, and world-building in full BioWare form

One refrain has echoed through the internet and inside the minds of BioWare fans for some time. At the preview event I attended for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it was frequently said: “It’s been almost 10 years since the last Dragon Age.”

It’s what I was thinking as I sat down at the PC to play, too. How could I not? 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition and its 2015 DLC Trespasser was the last we’ve seen of the continent of Thedas in video game form. Truly, after nearly a decade of waiting, I was just eager to know if there was an executable that would launch Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Well, the good news is there’s an executable and much more beyond. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is real, and plays like a BioWare back in form, in a way we haven’t seen in quite some time.

The makings of a hero

My preview session kicked off with the introduction, playing a short talk-over from Varric that sets the stage for the action to follow. Solas, our lovable/loathable elf god pal from Inquisition, has been up to some hijinks since credits rolled on Trespasser. He’s set to conduct a ritual of some kind, altering the Veil, the magical barrier between the real world and the Fade. There are demons and other bad things in the Fade, so obviously, Varric and co. want to put a stop to it.

Rather than taking the mantle of the Inquisitor back up, the player’s put in the shoes of Rook, an up-and-coming talent Varric has scouted for his private group of Solas-stoppers. I’ll say first off that, while I like the tavern scene as an intro to your character’s look and an establishing moment for their approach to problem-solving, Rook does feel like they just sprung from the earth a hero. There’s a little choice-making in the character creator to help set up their backstory, but it felt a little thin to me, compared to other BioWare leads.

Thankfully, the character creator shines. It’s an extremely impressive engine, that I’m sure will keep fans of sliders and value shifting tinkering for hours upon hours. I saw a few other press folks get completely lost in the creation tool, and those who finished the preview content early—myself included—went right back in for more.

One of the coolest tools BioWare crafted for the character creator is the triangle slider for faces. Basically, take three preset head shapes and faces, and the creator lets you slide around a triangle, opting for more or less of each one’s individual qualities mixed with the group. It’s hard to describe in text, but seeing it in action is both incredibly intuitive and surprisingly effective.

Qunari characters have been a point of contention leading into Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as the Qunari seen so far have been a bit smoothed-out and human compared to the unique looks of past characters like the Arishok and the Iron Bull. While I did make one I was ultimately happy with, it did take some tinkering, and still had a bit of that smooth look. I think letting the horns extend a bit further down the forehead and temples would help, but otherwise, I mostly liked the Qunari Rook I arrived at, after about 10 to 15 minutes of playing with sliders.

The introduction plays out as we’ve seen it before: Rook and Varric meet up with scout Lace Harding and Neve Gallus, an investigator and mage of Minrathous, and rush to stop Solas from tearing open the Veil with his ritual. Things go wrong, Solas winds up trapped in the Veil, and two ancient elven gods he had imprisoned are let loose on Thedas.

Shifting the title from Dreadwolf to The Veilguard makes a bit more sense now, seeing it all play out. Solas certainly isn’t out of the picture; both his history and present predicament play into the action at hand. But dealing with Ghilan’nain and Elgar’nan, the elven gods that got let out, is a more pressing and immediate issue. The former in particular is visually striking, adding some unsettling body horror to this world. In fact, just be ready for a lot of creepy blight-related horror in The Veilguard, especially whenever Ghilan’nain is around.

There are plenty of minor antagonist factions too, from the Venatori to the ever-present Darkspawn, to fill the combat arena. The latter, Thedas’ long-time scourge, looks a bit different this time around, thanks to some Plot Reasons I won’t get too deep into. Suffice to say, I wondered why they looked different, and received an answer.

Rallying the guard

To fight the gods, you’ll need a good squad. And quickly, Dragon Age: The Veilguard gets you into the rhythm of building your party. We played two different missions, one recruiting the Veil Jumper Bellara Lutare, and another rescuing assassin and soon-to-be fan-favorite Lucanis Dellamorte from a magical underwater prison.

Immediately, this felt so familiar. That steady cadence of venturing out on missions to get new companions, talking to them back at base, and eventually unlocking new bits of their story or character-specific quests to encounter is one of the main appeals of BioWare for me. Thankfully, Veilguard has it locked down.

Like I said, Lucanis is charismatic from the jump. A suave assassin with a hint of magic and a darkness stirring within him? Sign me up. Harding’s own entanglements with magic seems to be leading her into investigations of dwarven culture, so that’s a huge bonus for anyone who loved the Orzammar sections of Dragon Age: Origins. Neve, Davrin, and Taash are all standouts I’d love to spend more time with, too. It’s a nice feeling, to have a group of likable, interesting companions that you just want to spend more time around. Chatting, laughing, maybe even smooching? Yes, there is romance.

Romance is obvious, because Dragon Age: The Veilguard adopts a similar chat wheel to its predecessors. Options will appear on the wheel, and they’ll usually have their tone communicated with a little art in the center; a stalwart knight might indicate a stoic response, for example, while the heart is an obvious green-light for flirting.

Everyone gathers and hangs out at the Lighthouse, a former base of operations for Solas inside the Fade, now home to the Veilguard. It has plenty of its own secrets to uncover, including some neat lore about Solas’ rebellion and the lore at large. There’s a workshop for upgrading equipment too, and this place also links into the Crossroads, an evolving zone with combat challenges and links to new areas that open up over the course of the game.

The world outside

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard taking place in the northern portion of the map, it seems like the focus is very much on new sights and sounds rather than old ones. While Orlais and Ferelden were mentioned, the adventures we saw focused on new regions we’ve really only heard about, like Minrathous and Treviso.

These areas are gorgeously realized and brought to life. I legitimately found myself stopping to take in the sights, whether it was the imposing panopticon-esque Templar watchtower in Minrathous or the alleyways of Treviso. It’s not all city streets, though; the Arlathan forest was filled with nature, contrasted with ancient ruins and technology.

It’s a bit hard to peg down a single “look” for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It can be extremely colorful and bright in battle, or shift to staunch black-and-white for important moments. Magic ripples and crackles in the air, the blight oozes, and the grim fantasy of all it can feel foreboding in the right moments. More than a few moments were taken to show off just what BioWare can do with some modern technology, and they really worked.

All of this operates around a hub-and-spoke world design that truly works. Rather than another open-world entry, BioWare is opting for several zones that can link up to each other, while also spinning off into their own mission areas. Mass Effect 2’s Omega is an easy and familiar comparison point. These are worlds that can be explored, with stories and quests to find, but also then lead you off to special areas for the big quests.

These regions change, too, sometimes due to your own actions. I can’t really dive into details, but there are decisions you make that won’t just change whether someone likes you or not, but can leave permanent marks on the world. What I will say is that these changes are tangible ones you’ll contend with, rather than just a background alteration, and I loved how these changes were shown in-game.

Draw swords

Of course, aside from adventuring and chatting up companions, there’s also the combat. Many pillars of Dragon Age are still alive in The Veilguard: the Warrior/Rogue/Mage class split, using abilities to set up combos and detonation effects, and there are many returning spells and magical abilities.

Everyone gets a little extra oomph of power in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, though. Warriors can throw their shield like Captain America in their sword-and-shield stance, or hit a button to swap to their two-hander and start swinging. Rogues still feel combo-heavy, able to output huge amounts of damage and lock down single targets, though using gadgets and a bow felt fairly viable too. I didn’t spend too much time with Mage; it felt a bit slower to me, and besides, I’m pretty certain a lot of writers were spending their time flinging spells.

I personally loved playing the Rogue. Leaping into combat, dodging around giant axe swings and spells, and then throwing down a Lightning Flask to stagger my enemies into a brutal finisher felt great. The Ultimate skills take things a step further; mine threw out a bevy of explosives in an area in front of me, which was incredibly useful in boss’ add phases.

Combat in The Veilguard did have some noticeable shifts, though. I didn’t see health bars on my companions, which felt like it indicated they may not have them. Also, control was strictly limited to my character, with the occasional tactical menu pulled up to order an ally to fire off a spell at a certain target.

In practice, this felt a little less like Origins’ planning and tactics, and more like Mass Effect 2, a game I found mirrored quite often in The Veilguard. It means the action moves fast, battles are exciting, and everything narrows in on finding opportunities to do damage and stay alive. But I did feel some of that tactical layer peeled away in the process, at least for what I played.

I’m also curious to see how upgrades pan out, as the ones we picked up seemed to run the gamut from interesting additions (chance to proc Bleed on the final hit of a combo) to fairly mundane ones (a straightforward numbers boost). It can be hard to get a gauge on the power scale of an RPG in just one slice, but given the lengthy amount of time we had—over six hours, by my estimate—it did make me wonder.

A world in need of saving

Dragon Age: The Veilguard arrives at a juncture for BioWare. It’s not just the first Dragon Age game in almost a decade, but it’s also the newest RPG from a studio that’s been on rough waters. Mass Effect: Andromeda was, to use a tired phrase, a bit of a mixed bag, and Anthem was a noteworthy stumble.

The Veilguard itself went through its own iterations, and now has studio hopes hanging on it. Sure, there’s a new Mass Effect in the oven too, but eyes are on BioWare now to see if it can still do what BioWare has been notoriously known for: beefy RPGs with compelling characters and enthralling worlds.

After hours spent with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I’m feeling much more positive than I was going in. Many of my concerns about what a BioWare game looks like, in 2024, were quickly washed away. The Veilguard is BioWare as hell: it’s got compelling characters, enthralling worlds, and plenty of beef.

Yet this crew, formed of some familiar faces and some new ones, seems to be making their own mark on it too. I can sift out the pieces that feel like older BioWare, sure; the ones that spark familiar tones of past games. But there’s some new ideas too. I love the world state changes, the quest-specific zones and areas, and the recontextualization of so many Dragon Age norms thanks to our new, northern locales.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard seems like it could see BioWare reclaiming its spot as a maker of big, exciting RPGs, and that’s encouraging. Walking in, I was just looking to see if the game was real. Now, I really can’t wait to get back to it.

_{[Travel and lodging for this preview was provided by the publisher.]}