The opinions on the new Dragon Age: The Veilguard are widely divided before its release. While some see the game as BioWare’s salvation, others wish they could get their playtime back. One of those criticizing the game is Skill Up, who seemingly hits a sore spot and sparks discussion within the community.
Who is the critic?
- Skill Up is one of the most well-known YouTubers in the English-speaking gaming scene. He is known for his often very direct criticism and unvarnished opinions on games.
- Sometimes the YouTuber also attracts attention with controversies. For example, he played through Cyberpunk 2077 and then, in protest, did not publish a review.
- Now he has turned his attention to the new Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which will be released on October 31 for PS5, PC, and Xbox. He doesn’t think much of the new BioWare game.
This is what Skill Up says about Veilguard: In a 46-minute video, Skill Up dismantles nearly every feature of the game. He starts with the harsh statement: “Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a colossal disappointment. […] I played it for 50 hours and desperately want my time back.”
His biggest criticism lies with the characters – precisely the aspect we praise in our review of The Veilguard on MeinMMO. Skill Up believes that the companions in the new Dragon Age lack depth.
Their stories are too far removed from the main quest’s events and poorly implemented. Most importantly, however, there is a lack of potential for conflict: No matter how mean he acts, his character cannot really be evil, and everyone gets along.
Every conversation is tame, every argument is settled immediately, as if the human resources department were in the room
. The YouTuber criticizes: “This is not how you speak to adults. This is how you speak to a toddler when you want them to share their Optimus Prime toy with their little brother.”
You can see the complete video in English here:
Not a single aspect appealed to me
The whole game avoids conflicts so much that it seems “stupid and immature”. Where Dragon Age used to impress with dark content like the gruesome initiation ritual of the Grey Wardens, today it is colorful and friendly.
Skill Up mentions a few more points of criticism, expanding on many, including:
- a rather weak and repetitive combat system
- “waxy” faces of the characters that “do not look like real people”
- decisions that only seem to have an impact, but are mostly only good for flair
All of this is something that would be better executed in the current example Baldur’s Gate 3 and that BioWare already did better with Inquisition ten years ago. Skill Up criticizes the missed opportunity:
It is impossible to imagine a greater home advantage for BioWare than the Dragon Age franchise. […] No pressure from EA to add any live-service bullshit, which was even planned at one point, but they stopped that years ago.
There is no cash shop in the game, plenty of development time, and budget, the freedom for BioWare to make a BioWare game that is expected from BioWare. Without compromises and excuses. At no point did BioWare take advantage of this opportunity.
Skill Up can commend the new Dragon Age for its flawless performance; even on the highest settings and without optimization, he achieves high frames with a good PC. Additionally, The Veilguard is optimized for the Steam Deck and does not include DRM.
The critic is a big fan of the series and emphasizes: This is all his opinion. Anyone who wants to get a good picture of The Veilguard should also look at positive reviews – perhaps there are points there that resonate more. He is just “a nerd with a microphone.”
Extreme opinions unsettle fans
Skill Up’s video has amassed over a million views, 67,000 likes, and 17,700 comments within a day. This makes it the most viewed review of the game on YouTube and even has more views than the brand new trailer for The Veilguard.
On Reddit, the critic now serves as an example of a counterpoint to the otherwise overwhelmingly positive press for the new Dragon Age. The points Skill Up raises apparently hit right at the concerns of some fans:
The point that the game is completely unwilling to confront any dark themes or allow for team conflict with companions is my biggest concern. I knew it wouldn’t be as dark as Origins or 2, and I accepted that, but… it is still Dragon Age.
The enormous reach of the video leaves the community uncertain whether they will enjoy The Veilguard or not. Opinions are widely divergent, another user remarks on Reddit:
To everyone who is now uncertain because of the number of reviews ranging from “The only thing better is oxygen” to “Worse than having a steamroller roll over my eggs”: take a step back and realize that opinions are always just opinions.
Currently, the assessments of Dragon Age: The Veilguard are enormously polarized, with the trade press being quite unanimous in giving the game good ratings. However, this will lead to a conflict: The press and Metacritic praise Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which will cause a huge dispute with the players.
