Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally shows first, real gameplay and reveals some information about the game. For MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus, a long-standing concern has been alleviated. And even though there is a lot of criticism about what has been shown, he could hardly be happier.
For me, Dragon Age is still the best role-playing series ever. Although I love Gothic, devoured the Witcher books, and consider the Pathfinder games (or anything from Owlcat, really) to be among my favorites, nothing beats Dragon Age.
My enthusiasm goes so far that even the rather small series “Absolution” on Netflix excites me more than Arcane, and I celebrated that – like everyone else – immensely. Dragon Age is simply a significant part of my life, a game that has accompanied me since my youth.
Now, ten years have passed since I played the latest part, Inquisition. The third Dragon Age, released in 2014, had a very open ending, with an evil cliffhanger. And since then, I’ve wanted to know how it continues.
Often it is the case that after a long pause, the enthusiasm simply wanes. With Dragon Age, that was not the case for me – simply because the studio has diligently produced other games. And with that, it has consistently raised the concern in me whether Dragon Age will even continue.
There have been teasers for Dragon Age 4 again and again, but they couldn’t calm my fears:
The big fear: Will there even be a Dragon Age 4?
The studio behind the Dragon Age series is BioWare – the very geniuses who were responsible for Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and even the first two parts of Baldur’s Gate.
And for Anthem. You probably guess where I’m going with this.
BioWare has had quite … difficult years:
- After Inquisition, the latest part of Mass Effect, Andromeda, was released and it received rather mixed reviews. The game had numerous problems, from poor animations to clunky cutscenes to a rather uneven story.
- Then came Anthem. The big hope in the cool armor flopped hard and was shut down after two years. Today, the developers say: They already knew beforehand that Anthem was not finished.
- In 2020, two of the most important employees for Dragon Age and Anthem left BioWare.
- Even during Anthem, there were serious internal issues. An insider report paints a pretty grim picture of crunch and poor working conditions: overtime, lack of visions, nothing fit together.
- Even the boss himself commented: “BioWare Magic” is bullshit, he says and “a terrible way to work”.
In 2023, EA finally laid off a total of 50 employees from BioWare. Although it was said at the time that the development of Dragon Age was not affected, a fan naturally still worries about their favorite games.
The years since Inquisition have been tough, and there have been uncertainties again and again about whether Dragon Age 4 will even come. Even with teasers and the codename Dreadwolf, this skepticism remained in my mind – it could still be canceled. Just now, with the latest information, I could finally breathe a sigh of relief after almost ten years and know: Dragon Age 4 is coming, and I will enjoy it.
The latest trailer has caused quite a commotion:
The first real trailer is coming, and no one knows what to think of it
With this opinion, I still stand relatively alone. At the Xbox Showcase 2024, BioWare showed a new trailer for Dragon Age 4, now under the title: “The Veilguard.”
And the first reaction from the fans is to tear apart everything in the scenes. Nothing pleased the people: too colorful, too wild, and everything looks more like Fortnite than Dragon Age.
I could understand the reaction to some degree, but for me, what was much more important was: Awesome, finally something new about Dragon Age 4, it’s not dead! At the same time, there’s that nagging thought in my head about whether the fan reactions might hold some truth. Will the game really be good?
Just a day later, at least for a large part of the community, the doubts were dispelled. A gameplay snippet of just 24 seconds shows a dark Dragon Age, just as everyone wanted.
Now there are even fully 20 minutes of gameplay available, and they show a really good game. One that is different from any Dragon Age before, yes. But that’s also what makes the series unique: Every game stands on its own, only the story connects everything.
I can say: after ten years of anticipation, I am finally feeling optimistic and looking forward to the game. However, not all details are pleasing.
One detail has me more excited than anything else
Colleague Dimitri Halley from GameStar had the chance to see a whole hour of the new Dragon Age at the Summer Game Fest. During that, he talked to Game Director Corinne Busche and got some questions answered and things shown.
The detail that excites me the most in his report is the backgrounds. Similar to Dragon Age 2, the character in Veilguard again has a fixed name: Rook. Everything else is customizable: gender, race, and even the origin.
What this means is that I get to give my character a backstory. While it is pre-made, I know from a report that it should be possible to play a crow from Antiva.
The crows are assassins, spies, and infiltrators, basically fantasy ninjas, and since Origins, they have been the faction that has excited me the most. After each previous Dragon Age gave me a more or less fixed place in the world, I now have the opportunity to truly decide who I am. Not the Grey Warden, not the Inquisitor, not Hawke – but a crow, my crow!
Three pieces of information make me still skeptical
At the same time, Dimitri unfortunately reports directly on several things that I am still unsure of what to think about them. BioWare is taking a whole new path with Dragon Age: The Veilguard with a completely different team than before, and you can already tell:
- The group size shrinks from four to three members in total, so I can only take two companions with me.
- Instead of a half-turn-based combat system with skills, there is an action combat system with active parrying and such. The tactical pause remains, but I have always appreciated the “D&D feeling” in role-playing games.
- Additionally, you can only actively control Rook in combat. Companions can only be “commanded” by telling them: “Go there,” or “Stay put for a while.” Almost like in a raid in World of Warcraft, where the leader coordinates their teammates …
These points make me skeptical, but they only slightly dampen my excitement. I want to embrace Dragon Age 4, to see it as its own game. And I am already quite sure that I will enjoy it.
What I know so far about Veilguard is encouraging, and BioWare would have to make a very serious mistake to ruin the hype for me. But I don’t want to judge the game too early. I’ll do that once I have played it. Until then, I look forward to new snippets about the story and gameplay – or gossip with other nerds about any strange details: Dragon Age finally reveals the gameplay, but fans almost exclusively talk about a broken crossbow
