Welcome to a casual gamer’s review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I’ve played every Dragon Age game since Origins and have strong opinions on this one. There’s a lot of mixed information online—some say it’s the best RPG ever, others say it’s the worst. I’m here to offer a balanced perspective after my 38 hour playthrough of Veilguard.
Why listen to me? I’ve played every Dragon Age game and classic BioWare titles like Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and the Mass Effect trilogy. I’m just a gamer who loves the experience and offers fair reviews.
Origins is one of the best RPGs ever, setting a new standard for the genre. Dragon Age II was a letdown with its graphics and story, and Inquisition didn’t feel like a true Dragon Age game. So, where does Veilguard fit in? Let’s dive in and find out.
Forewarning, I’ll address some controversial aspects while hoping not to ruffle feathers.
Do you need to play previous Dragon Age games to understand Veilguard? Kind of. It’s a soft reboot with references to previous games and familiar faces like Solas, Varric (who thankfully barely mentions his crossbow, Bianca). There are many references to the Darkspawn Blight, Grey Wardens, and Archdemons, but without much explanation. Watching some recap videos of the Dragon Age series might help.
You control a customizable character named Rook. I chose to be an elf rogue of the Grey Wardens, which felt nostalgic from my days of playing an undead rogue in World of Warcraft.
Rook is recruited by Varric to stop his friend Solas from opening the Veil, which would allow demons to invade. However, Solas mentions that the Veil keeps evil elf gods imprisoned and is weakening. He argues that fortifying the Veil, even at the cost of some lives due to a demon invasion, is necessary to prevent the elf gods from being released (which would be much more catastrophic). Things go wrong as Rook and Varric confront Solas, freeing two elf gods. Varric gets injured and nominates Rook to lead a team against the evil elf gods. This happens in the first 20 minutes, so no spoilers were written there.
The plot is straightforward but might confuse those unfamiliar with previous Dragon Age games. The first five hours are bland, lacking urgency, but it eventually picks up.
Dialog and choices are controversial. Unlike previous games, where choices impact the story and character relationships, in Veilguard, Rook is always nice, even with aggressive dialogue choices selected. This reduces the roleplaying aspect and makes replaying less appealing.
Overall, while the game has its moments, it feels predictable and less dynamic compared to earlier entries.
You can upgrade the crew’s skills, but it wasn’t mentioned properly in the tutorial. I just happened to notice it. In fact, many items like upgrading rooks magic dagger, choosing skill, specialization, and so on aren’t explained properly. You have to experiment and figure out on your own. These items would have been explained better, especially for folks that don’t play RPGs often. Games like Dragon Age Origins and Jade Empire were worth multiple playthroughs, but Veilguard, despite being okay, doesn’t inspire a second replay for me.
Romancing crew members is possible, but Rook’s flirting is lackluster—just regular comments without any real charm. Rook’s dialogue is predictable and lacks personality.
Dialogue with the crew is abundant, and most characters are likable, though it took time for them to grow on me. Davrin was the only slightly boring one, often talking about a Assan’s appetite. I don’t want to spoil who Assan is so I’ll leave it at that.
In combat, you can’t command your party one at a time, unlike previous Dragon Age games, you can have them activate special moves or command who to attack and that’s it. My teammates did minimal damage unless there was a stacking weakness. Upgrading crew skills wasn’t explained well in the tutorial, requiring experimentation before figuring out how to upgrade their special moves.
Overall, while the game has its moments, better tutorials would have improved the experience, especially for those new to RPGs.
The lack of quest level information is frustrating. For example, a multi-phase side quest led me to fight a level 40 dragon while I was level 22, which took over 20 minutes to defeat due to the level difference. Listing quest levels would have been helpful.
Minor Spoiler alert! I’ll mark where the spoiler ends.
During my 38-hour campaign, I fought about six dragons (counting Archdemons as dragons too), with four being mandatory. In comparison to Dragon Age Origins, where killing the archdemon dragon was a significant event, Veilguard makes dragon battles feel like regular boss fights. This diminishes the epic feeling of dragon battles. The entire story of Origins culminated to an end boss fight against an Archdemon Dragon, whereas Veilguard makes light of it. In fact, during my campaign in Veilguard, Rook even jokes about how good he’s become at killing dragons.
Minor Spoiler ends
Returning to the review, another controversial aspect is the present-time discussion. Dragon Age’s medieval theme feels inconsistent when modern items are mentioned. Overall, while Veil Guard has its moments, it struggles with maintaining the epic nature and consistency that fans expect from the series.
One of the team members, Bellara, is spunky and bubbly, but often uses terms that don’t fit the medieval setting, like “following the correct protocol.” Protocol is a very old word but in the game they used the modern definition of the word that doesn’t align with medieval times, it feels out of place. Some character wardrobes also don’t match the setting, like Neve looking ready for a fashion show or a shadowy assassin NPC named Viper looking like he’s wearing a $10,000 outfit for the North Pole.
Combat in Veil Guard is fast-paced, real-time, and fun once you get used to it. However, as a rogue, the parry and dodge markers above Rook’s head can be hard to see during chaotic action. The camera can be terrible in fight sequences, especially against dragons, requiring adjustments that interrupt gameplay. Worse, when I fix the camera, it moves back, obscuring Rook. So, I can’t see when to dodge or attack.
Some say online gamers say the game isn’t dark enough, which is incorrect as at times it can be gruesome. However, Rook always looks perfect post-battle, unlike Origins, where characters looked messy after combat (even covered in blood at times).
Combat gets repetitive; halfway through, you’ve faced most enemy types. It becomes predictable and boring. This means you’ll be stuck with about a dozen hours of fighting the same type of enemies repeatedly.
It feels like EA and BioWare aimed to make Rook always look perfect and appeal broadly, losing what made Origins amazing. Origins let players control their character, making impactful choices and natural romancing.
Veilguard feels like playing Rook’s story with limited customization. In-game choices affect the story, but not significantly. This diminishes replay value, making it less appealing after beating it once.
The audio in Veilguard is amazing. Voice acting is top-notch and battle sound effects are loud making battles feel impactful.
Graphics are a mixed bag. I played on PlayStation 5, with no bugs and quick load times. The cartoonish art style takes getting used to, but some environments look amazing. Hair animation and most facial animations are well done, except for Rook, whose expressions often don’t match the dialogue. At times I’ll choose a serious dialogue option, Rook will have a serious voice but he’ll start grinning for some reason. This odd facial expression isn’t a one-off, it happens many times throughout the game which throws off the tone of the conversation.
Even the puzzles are so easy they feel almost pointless. I’m not a fan of puzzles but even I have to admit they weren’t satisfying, they have absolutely no challenge to them.
BioWare seems to have focused more on visuals than traditional RPG elements like impactful choices and combat. This makes Veilguard feel more like an interactive movie than a classic RPG.
That’s not how a traditional RPG should feel. Veilguard felt more like an interactive movie and you’re forced to follow the games set direction. Are there choices you can make that impact story and environment? Yes, but it didn’t feel important. Classic BioWare games let you control the story like a director, be the stunt coordinator, adjust the script and so on. Decisions you make can have massive impacts on the story and is why classic BioWare games were worth multiple playthroughs.
In summary, for Dragon Age and RPG fans, I’ve been disappointed with every sequel after Origins. If you have no RPG to play, consider this if it’s $25 or less or on EA’s subscription service.
For those new to RPGs, this might be a decent introduction, but I wouldn’t pay full price. BioWare has been struggling to deliver, likely due to corporate influence.
