Dragon Age: The Veilguard is starting to sound like a proper Dragon Age game. Mechanically speaking, each release is radically different, tied together by thematic and recurring elements, kind of like Final Fantasy (with templars in place of moogles). Put another way, BioWare is ditching the controllable companions this time around: "What we've found is it wasn't actually adding to the experience."
Dragon Age: Origins was in CRPG territory, Dragon Age 2 was a proper action RPG, and Dragon Age: Inquisition blended the two into something separate, but all previous titles allowed the player to control companion characters, so this is a significant departure, at least in terms of perspective. Customisable protagonist Rook can still direct their allies in combat, as seen in the clip below.
Gamesradar+ reports that Edge magazine spoke to game director Corinne Busche and asked why the developer had opted for this route: "You're in this world; you're focused on your actions. We wanted the companions to feel like they, as fully realised characters, control their actions. They make their own decisions."
Busche claims that the primary reason for the departure was that BioWare's next is a much more involved game than previous entries in the series: "[The Veilguard is] a much higher actions-per-minute game. It is more technically demanding on the player. So when we tried allowing you full control of your companions, we found that it wasn't actually adding to the experience. In some ways, it was detrimental, given the demanding nature of just controlling your character."
BioWare understands it's taking a risk here, but at the very least, seems confident in the underlying gameplay systems. Busche owns that part: "I will admit that, on paper, if you just read that you cannot control your companions, that might feel like something was taken away. But in our testing and validating with players, we find they're more engaged than ever."