It's been close to ten whole years since Dragon Age: Inquisition, if you can believe it — and it's fair to say that developer BioWare has endured a difficult decade. The studio effectively tanked its once industry-leading reputation with Mass Effect: Andromeda and ANTHEM — two titles that fell so far short of past standards that expectations surrounding the team's next project dropped to an all-time low.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is that project — a return to the fantasy setting of Thedas, and a new adventure built on the hefty lore of its three predecessors. It's also no secret that The Veilguard — previously known as Dreadwolf — arrives having been dragged through a particularly tumultuous development cycle.

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We don't know for sure how many forms the project has adopted and subsequently shed over its time in the oven, but the game that we've been playing for the sake of this review is probably the best Dragon Age title since Origins. BioWare is back, etc.

We say 'probably' because this is the new Dragon Age, pumped full of action combat, colour-coded loot, and watered-down dialogue wheels. Trying to compare it to something like Origins — charting the course of an entire franchise in the process — is best left to five-hour video essays on YouTube. What you need to know right now is that The Veilguard is the furthest the series has ever strayed from its CRPG roots.

And that's understandable, given how much BioWare itself has changed since 2009. But in a world where Baldur's Gate 3 (there it is, the inevitable name-drop) exists — and it's the gold standard for what a modern, choice-driven RPG can be — The Veilguard feels like it's disappointingly late to the party, and it can't possibly compete on a pure role-playing level.

You're Rook — a completely customisable and rather unlikely hero, who's handed the daunting task of dealing with two ancient elven gods, now free from their ethereal prison. Once you've spent an outrageous amount of time sculpting your perfect protagonist — using the game's impressively in-depth character creation system — you're thrown into the thick of things, as returning rogue Varric leads the charge against his old pal Solas.

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If you've played Inquisition — and its all-important Trespasser expansion — you'll know what's going on. The Veilguard is a direct sequel in terms of the central plot, but it takes place years after the events of the prior instalment. As such, it leans quite heavily into the established Dragon Age narrative, but at the same time, it comes close to feeling like a standalone entity, complete with mostly new characters and locations. Newcomers shouldn't have too much trouble getting to grips.

The game starts off really strong; a string of dramatic and fast-paced story missions set the tone, providing peak BioWare vibes. As the adventure opens up — with Rook having made an otherworldly structure known as the Lighthouse into a base of operations — it becomes clear that Mass Effect 2 was a big inspiration on the game's structural spine.

Basically, Rook needs to assemble a team to bring down those pesky gods, and so a web of character-driven storylines starts to take shape. BioWare's best games have always been defined by their characters, and while it's unlikely that Rook's allies will ever be placed on the same pedestal as Garrus or Morrigan or, hell, even Varric, The Veilguard offers up some endearing personalities throughout.

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By the time we hit the main story's final stretch, we cared quite strongly about Rook and the gang — and if that's not BioWare getting back on track, we don't know what is.

However, the writing can be a bit... cute, for lack of a better word, often missing the kind of wit and punch that make modern classics like Baldur's Gate 3 and The Witcher 3 so compelling. But even with a few too many Marvel-esque quips being flung about, the script is emotionally engaging when it matters. This can be a truly gripping RPG when you're forced to agonise over key story choices, holding your breath as the consequences play out.

The problem is that these weighted, story-shifting decisions are fairly few and far between. The vast majority of your dialogue options boil down to choosing how Rook reacts to the current situation — as opposed to actually impacting it. Granted, being able to shape your hero's personality through somewhat superficial dialogue is important — it helps you connect — but we found ourselves yearning for more meaningful interactions every now and then.

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But it's not like The Veilguard has abandoned its Dragon Age DNA. In fact, what are arguably your most affecting decisions come right at the beginning of the game, as you're able to choose Rook's race, background, and class. These choices echo through the entire adventure, making surprisingly significant changes to dialogue and how you're perceived by both party members and the world's wider factions.

Structurally, The Veilguard is set across a number of separate locations — each of which can be travelled to via huge magical mirrors called Eluvians. Your hub — the aforementioned Lighthouse — is at the heart of this network, granting you convenient access to wherever your next quest happens to begin.

Some of these locations are one-time stops — places where main missions and important companion quests occur. They're linear by design, letting BioWare craft some superb set pieces, backed by stunning scenery. This is where The Veilguard is at its best, stacking carefully constructed combat encounters on top of engaging exploration and tense story moments. Again, it's peak BioWare.

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The year is 2024, though, and so AAA games aren't allowed to just flow. The Veilguard isn't open world, but it does feature a number of large, seamless environments that house generic side quests and too many map icons. It's very reminiscent of God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok — a Metroidvania-like approach where specific companion abilities open additional paths, leading to hidden treasure chests.

Fortunately, this isn't the same kind of bloat that crippled Inquisition — there are nowhere near as many MMO-esque fetch quests, and your efforts are usually rewarded with unique loot or cool boss fights. But there's an argument to be made that The Veilguard would be a better overall experience if you trimmed a lot of the fat, and just stuck with curated, Mass Effect 2-style missions.

As mentioned, Dragon Age is a full-on action RPG now, although it does have a time-stopping command menu that lets you issue orders to your current teammates; it's essentially Mass Effect's combat blueprint but with swords, shields, and magic. There are even 'detonations' to consider — skill combos that result in high-damage chain reactions. Shepard would be proud.

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Thanks to some tricky enemy types and deceptive parry timings, combat does feel awkward at first. But once it clicks — like it did for us, maybe five or so hours in — throwing down with spirits, demons, and darkspawn becomes a genuine highlight. When you consider the series' trajectory, Dragon Age's steady transition to action combat has always seemed inevitable — and so it's a relief that BioWare's managed to make something that feels great to play, and satisfying to succeed at.

And it's not like this is suddenly Devil May Cry. There's still a strategic edge to the encounter design, in that you're often forced to prioritise certain targets, or save your cooldown-based abilities for the perfect counterattack. It ends up striking a really nice balance between moment-to-moment reactions and actively trying to control the rhythm of a fight.

Add diverse character builds to the mix — backed by fantastic skill trees that actually require meaningful choice — and there's an awful lot to like about The Veilguard's action. Our only real criticism is directed at just how much visual noise there can be on-screen at any one time, especially during bigger brawls. Damage numbers, targeting lines, flashing parry indicators — it can seriously hamper your ability to read the battlefield.

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Thankfully, BioWare's gone above and beyond with the game's settings, which let you fully customise the user interface, including text size, subtitle backgrounds, objective markers, tooltips, and more. Likewise, combat difficulty can be tweaked to an impressive extent, letting you fine-tune everything from damage calculations to the timing on dodge and parry windows. Lovely stuff.

Performance is near perfect on PS5, too. The title's performance mode is locked at a silky 60 frames-per-second, barring some incredibly rare dips when the game's busy rendering a new area. Load times are lightning quick as well — which is a big deal given how often you'll be fast travelling between waypoints in order to complete quests.

And visually, The Veilguard is a bit of a stunner. As alluded earlier, the environmental artistry is outstanding; from the crumbling, dream-like structures of the Fade to the gorgeously autumnal Arlathan forest, it's a beautifully presented experience. What's more, the character designs are superb, even if the art direction as a whole has almost completely abandoned the property's once grittier, gorier aesthetic.

Conclusion

Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn't quite BioWare back to its absolute best, but it is the most cohesive and emotionally engaging RPG that the studio has delivered since Mass Effect 3. Its shift to crunchy action combat is an improvement over Inquisition's middle-of-the-road approach, and although the game feels a little light on meaningful player choice, the storytelling pulls no punches when it actually matters. This is a gorgeous and gripping adventure, backed by a cast of endearing heroes and deliciously devious villains.

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