Dragon Age: The Veilguard

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally heading toward its long-awaited release, this article will bring you up to speed on every facet of the action RPG, from its troubled development to its confirmed features, story beats, and setting.

The project has had multiple iterations over time. Shortly after the successful release of Dragon Age: Inquisition in late 2014, BioWare's Game Director Mike Laidlaw outlined plans for a new installment codenamed Joplin. This would have been a smaller game focused on a 'heist' in the region of the Tevinter Imperium magocracy. This iteration was canceled in late 2017 (with Laidlaw leaving the company around the same time) as Electronic Arts attempted to pivot the game to a live service design. Back then, this new Dragon Age (codenamed Morrison) was described as 'Anthem with dragons'.

That wasn't the last major change in direction. Following the massive failure of Anthem and the success of Respawn's single player game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, EA eventually reconsidered its own stance and allowed BioWare to ditch live service elements, resuming development as a single player only title.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was previously known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but the team has recently decided to change the name to reflect the game's focus on the player's companions rather than on one of the (supposed) villains.

Release date, platforms, pricing, editions

BioWare and Electronic Arts have not announced a definitive launch date (nor pricing or the available editions) yet. However, they confirmed the game will be released for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X this Fall.

The game reached the Alpha milestone nearly two years ago, allowing a far longer time for polishing than any previous BioWare game. Between that fact and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Shadows already securing a November 15 date (which would have been near the 10-year anniversary of Inquisition), there's speculation that the developers may be targeting a launch in late September or early October. More official information may be released in the coming weeks.

As with all EA games, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be playable right away (probably even ahead of the official release) with the EA Play Pro subscription.

Genre, setting, and story premise

The new Dragon Age installment is a single player third-person action roleplaying game. Unlike Inquisition, it won't feature open world-like zones. BioWare said it is a highly curated and handcrafted experience to better serve the needs of the narrative, which has been central to this project. That said, they also confirmed the game would 'open up dramatically' after a certain point, allowing exploration off the beaten path within some 'fairly wide spaces.'

The setting may be the only leftover from earlier stages of the project. For the first time in the franchise, players will head to the Tevinter Imperium; in fact, the very beginning of the game, as shown in the 15-minute gameplay, takes place in the capital of Minrathous. However, players can expect to visit a greater amount of the continent of Thedas than ever before, including locations like Weisshaupt (the fortress of the Grey Wardens, located in Anderfels), Rivain, the Arlathan Forest, and the Deep Roads.

The story of Dragon Age: The Veilguard picks up around eight years after the events seen in the Trespasser DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition. Solas, now fully unmasked as the elven trickster god known as Dreadwolf, is hellbent on tearing the Veil to restore immortality to the elves, no matter the consequences for the world. The player character named Rook (the surname will vary depending on the race, selected between Qunari, Dwarf, Elf, and Human) gets wind of the situation and rushes alongside Varric, Harding (the female Dwarf scout from the previous game), and a Mage detective called Neve to stop Solas. Rook successfully disrupts the magic ritual but, in so doing, frees two extremely dangerous elven deities previously stuck behind the Veil: Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. It will be up to Rook and their Veilguard (composed of seven companions: Harding, Neve, Lucanis, Bellara, Davrin, Taash, and Emmrich) to protect Thedas from the aftermath.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, players imported save states from previous games via the dedicated Dragon Age Keep software, allowing them to maintain the world states spawned by their choices and consequences. For Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare opted for a different approach. Players will build key choices from previous games directly in the new character creator, with tarot cards providing context for each decision. They'll even get to recreate their own Inquisitor (the main character in the third installment), who will appear in the game in some capacity. The character creator itself was described as the most powerful ever made by BioWare, featuring extensive body customization options (including 40 different skin complexions and as many Qunari horn types, as well as more than 30 makeup styles), the ability to choose pronouns separately from gender, and one of four voices out of English masculine, English feminine, American masculine, or American feminine. Character creation also includes background roleplaying options such as the faction, with six available options: Grey Wardens, Antivan Crows, Shadow Dragons, Lords of Fortune, Mourn Watch, and Veil Jumpers.

Gameplay

The combat system is more action-focused than in previous Dragon Age games, and the developers have expressed the goal of letting players feel in control of every action, be it parrying, dodging, or blocking.

Players will select three active abilities per character to bring in their weapon loadouts (two can be swapped mid-combat), in addition to Ultimates (which change based on specialization) and runes. However, some skills have been baked into the core moveset for all classes. Each class now has light and heavy attacks, which can be used strategically depending on the situation, and some abilities can be charged. Moreover, there are combo opportunities between certain abilities, and combos can be 'paused' to dash away when needed and resumed afterward.

Players will select their main character's class between three options: Warrior, Rogue and Mage. Each of the classes comes with its own set of specializations. Warriors can become either Reapers, who use night blades to siphon health from foes, risking death to gain supernatural abilities; Slayers, who wield two-handed weapons for straightforward but strong attacks that deal increased damage; or Champions, who are equipped with one-handed weapons and shields, focusing on tactical defense and taking hits from enemies on the group's behalf.

Rogues can pick between Duelists, who dual wield blades for rapid strikes and have the fastest movement with a focus on dodges and parries, Saboteurs, who use a mix of traps and tricks to control the battlefield, and Veil Rangers, a more classic ranged style of combat to hit enemies from afar with a bow. Lastly, Mages can be either Death Callers (basically, necromancers), Spellblades (warrior mages who infuse their melee attacks with magic), or Evokers, masters of elemental fire, ice, and lightning magic. Blood Magic won't be available in Dragon Age: The Veilguard for a narrative reason, according to BioWare.

Players can customize their character to their heart's content thanks to the 'enormous' skill trees that the developers said were inspired by Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid. With every level up (the max level is 50), the game will provide a skill point that can be used in the tree to unlock active abilities, traits, minor passives, and major passives, which can include jump attacks and guaranteed critical hits after specific triggers. BioWare also said that players would be able to branch out of their chosen specialization around mid-game to pick other stuff from the skill trees to complement their playstyle.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard has reduced the group from four to three characters due to the increased action focus. You also won't be able to control companions directly, but you can issue them orders to execute specific abilities against specific targets via the ability wheel, pausing the action. The companions can act on their own, but at harder difficulties, strategic play of the whole party is recommended.

Speaking of the main character's allies, they will gather at a social hub called Lighthouse (located in the Fade). It's here that most of the conversations between them and the player character will occur. Each companion can be romanced regardless of gender and race, and if you won't romance them yourself, they may find their match elsewhere in the group.

Lastly, crafting and transmogrification (the ability to wield some gear and show a cosmetic skin instead) are confirmed to be in the game.

Technology & Specs

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is powered by the Frostbite engine, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and Anthem. BioWare said this is the first game in which they've felt in control of the engine. On consoles, the game will offer performance and quality mode options.

We don't have any details on the PC version yet, including system requirements. However, BioWare's Mike Gamble has teased that PC-related announcements are coming soon, hinting at a collaboration with either Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD.