Dragon Age: The Veilguard Evaluation (PS5)

It has been shut to 10 entire years since Dragon Age: Inquisition, in case you can imagine it — and it is honest to say that developer BioWare has endured a tough decade. The studio successfully tanked its as soon as industry-leading fame with Mass Impact: Andromeda and ANTHEM — two titles that fell thus far in need of previous requirements that expectations surrounding the group’s subsequent mission dropped to an all-time low.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is that mission — a return to the fantasy setting of Thedas, and a brand new journey constructed on the hefty lore of its three predecessors. It is also no secret that The Veilguard — beforehand referred to as Dreadwolf — arrives having been dragged by way of a very tumultuous improvement cycle.

We do not know for positive what number of types the mission has adopted and subsequently shed over its time within the oven, however the recreation that we have been enjoying for the sake of this evaluation might be the perfect Dragon Age title since Origins. BioWare is again, and so forth.

We are saying ‘in all probability’ as a result of that is the brand new Dragon Age, pumped stuffed with motion fight, colour-coded loot, and watered-down dialogue wheels. Making an attempt to check it to one thing like Origins — charting the course of a whole franchise within the course of — is greatest left to five-hour video essays on YouTube. What you should know proper now’s that The Veilguard is the furthest the collection has ever strayed from its CRPG roots.

And that is comprehensible, given how a lot BioWare itself has modified since 2009. However in a world the place Baldur’s Gate 3 (there it’s, the inevitable name-drop) exists — and it is the gold commonplace for what a contemporary, choice-driven RPG could be — The Veilguard feels prefer it’s disappointingly late to the celebration, and it might probably’t probably compete on a pure role-playing degree.

You are Rook — a totally customisable and relatively unlikely hero, who’s handed the daunting process of coping with two historical elven gods, now free from their ethereal jail. As soon as you’ve got spent an outrageous period of time sculpting your excellent protagonist — utilizing the sport’s impressively in-depth character creation system — you are thrown into the thick of issues, as returning rogue Varric leads the cost in opposition to his previous pal Solas.

In case you’ve performed Inquisition — and its all-important Trespasser growth — you will know what is going on on. The Veilguard is a direct sequel when it comes to the central plot, but it surely takes place years after the occasions of the prior instalment. As such, it leans fairly closely into the established Dragon Age narrative, however on the similar time, it comes near feeling like a standalone entity, full with principally new characters and areas. Newcomers should not have an excessive amount of bother attending to grips.

The sport begins off actually robust; a string of dramatic and fast-paced story missions set the tone, offering peak BioWare vibes. As the journey opens up — with Rook having made an otherworldly construction referred to as the Lighthouse right into a base of operations — it turns into clear that Mass Impact 2 was an enormous inspiration on the sport’s structural backbone.

Mainly, Rook must assemble a group to carry down these pesky gods, and so an online of character-driven storylines begins to take form. BioWare’s greatest video games have all the time been outlined by their characters, and whereas it is unlikely that Rook’s allies will ever be positioned on the identical pedestal as Garrus or Morrigan or, hell, even Varric, The Veilguard presents up some endearing personalities all through.

By the point we hit the principle story’s last stretch, we cared fairly strongly about Rook and the gang — and if that is not BioWare getting again on observe, we do not know what’s.

Nevertheless, the writing generally is a bit… cute, for lack of a greater phrase, usually lacking the form of wit and punch that make fashionable classics like Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Witcher 3 so compelling. However even with a couple of too many Marvel-esque quips being flung about, the script is emotionally partaking when it issues. This generally is a really gripping RPG once you’re pressured to agonise over key story decisions, holding your breath as the implications play out.

The issue is that these weighted, story-shifting selections are pretty few and much between. The overwhelming majority of your dialogue choices boil down to selecting how Rook reacts to the present state of affairs — versus really impacting it. Granted, having the ability to form your hero’s persona by way of considerably superficial dialogue is vital — it helps you join — however we discovered ourselves craving for extra significant interactions from time to time.

Nevertheless it’s not like The Veilguard has deserted its Dragon Age DNA. The truth is, what are arguably your most affecting selections come proper in the beginning of the sport, as you are ready to decide on Rook’s race, background, and sophistication. These decisions echo by way of the complete journey, making surprisingly important modifications to dialogue and the way you are perceived by each celebration members and the world’s wider factions.

Structurally, The Veilguard is ready throughout plenty of separate areas — every of which could be travelled to through large magical mirrors referred to as Eluvians. Your hub — the aforementioned Lighthouse — is on the coronary heart of this community, granting you handy entry to wherever your subsequent quest occurs to start.

A few of these areas are one-time stops — locations the place fundamental missions and vital companion quests happen. They’re linear by design, letting BioWare craft some excellent set items, backed by gorgeous surroundings. That is the place The Veilguard is at its greatest, stacking rigorously constructed fight encounters on high of partaking exploration and tense story moments. Once more, it is peak BioWare.

The yr is 2024, although, and so AAA video games aren’t allowed to simply movement. The Veilguard is not open world, but it surely does characteristic plenty of giant, seamless environments that home generic facet quests and too many map icons. It’s totally harking back to God of Struggle (2018) and God of Struggle Ragnarok — a Metroidvania-like method the place particular companion skills open further paths, resulting in hidden treasure chests.

Thankfully, this is not the identical form of bloat that crippled Inquisition — there are nowhere close to as many MMO-esque fetch quests, and your efforts are normally rewarded with distinctive loot or cool boss fights. However there’s an argument to be made that The Veilguard can be a greater total expertise in case you trimmed loads of the fats, and simply caught with curated, Mass Impact 2-style missions.

As talked about, Dragon Age is a full-on motion RPG now, though it does have a time-stopping command menu that permits you to situation orders to your present teammates; it is primarily Mass Impact’s fight blueprint however with swords, shields, and magic. There are even ‘detonations’ to think about — ability combos that lead to high-damage chain reactions. Shepard can be proud.

Due to some difficult enemy varieties and misleading parry timings, fight does really feel awkward at first. However as soon as it clicks — prefer it did for us, possibly 5 or so hours in — throwing down with spirits, demons, and darkspawn turns into a real spotlight. When you think about the collection’ trajectory, Dragon Age’s regular transition to motion fight has all the time appeared inevitable — and so it is a aid that BioWare’s managed to make one thing that feels nice to play, and satisfying to succeed at.

And it is not like that is instantly Satan Could Cry. There’s nonetheless a strategic edge to the encounter design, in that you simply’re usually pressured to prioritise sure targets, or save your cooldown-based skills for the right counterattack. It finally ends up placing a very nice steadiness between moment-to-moment reactions and actively making an attempt to regulate the rhythm of a struggle.

Add numerous character builds to the combo — backed by implausible ability bushes that truly require significant alternative — and there is an terrible lot to love about The Veilguard’s motion. Our solely actual criticism is directed at simply how a lot visible noise there could be on-screen at anyone time, particularly throughout larger brawls. Harm numbers, concentrating on traces, flashing parry indicators — it might probably severely hamper your means to learn the battlefield.

Fortunately, BioWare’s gone above and past with the sport’s settings, which allow you to absolutely customise the consumer interface, together with textual content measurement, subtitle backgrounds, goal markers, tooltips, and extra. Likewise, fight problem could be tweaked to a powerful extent, letting you fine-tune all the things from harm calculations to the timing on dodge and parry home windows. Beautiful stuff.

Efficiency is close to excellent on PS5, too. The title’s efficiency mode is locked at a silky 60 frames-per-second, barring some extremely uncommon dips when the sport’s busy rendering a brand new space. Load occasions are lightning fast as effectively — which is an enormous deal given how usually you will be quick travelling between waypoints as a way to full quests.

And visually, The Veilguard is a little bit of a stunner. As alluded earlier, the environmental artistry is excellent; from the crumbling, dream-like constructions of the Fade to the gorgeously autumnal Arlathan forest, it is a fantastically offered expertise. What’s extra, the character designs are excellent, even when the artwork path as a complete has virtually fully deserted the property’s as soon as grittier, gorier aesthetic.