Will Dragon Age: Veiled Guard be enough to reshape BioWare's reputation?

Reviewing BioWare games is a tricky business. Balance is slightly different than in other games, and players expect (no, demand) certain things that they might not care about or even consider in other games. So I feel it is necessary to pay Dragon Age: Veiled Wardens Two different ratings: one is the overall favorability, fun and playability of the game; the other is the overall nature of the game. Second, how satisfying and enjoyable it is as a BioWare game. Since this isn't really an option, I'll try to condense this opinion by saying it's a very good game, probably at cost makes for a great BioWare game.

Dragon Age: The Veiled Guard is the latest game in one of BioWare's flagship series, and fans have been waiting for nearly a decade. Taking place ten years after the events of Inquisition, the titular group of characters, led by the player character Rook, band together to stop Solas, a companion from the previous game who plans to destroy the world. However, their attempts to stop him inadvertently unleash a greater evil that Rook and his companions will have to rock out across Thedas in an attempt to stop.

when i have the chance Preview gameI heard several developers talk about the development of Veilguard and what they wanted to focus on during the production process. Not only are they adamant that Veilguard will “return to BioWare's roots,” but they're also honest about their hope that doing so will revive the studio's tarnished reputation. Following the mixed reviews of Mass Effect: Andromeda and the outright failure of Anthem , BioWare has fallen from the lofty position held by many gamers. But will any one game be enough to change the status quo?

In theory, a new Dragon Age game would be ideal to achieve this goal: the previous game, Inquisition, was BioWare's best-selling game of all time, topping the list. Lifetime sales of 12 million. The Veiled Guards did enter Circana Top 10 Best Selling Games Despite being released at the end of the month, it went on sale in the US in October. Despite this, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella told IGN that the game's launch was “good, but not great” and that “it will take a long time to reach the lifetime sales of Inquisition.” Facing an uphill battle.

Welcome back to Thedas – who's in charge here?

Before I continue, let me say that in this choice-rich series, most (almost all) decisions previously made in other games are irrelevant in Veil Keeper. This is a slight spoiler, but you'll understand it once you boot up the game and see that the game asks you all three questions about the choices you make in the trial. I'd be lying if I said – as a Dragon Age fan and a fan of the lore – that it wasn't frustrating to realize that many of the choices you made in the first three games ended up going nowhere.

But as a game critic and industry follower, I have some respect for BioWare. If you think about it, Veiled Keeper already attracted a lot of attention upon release. It had to revive a franchise that had been dormant for 10 years and make it accessible to new players. It had to follow up the stories of the three games in a way that satisfied and rewarded fans who had been waiting for it. It's also a game that must “bring BioWare back” — or revive the studio's fading reputation. That's a lot of pressure to put on a game, so I can't say I really blame BioWare for choosing to ditch some ballast.

Heck, there's even some sort of metaphor there – for in-game opponents as much as in real life – about accepting the world as it is, not as you wish it to be. That's not a judgment on my part, by the way – it's just me acknowledging what I think BioWare's intentions were. Now let me tell you how they succeeded in achieving this intention.

Who let these demons in?

Veilguard continues the Dragon Age tradition of reinventing gameplay for each new game – muscle memory be damned. It's closer to an action RPG than a traditional RPG, and is most similar to Dragon Age 2. This is where the game's real-time service roots seem most exposed, as Rook's companions are both important and unimportant. Enemies will not target them in combat and they will not be harmed.

The rest of the game is fairly linear, albeit spread out across a number of different small sandboxes. Rook and the Veiled Guardians visit various parts of the game world that are mentioned but hitherto unexplored. There aren't a lot of details for those who might want to really delve into these locations, but it's still comforting to see Revan and Nevala appear in the codex in something other than a name. They're all stunning – Treviso, the capital of Antiva, is especially stunning with its lavish Spanish-style architecture.

That said, the fast gameplay and beautiful environments are let down by a lack of enemy variety. The Veiled Guard have only three enemy factions: the Venatori cultists, the ruthless excommunicated Qunari warriors, and the greedy Darkin horde. Aside from the occasional boss fight against a large beast, there's nothing to break up these repetitive fights, especially when enemies keep respawning at Crossroads, the game's magical gateway to faraway destinations.

Bringing back the best in BioWare

To hear BioWare's own employees tell it, one of the biggest draws to BioWare as a company is its companion characters: your in-game squad, who are designed to be your player character's friends, family, and potential partners. You'd be hard-pressed to find an NPC in a game as beloved as those in Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, or previous Dragon Age games. Baldur's Gate 3 has been rated similarly in recent memory, but considering the first two Baldur's Gate games were BioWare games, I consider them honorable companions of BioWare.

And the titular Veiled Guard seem to follow the same formula: they're a group of capable warriors with personal problems to solve. They represent different races and backgrounds in the game, each with their own unique perspective on the world. Their interactions with Rook are enjoyable, if occasionally ridiculous, and some of the best moments in the game are when the Veiled Guardians sit around the table and talk.

That said, they sometimes feel like they were written specifically to conform to BioWare as much as possible, if that makes sense. One can see the invisible point behind almost every one of their designs. They must have romantic attractions, they must have conflicts with other team members, and they must have personal crises that can be resolved with a few quests and good dialogue. It speaks to the fact that these companions are still fun and entertaining, but sometimes I wish they had more of a life outside of who they were in Rook's eyes.

Can Dragon Age: The Veiled Guard restore BioWare's best qualities?

Overall, Dragon Age: The Veiled Guard feels like a compromise – new content for multiple new players after the series' ten-year hiatus, and punctuated by as much ongoing content as BioWare can plug into it. story elements to keep long-term fans interested. This compromise has its drawbacks, as it doesn't feel like it will entirely please new or old fans. However, I'm not sure it's possible to fully please either party after all this time.

The reaction I've seen from long-time BioWare fans has been a bit mixed, but otherwise the response has been positive. It seems like just having BioWare back is enough as they release the game again – the appeal of a game as a specific BioWare property is negotiable. Honestly, I wish there were more challenges in Canadian studios. If nothing else, BioWare has gotten enough goodwill from The Veilguard to generate interest in the upcoming Mass Effect game.