Following the expiration of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard review embargo, lots of media and industry people have started sharing their thoughts on BioWare’s latest RPG, including Larian Studios Director of Publishing Michael Douse. In a lengthy tweet posted on X, Douse showered the game with high praise:
I’ve been playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard in complete secrecy (behind my backpack at the office in front of a giant window, in the kitchen). From me, you may be wondering “is this a game compatible with my experience during BG3” so I’ll tackle it from that perspective. The answer is yes. It is to a heavy, 9 season long show what a well-made, character driven, binge-worthy Netflix series is.
It has a good sense of propulsion and forward momentum. The combat system is honestly brilliant (to me, a mix of Xenoblade & Hogwarts which is giga-brain genius). It knows when it needs a tentpole narrative moment, and it knows when to let you toy around with your class and exploit some of its stronger elements. More important, to me, it feels like the first Dragon Age game that truly knows what it wants to be.
In short, if you want some character driven romping with a strong combat system in a universe you know, love, or have heard of, it is much better than the average action game, and much less heavy than the gargantuan RPGs that may intimidate at times. In a word, it’s fun!
To me, I’m extremely happy BioWare gets to stick around – presumably – in these uncertain (because of moronic corporate greed) times. An existential game, and a fun one at that.
As I jokingly replied via tweet, it was not quite complete secrecy. I have known Michael for years and have him on my Steam friends list, so I noticed he was playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard while I was also going through it for the review. Having said that, as you already know if you read my evaluation of the game, I wholeheartedly agree with Douse’s assessment of BioWare’s latest work. It should definitely appeal to franchise fans but also to those who enjoyed games like Larian’s own masterpiece Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s different, but there are many common threads that will make fans of Western RPGs happy if they give it a chance.
The game is out in two days on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
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