To preface, I played this game start to finish. ALL the way through. I did ALL the background quests, side quests, faction quests, companion quests, and damn near 100% of the map-based content. I didn't skip cutscenes and dialogues because I wanted to feel like a part of the story.

Do I recommend it as a sequel to the Dragon Age series? No.
Do I recommend this as a standalone game? Also, no.
Do I recommend this game period? Not really.


Let's start with the good:
- Combat is visceral, entertaining, and powerful. By far the best in the franchise and the big reason why I finished it out.
- Leveling mechanics are solid and reminiscent of Path of Exiles with available skill trees for each of the 3 classes.
- Items improve, meaning you can keep good stuff and tailor your kit to your specific playstyle.
- Companions, mechanically, and their abilities help to carry fights on and allow for powerful combination moves.
- Character generator is pretty great. Armours, while overdone at times, are cool.

And now, the bad:
- Armours are a bit over the top.
- I wish I could change colour sets for my gear myself, rather than having the same six faction-based colour schemes.
- The rest of the game. The writing, the dialog, the story, all of it.
- No, seriously, that's it.

To preface, none of my critiques stem from the buzzword hot topics like "Character Sexuality," "IRL Political Messages," etc. I genuinely don't care about those. My issues come from how awful the game was in every other regard.


The story plays out with no serious input from the player aside from what brand of good guy they want to play: Positive, Snarky, or Gruff, with occasional opportunities to delve into Whiny, Angsty, and Angry. The companions aren't believable and their storylines are "Rook! I need your help to kill XXX bad guy from my off-screen past that way I can succeed at saving the world!" While the main storyline suffers from being boring, horribly predictable, and untrue to the lore built up throughout the franchise.

The writing is an insult to the players, as though the writers are afraid the audience won't understand the "careful nuances" of the story unless they spell it out and say it out loud a dozen or more times. The issue is, there is NO nuance. It boils down to "Good Guys Good, Bad Guys Bad. Good Guys Stop Bad Guys." All of this leads to the same three-option ending from Mass Effect 3. I felt like I was being coddled and spoon-fed the plot lines every single time.

"Oh no! There's a traitor among our ranks! Who could it POSSIBLY be?! Is it: A) Your Trusted Companion Who Can Do No Wrong, B) Generic Faction NPC #35, or C) Stabby McBackStabber the Unscrupulous? Hmmmmmm, time to spend three hours doing side quests along seven parts of the story to find out who! *GASP!* It was Stabby McBackStabber the Unscrupulous the WHOLE TIME! How could we have POSSIBLY seen this coming?!"
The worst part is, that's not just *one* storyline, that's about half a dozen. For those going, "Oh yeah? Name them!"
1) Mayor of D'Mata's Crossing turns out to be the bad guy and, if you choose to release him, goes to the Venatori (unless you're a Warden)
2) The Crows Part One: Illario is a Stinker.
3) The Crows Part Two: Governor Ivenci is a Stinker.
4) Knight Commander Lenos is in league with the Venatori. More news at 11.
5) Gloom Howler turns out to be a Warden. Shocker.
6) Solas is a Stinker (option dependent)

Moreover, they sanitize *everything* from its moral greyness. In DA:O you link up with, among many other characters, a blatant human supremacist, an assassin with no moral scruples, a witch who killed men in the swamps, a Qunaari who confesses to having murdered an entire family because the Qun demanded, and a dwarf who... I mean. He's a Dwarf. My point is, there's plenty of "We have to put the differences aside here to fight the greater foe."

In Veilguard, none of that is true.

- The Necromancers (Mourn Watch) EXCLUSIVELY use willing spirits to ONLY reanimate the corpses of WILLING dead folks.
- The Crows perform absolutely NO murders during the story that are dubious, and don't seem to ever do it for money on-screen; in fact, the ONLY mention about their murder-for-hire business is a single sidebar dialog in the Lighthouse between Davrin and Lucanis, where Davrin brings it up and Lucanis finds an easy explanation for why it's OK.
- The Ancient Relic Thieves (Veiljumpers) aren't really "thieves," they're just there to protect the woods and LEARN from the archives. All that previous story stuff about Dalish Elves murdering Humans in the Arlathan Forest in order to protect themselves due to fears of the Trail of Tea-- Sorry, the Long March? Yeahhhh, we're gonna conveniently pretend that never happened.
- The "Ruthless Mercenary Treasurehunters" aren't so ruthless, for some reason. In fact, they explicitly hire a Dalish Chieftain to sort through the relics they find so they can "rightly return them" to the Dalish Elves instead of... Y'know, selling them for fat stacks like actual ruthless mercenaries would do.
- The Dwarves that we meet don't believe in losing caste, or if they do then it isn't religiously enforced and they couldn't really care less.
- Every paperboy and passerby in Minrathous knows where the Shadow Dragons' Headquarters is because they are THE worst "underground spy network" to EVER exist, but nothing bad ever comes of this (also Neve is awful and I wish she died from the Blight)


In closing, nothing about the writing, dialogue, or options therein make me feel invested into the story. It's cookie-cutter generic, it's dull, it isn't remotely thought provoking, and it's sloppily executed. But the combat is fun as hell, so I'll probably play again just for that reason.

P.S.: We stan Shield Toss, Ride or Die for Davrin & Assan.

As someone who has been playing Dragon Age ever since Origins was released and considers the series as one of his favorites, I feel that Dragon Age: The Veilguard was very much a mixed bag. It is a fun and entertaining game, but busy in their quest for winning the attention of new players, BioWare has not been able to capture the essence of the series very faithfully.

Having just finished the game, I’ll write down the different aspects I liked and disliked while they are still fresh in my memory.


1. Veilguard is easily the prettiest Dragon Age game, and that’s not just because it’s the newest and has the most updated graphics. I always felt that Origins was ahead of its time when it came to graphics and Inquisition was also a treat to look at. However, Inquisition had opted to go for a hyper-realistic aesthetic, while Veilguard goes for a very artistic look with gorgeous environments. I personally feel that is much more suitable for a fantasy game.

2. The combat of Veilguard can be hit or miss, but from what I have seen, the majority of players seem to love the fast pace. It can definitely feel more engaging and responsive than previous entries. The difficulty curve is very fair. I personally find it enjoyable enough, though it’s not my favorite. I prefer having an actual quickbar with a number of different abilities and not just be limited to only 3 at a time.

3. Veilguard lacks the kind of simple unimaginative fetch quests that often plague RPGs, which was a problem with Inquisition. Side quests are fewer but they are a lot more fleshed out, and often unlock new areas to explore. The companion and faction quests actually have an impact in the endgame, much like the loyalty quests of Mass Effect 2, and you would probably be penalized for ignoring them.

4. Just like any BioWare game the companions are, for the most part, very well written characters with a surprising amount of depth. From the trailers, I had expected to hate Emmrich but he ended up being one of the most wholesome companions BioWare had ever written. There has been a lot of criticism regarding Taash, but they also grow on you very soon. With their unique personalities and meaningful personal arcs, the companions are probably the most memorable part of the game.

5. The companions had excellent voice acting as well, as did most of the NPCs. Whether it’s Neve’s iconic drawl, Bellara’s fast, energetic speech, Emmrich’s warm, polite, properly enunciated words, or even Taash’s non-committal grunts, each actor really brought their character to life.

6. Since the maps are full of secrets and gathering loot is the main way of acquiring and updating new equipment, the exploration feels very rewarding. If you are a completionist like me, you will probably spend quite a bit of time figuring out hidden ways and puzzles that lead to the next chest, and when you do, it definitely feels worth it.


1. The writing of the game is extremely inconsistent. Some quests, especially those involving companions or factions, do feel very much like the old BioWare magic. Then you come across some dialog that seems like it was written by a teenage fanfiction author, especially during the first half of the game. Some dialog options made no sense. The witty options often sounded less humorous than the serious ones. Sometimes the usage of certain words feels anachronistic. I guess this was to be expected after letting go of your most experienced writers halfway through development.

2. While the animation overall is excellent, I had no idea what was wrong with Rook’s facial expressions. Often, even during serious discussions regarding death or loss, his face would break out in a smile. This was very unnerving.

3. Though BioWare has not actually broken any existing lore, they have been too liberal with it, which may cheapen the significance of some of the previous events. While the main storyline is more interesting than Inquisition, I feel like they tried to overcompensate with lore dumping and shock value. Veilguard gives you a LOT more information about the world, the Fade, and its history than all three previous games combined, and the worst part is that as players, you don’t find out these secrets organically like the previous games, but through ‘memories’ that you discover. This again seems like poor writing. I could do without a history lesson with a PowerPoint presentation in the middle of my game.

4. Veilguard is the least optimized game BioWare has ever made. Until now their PC releases were excellent. Mass Effect 2, 3, even Dragon Age Inquisition offered a great performance, but even if you exceed the recommended requirements of this game, you would run into FPS drops, stuttering, and graphical glitches, especially in crowded areas.

5. The Dragon Age series was being simplified ever since Origins. DA2 took away talents, Inquisition simplified skill trees and attributes, and Veilguard does away with the illusion entirely. It is now an action-RPG with a lot more focus on the action. You have less active companions, who have been reduced to background characters in combat, and you don’t even need to have a proper party with a tank and healer. BioWare seems to have bought into the myth that people want easier and simpler games, or that players don’t like to think too much. This is factually wrong, and honestly kind of insulting.

6. The lack of references from choices made in previous games was quite disappointing. Regular players would have been satisfied with some passing mentions and a few codex entries. These exist, but since the game doesn’t really import any choices, they feel very generic. What’s worse is that at times the game tries to subtly imply certain previous choices as canon while they continue to claim that a canon does not exist.

7. After the powerful last act, the epilogue was very disappointing. The ending slides just repeat what we already know, with no indication of how those decisions would change things in the world further down the line.


1. I felt somewhat disappointed that while the plot of Veilguard deals with an even bigger world ending threat, it doesn’t feel as epic as Inquisition. This has nothing to do with the maps being linear. Origins itself felt very epic, as did Mass Effect 2 and 3. There is just something inexplicable missing in this game that couldn’t make me care that much about the end of the world. The soundtrack definitely did not help in this regard.

2. I have heard the criticism that Veilguard is not as dark as the previous entries and the game has been ‘Disney-fied’. Both these allegations are false. In many ways, Veilguard is the darkest Dragon Age entry, and you will not come out of it emotionally unscathed.

3. Despite the claims that the game is too ‘woke’ (whatever that means), I have not seen much discussions about gender and sexuality outside one codex entry and a few personal quests for Taash, which might amount to 10 minutes of dialog in an easily 90 hour game. If that offends you too much, you may need some self-reflection. Thedas has always been a very progressive setting and Veilguard just continues that tradition.


The Veilguard is a good game. It has a lot of life. But I don’t know if it’s a great Dragon Age game. To me, it’s definitely the weakest in the series in terms of writing, but it is not without its own strengths. Much like the Dread Wolf himself, Veilguard tries to be a rebel, but I don’t know if the rebellion was necessary at all.

Veilguard makes me think that I should adjust my expectations for the future of the series and be ready for more unnecessary simplifications, because some executives somewhere in EA headquarters think that players want to think less and have more flashy action. I guess these are just the times we live in now.

Final verdict: 07 / 10

I wish I could recommend this game to other Dragon Age fans, but I can't. Sure, the world looks really beautiful and I barely had any bugs. It had it's moments, but that's pretty much all the positive things I can say. I felt like you can't make Rook your own character. Rook says things you haven't asked them to say too often, and when you do have dialogue choices I often felt like what Rook ended up saying didn't match what I chose. I also noticed that you can't really be mean in this game. I felt like I had to be my companions therapist or babysitter because of how they argue with each other. But don't worry, they will solve their dispute usually within seconds... Their arguments where never like for example Alistair and Morrigan. Or Cassandra and Verric. Or Aveline and Isabella. The companions in this game did not feel interesting. I used to feel something when I played Dragon Age games. All the problems and injustice in the world involving elves, mages (in the south), slavery and more. Where did all of that go in Veilguard? We are in Tevinter of all places! And the companions usually made me love them or hate them. I have never felt this numb about the companions or my own character.

I tried making different Rooks to see if that was the problem. First an veil jumper elf, but she didn't seem to be able to make up her mind whether she was dalish or a city elf. She would just say things about her past that I had no say in. And no one was being mean to me for being an elf either. This really broke immersion for me, so I made a human antivan crow instead. That solved that problem at least, but as an antivan crow I wanted Rook to be less nice and sweet. Not evil, but also not super nice all the time. That did not work out since this game wouldn't let me roleplay my character like I wanted. I wish I could say that the dialogue was good but I didn't think it was. I did almost every single quest in the game because I really wanted to give Veilguard a chance. But the more of it I played, the more I wanted it to be over. All of this, and what Bioware did to the south makes me worried about Dragon Age's future. If the companions feel uninteresting, the roleplaying barely exists, if the dialogue isn't good, then why play it? It also feels like they don't care very much about the older games, it's lore, the old characters, and the decisions we made in them. I think I will pretend like Veilguard never happened. I never thought I would say this, but I don't think I will buy another Dragon Age game again. I will play the old games instead.