Dragon Age: The Veilguard

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has made a deeply self-conscious game, visibly inspired by some of the best-loved ideas from Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

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Fans will notice, too, the moments when the studio strives to improve on things it’s been criticised for in the past, whether in terms of under-representation, neglected dwarven lore, or ill-liked fetch quests. The work is clearly evident – although, after ten years of troubled development, it also shows in the fractured seams of reboots and rewrites.

New players are quickly brought up to speed on the story. Ten years ago, Solas betrayed the Inquisition and revealed not only his identity as an ancient trickster god but his plans to tear down the veil that separates the material world from that of spirits. Now, the culmination of those plans is imminent, and your first mission is to disrupt his ritual. Unfortunately, that lets loose two far more sinister gods, kicking off the new plot.

It’s a clean solution to a problem that has lingered since the ending of Inquisition: how could an antagonist so personal to the Inquisitor star in a game with a new protagonist and setting? Well, Veilguard’s lead, Rook, gets to face their own antagonists and build their own relationship with Solas, trapped in the spirit realm by the botched ritual. Egotistical, traitorous and mired in tragedy and regret, he retains the qualities that made him such a great villain before. Conversations with Solas are full of tension. Do you trust him or challenge him? Seek revenge for his betrayals or try to outwit a trapped god? As you play off each other, these encounters demonstrate the highs of BioWare’s writing.

Equally, however, they contrast starkly with the way you interact with others in the world, since the same compelling antagonism isn’t present elsewhere. Despite having companions as ripe for controversy and new insights as a necromancer, a demon-possessed assassin and a treasure hunter, ideological differences never arise between your crew. This lack is most obvious when the stage for potential conflicts is already set. We may be