What Dragon Age Used to Be

The first time I played a Dragon Age game was fifteen years ago. It was my third RPG ever. My first was Fable on Xbox 360, which I didn’t finish because the console got the three red lights of death and then came The Witcher on my Xbox One. After that, I bought Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2, and I replayed both with their DLCs last year on my PS3.

I recently finished Dragon Age Inquisition again along with its DLC for the first time before playing through The Veilguard for the second time, first as a rogue and then as a mage but I cannot shake the feeling that this isn’t Dragon Age anymore.

The Loss of the Gothic Soul

The magic of Dragon Age was always in the lore, the story, the world, and the characters. Choices mattered. You could shape who you were by being a hero, an asshole, or someone morally gray. The writing was dark, immersive, and sometimes harsh in a world that felt alive and dangerous. You weren’t just being told a story; you were living it.

In The Veilguard, your choices feel fake. You think you’re deciding something, but the outcome is often pre-decided or contradicts your choice. The characters, the monsters, the world, and even the stakes feel clean, like a Pixar movie, rather than the grim dark fantasy Dragon Age is supposed to be. I'm not sure why this direction was chosen, all I know is it stands in stark contrast to the series Veilguard is supposed to be in.

A Shift in Audience

It feels like this game was made to be a live service game first and Dragon Age second. As I played I kept asking myself who this game is for. Ultimately it feels like ego over respect for the fans when established IPs decide to make something entirely different, in both tone and gameplay, without good reason. The Marvel movie comparison feels apt as many scenes gave me the impression they were written by someone who wants broad appeal rather than depth which is a shame because this series used to bring me an enrapturing dark fantasy world I adored.

Unfortunately the dialogue with companions feels like therapy. There is no tension and no danger from any of these characters and due to every chapter ending with a round table recap, it is if the game thinks I am a toddler being asked what I learned today. The NPCs in this game feel like mouthpieces meant to convey a writer's message rather than actual person who's actions and characterization are able to convey a deeper message. In past Dragon Age games, I couldn’t wait to talk to companions because you could spend a hundred hours just exploring conversations and lore. Here, there is nothing.

Taming the Beast

Monsters feel tamed and characters look like they are wearing makeup which leads to any sort of blood, danger, or consequences feeling completely removed or neutered beyond recognition. Not being able to choose who lives or dies in meaningful ways was already measurably disappointing but when important events are constantly explained again and again and the world loses it's dark fantasy charm I feel as though too many changes were made for an audience that wasn't playing the game anyway. One of the best examples of this immersion breaking, hand holdy writing is when a character shows you a duck and explains what it is used for as if you are a child seeing it for the first time.

Even choices meant to be mean or morally complex get overridden. I once blamed a character for something, and the dialogue turned it into support instead. These are fake choices and fake consequences. That is not Dragon Age.

The Silver Linings

I want to be fair though. The world is beautiful, the graphics are fantastic, and the monster design can be solid at times, although neutered from it's dark fantasy predecessors in my opinion. The music is also excellent and the voice acting is good, which helps make the rough dialogue more tolerable. Solas and Varric were definitely highlights for me which left me wishing I got see more of both in a better game. The Blight genuinely looks amazing and left my jaw gaping open multiple times. The game also has fun gameplay, but I do recommend playing on easy because on hard the enemies feel overly spongey.

But none of these good pieces make it Dragon Age. The writing isn't complex, the world doesn’t feel dangerous, and there is no real fantasy weight which ultimately creates a game that comes up well short of it's parts. The writers incessant need to constantly tell the player everything instead of discovering it yourself, never feeling lost, needing to think, or exploring consequences or mysteries left me feeling like both my time had been wasted and a series I had raised above nearly all others had been tarnished beyond repair.

The Final Verdict

If the dialogue had been sharper and the companions more layered, this could have been a very different review. I love games, I really do, and if there is one takeaway here, it is this: I want developers, not just the ones who worked on The Veilguard but everyone, to remember to challenge your players. Surprise us and make us think. Don’t treat us like children. That is why we love video games, and that is why we loved Dragon Age.

If you want to see what Dragon Age really is, play the old ones. The Veilguard has a good story and world design when divorced from the series whose name it bears; it is just not Dragon Age.