Dragon Age: The Veilguard (God, I actually dislike that title change) is nearly right here, lastly. After an early scare due to a barely complicated first trailer, that gameplay demo quelled a lot of our worries, however can it actually escape Baldur’s Gate 3’s shadow?
I am of the placing opinion that it already has… form of. It is laborious not to consider Larian’s near-flawless RPG at any time when the brand new Dragon Age is introduced up (in truth, I already linked the 2 final yr), but all of the in-depth previews and the gameplay presentation launched to the general public recommend we’re a wholly totally different breed of RPG, one which’s doing its personal factor.
In our personal hands-on preview of the sport, Alex already teased that “Dragon Age: The Veilguard goes to be numerous issues to lots of people.” And I believe that is sums up the unorthodox collection as an entire fairly properly. Anybody who claims Dragon Age hasn’t advanced (or devolved) with every new entry is both mendacity or urgently must revisit not solely Inquisition, but additionally Dragon Age 2 and Origins.
The collection’ want for reinvention hasn’t at all times been tied to a pure inventive push, and DA2’s maddening dev cycle and the tip outcome (which was principally pleasing regardless of every part) are the stable proof of how shaky its progress course of has been for the reason that very starting. Operating alongside the much more easy Mass Impact trilogy, Dragon Age’s unstable DNA solely turned more durable to disclaim.
I’ve already rambled lots prior to now about Baldur’s Gate 3 (and in addition the newer Divinity video games) taking on a lot of the fantasy RPG house that Dragon Age used to manipulate, a minimum of within the big-budget leagues. A key distinction has at all times been that Larian caught nearer to CRPG custom whereas Dragon Age, even throughout its humble beginnings, pursued a extra approachable set of techniques and moment-to-moment gameplay largely inherited from older BioWare video games like Star Wars: Knights of the Outdated Republic.
There is a frequent religious thread connecting BioWare and Larian’s output, and that goes past the shared Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons & Dragons floor, but the previous’s output has been charting new paths for itself for greater than a decade now. We might attribute a lot of the brand new parts and fight system iteration seen within the just-released gameplay of The Veilguard to Mass Impact’s pre-Andromeda success; an try and benefit from a now-firmly established lineage of ARPGs. Nevertheless, The Veilguard additionally seems to face by itself as way over ‘Mass Impact however basic fantasy’ or an action-heavy riff on its predecessors.
To date, and with out having performed The Veilguard myself, it seems like we may very well be going by way of a brand new sort of BioWare RPG by the tip of 2024. These unfamiliar with the Dragon Age collection which have loved Baldur’s Gate 3 might make the fourth entry their subsequent ‘fantasy courting sim’ pit cease earlier than discovering the three earlier video games. However, longtime BioWare followers will both recuperate misplaced religion or double down on the thought the corporate is just too far gone and does not resemble the early 2010s model of itself anymore.
Personally, I used to be stunned by The Veilguard’s reveal, and the gameplay demo hasn’t surprised me, but the devs are saying the proper issues within the interviews and Q&As launched afterwards, and I am beginning to suppose they could have made the right late follow-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition, simply not the one many people have been anticipating.