‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ worth the ten-year wait, according to critics
It’s been called a return to form despite recent struggles by developers BioWare
by Ali Shutler · NMEDragon Age: The Veilguard has been praised by a number of reviews, ahead of its launch later this week.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first new Dragon Age in nearly a decade, following on from 2014’s Inquisition. However, developers BioWare has had a shaky few years with disappointing reactions to 2017’s Mass Effect: Andromeda and 2019’s ANTHEM, which has taken some of the excitement away from the imminent launch.
However, a number of reviews have called Dragon Age: The Veilguard a return to form for Bioware.
“As I excitedly slashed, blasted, wooed, looted, and delved my way through the stunning and enthralling world of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I kept having one thought: ‘ Wait, BioWare made this? 2024 BioWare?’ I wasn’t sure these former masters of the roleplaying game craft could make a game like this anymore. But putting together my team of interesting and endearing companions to save the world felt like getting the old band back together, in more ways than one,” reads IGN’s glowing review while Eurogamer’s five-star review calls it “the best BioWare game I’ve ever played”.
A number of reviews have praised the way The Veilguard embraces the new, while keeping true to the legacy of the series. “While Dragon Age: The Veilguard is undoubtedly different in many ways from its predecessors and takes lessons learned from Mass Effect to heart, there’s a lot to love – mechanically and narratively – about the new normal and what is hopefully a foundation for what’s to come,” said GamesRadar+.
Recommended
However other critics have found issues with the new combat mechanic and how the camera moves in battles. “Veilguard is by no means a bad game, with plenty of charming characters to meet and new places to see. But the writing, the heart of previous games, is surprisingly mediocre, while the new combat style gets repetitive fairly quickly,” said The Guardian in a three-star review. “I sometimes had to dig deep to look past its flaws, from repetitive gameplay to a story that doesn’t know how to bring everything together.”
Dragon Age: The Veilguard currently has a “generally favourable” score of 84 on Metacritic. The game launches on October 31 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC.
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