After playing for seven hours, Dragon Age The Veilguard just isn’t it

Dragon Age The Veilguard brings Thedas to life in ways its predecessors could only dream of, but its combat and exploration are a letdown.

Some moments in my career have felt somewhat surreal. Making promises to grab drinks with Ovewatch’s Mercy VA at the Edinburgh Fringe (next year, Lucie), interviewing Diablo 4’s Joe Shely and Rod Fergusson in the hotel where The Spice Girls filmed Wannabe – they’re things I dreamed of but never believed would actually happen. I also never thought I’d sit in EA’s San Francisco headquarters, surrounded by stunning tarot-inspired art from Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I’m here for a lengthy seven-hour preview of the upcoming fantasy game, surrounded by tavern-style wooden tables and lines of PCs. After ten long years of waiting, I’m finally getting my hands on the next installment in Thedas’ ongoing saga – sometimes, dreams come true.

Our Dragon Age: The Veilguard journey begins with the character creator, something that previous Dragon Age games aren’t exactly renowned for. Having replayed Inquisition as a female elf, I’m being polite when I say that character customization was sorely lacking – especially in the hairstyle department. As Varric introduces Rook in his usual bardic drawl, the first thing I notice is, of course, the hair.

Whether you’re looking for tight curls, sharp bangs, or practical ponytails, it’s there and it looks gorgeous. You can see each individual strand, compare how it looks in different lighting, and rotate your character to cause a satisfying hair swish. While there wasn’t the Ariana Grande-style high, long ponytail I always go for, there’s no denying that the choices are incredibly impressive – perhaps even more so than rival RPG Baldur’s Gate 3.

A few moments (easily 15 minutes) later, I am no longer Lauren, news editor at PCGamesN – I am now Swan, an elven mage aligned with the Lords of Fortune, Rivain’s notorious treasure hunters. I’m thrust into the cold, eerie streets of Minrathous, the heart of the Tevinter Imperium. A huge, circular Foucauldian watchtower-esque structure looms over the citadel, its authorities barking orders 1984-style at the inhabitants below. In a flash of brilliant white, it illuminates a young woman in a spotlight, preparing to exterminate her. As she cries for mercy, chaos ensues – rage and pride demons start to spill from the surrounding alleyways; Solas has torn open the Veil, and you need to hurry.

While I saw this scene during my hands-off preview at Summer Game Fest, it’s the first time I’ve been able to physically play through it. I picked mage for this part of the preview because, while I’ve laterally played rogue, mage was the first class I truly fell in love with. Armed with my trusty staff, I go about dispatching Venatori cultists and demonic entities with renewed ferocity, but the experience comes up somewhat lacking.

Attacks feel slow and clunky – it seems like everything around me is moving quickly while I’m stuck in slow motion. Thankfully, I eventually have the option to switch it out for a glowing orb and sharpened knife – think a mixture of the traditional rogue and spellcaster mechanics. Given my aforementioned penchant for rogues, I jump at the offer, buying into the game’s promise of faster, lower-powered attacks.

Unfortunately, while this playstyle looks good and is, on paper, pretty damn cool, I don’t see much difference in speed. Dashes provide more mobility, but my general squishiness and low damage offset that negligible speed boost. All in all, orb and dagger is an exciting new innovation on Dragon Age’s traditional ‘cast spell, cast spell, smash staff into the ground’ mage gameplay, but it isn’t strong enough for me to make the switch.

Having felled a particularly nasty pride demon and disrupted Solas’ mysterious ritual, I’m whisked away to our home base, The Lighthouse. Trapped in the heart of The Fade, the location is somewhat reminiscent of Origins’ Circle of Magi with its sprawling shelves and countless dusty tomes, but outside gnarled bridges made of twisted tree branches lead to your companions’ rooms. It’s certainly a level up on Inquisition’s Haven.

But I’m not here for long; a mysterious Eluvian (Dragon Age’s elven mirror portals) calls to me from the basement. Beyond its ripples lie Arlathan Forest, now overrun with darkspawn following Solas’ failed attempts to contain the elven gods, our prime antagonists. Here, I recruit Bellara – a plucky elven Veil Jumper whose kit revolves around natural magic – and we set off on an adventure through sparkling emerald glades that, quite honestly, take my breath away.

At one point, water flows up into the air; a sign of magical disturbance, yes, but it’s absolutely stunning. We encounter a variety of puzzles to solve, made easier by the ability to call on your companions and use their talents to fix broken switches or create aerial platforms. All in all, the environment is beautiful, and the dynamic lighting means that you can almost feel the gentle heat of the sun.

But as we delve deeper into this ancient, forested world, things begin to change. Towering oak trees have huge, pustule-like growths attached to them, glowing an eerie, skin-like pink as they pulsate. It’s The Blight we’re oh so familiar with, but its inherent connection to the two now-escaped elven gods grants it a lifelike, parasitic feel versus pure, unadulterated death.

And that’s before we get to D’Meta’s Crossing. Once a flourishing port hamlet, D’Meta’s has been overrun by The Blight and its inhabitants driven mad. Dark tendrils have overtaken the buildings, with growths sticking to once-proud homes and city stalls. We find one of Bellara’s Veil Jumper colleagues engulfed in a flesh-like mass that’s slowly but surely killing them – it feels somewhat Diablo-like, but the setting is recognizably Dragon Age.

Our D’Meta encounter ends with a choice: do you leave the mayor wrapped in tentacles for giving up his people for cash, or do you let him repent and cut him free? Given his sins, I choose to let The Blight consume him, earning a reprimand from some of my companions. In my opinion, he had it coming.

This encounter slakes my vengeance but also alleviates a few of my broader concerns about The Veilguard. Back at Summer Game Fest I asked executive producer John Epler about bringing back some of that Origins grit, as the initial reveal trailer felt a little more high fantasy than the dark, twisted world we came to love in the first game. D’Meta’s certainly confirmed that we’ll see some blood, guts, and gore in Veilguard, and it proves that you’ll make meaningful – oftentimes controversial – choices. As The Blight squeezes the life from D’Meta’s, it breathes fresh excitement into me. This is the darkness I was hoping for.

That sense of dread also carries beyond the prologue. At one point, I have to make a choice that alters the very fabric of Thedas, and involves battling a particularly nasty dragon. As part of Lucanis’ companion quest, I’m thrust into the watery bowels of an undersea prison, then sent after its keeper, who just so happens to be bathing in blood. The grit and grime is brought to life in stunning detail, and I want more of it.

At least, that’s what I thought as I approached the aforementioned bathhouse. This time in the guise of a human rogue, I take on Lucanis’ arch nemesis intent on bringing her down. While the rogue’s combat is fluid and dynamic, characterized by quick attacks and high mobility, it’s all but useless in this fight. Our blood-covered foe attacks using heavy-hitting projectiles, meaning I can’t get close to her, and instead of going on the attack, my two companions – Lucanis and Taash – simply follow me around the arena.

You can’t control companions directly in Veilguard, instead chaining their attacks together to form combos via the game’s tactical screen. While every combo appears to have the same animation regardless of which characters and abilities are involved, they do deal some serious damage. In this fight, however, I found that Lucanis and Taash would combo, deal the damage, and then return to my side, versus continuing to fight. This wasn’t an issue across the board, but in this encounter it was a real killer.

As a result, most of my time is spent hiding behind pillars as my health bar screeches angrily, popping out to take the odd shot with my bow only to realize the boss has either healed up or is currently immune. As you’ve likely guessed, it’s also the first time I die during my playthrough, and I’m surprised to be offered a ‘revive’ via the death screen. Unlike in Inquisition, companions can’t resurrect you. Instead, revives are dished out numerically (I had two during my playthrough), and it’s unclear whether or not you can increase that number by buying scrolls and potions. Either way, it’s a bizarre decision – the companions are there, so why not use them?

That’s the throughline of my time with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While Thedas looks better than ever, and I’ve finally caught a glimpse of the canals of Antiva’s Treviso – a state I’ve been desperate to see ever since I romanced Zevran in Origins – the beauty is marred by often middling gameplay, especially if you’re a mage.

I only tried rogue and mage (instances grew progressively harder, and warrior has never been my thing). Of the two, the rogue is easily the most enjoyable. It’s fairly slick and tactically tricky, whereas mage feels slow, boring, and squishy. Where mages once ruled Thedas’ tier lists, rogue is finally getting its place in the sun, albeit to the detriment of my other preferred class.

The missions I played also felt railroaded, and while level designer Francois Caput assures me that things “open up” as you progress, I spent much of my time going from one spot to another on a predetermined path. While it’s preferable to Inquisition’s MMORPG sprawl and grind, the world still feels a little lifeless. In the sections I played, there were no NPCs asking for help, no weird little creatures to hunt. It’s get from A to B, achieve your goal, then head back to The Lighthouse.

While its characters and narrative worldbuilding feel realized, Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s combat and exploration don’t quite sing during my preview. Perhaps, looking back at Origins and Dragon Age 2, that’s always been the case; a lot of us play for the story and forgive the moment-to-moment action. But there are flashes of greatness in the rogue that prove Bioware can do cool shit, and the world itself is stunning to behold but very ‘look, don’t touch’.

If your aim is to play through the story and romance your favorite Dragon Age: The Veilguard companions, then I think you’ll walk away satisfied. As someone who’s waited a decade, however, my expectations are now muted.