Summary
While the unveiling ofDragon Age: The Veilguardhas been a long time coming, the first glimpses of gameplay are making it look more likea fantasy-themedMass Effectgame than anyDragon Agegame before it. As BioWare’s longest-running and most successful franchise next toMass Effect,Dragon Agehas been through significant changes since its initial iteration inDragon Age: Origins, which closely resembled the classicBaldur’s Gategames which BioWare also worked on. As the series advances, however, it may be losing its RPG roots almost entirely.
With a new reveal trailer and gameplay showcase, the gameoriginally announced asDragon Age: Dreadwolfis finally headed toward release, following what can be assumed to have been a troubled development cycle. From what’s been shown so far,Veilguarddirectly follows up on the story ofDragon Age: Inquisition’sTrespasserDLC, placing Solas as a major antagonist and his plan to tear down the Veil as the game’s inciting incident. However, whileVeilguard’s narrative makes sense as aDragon Agesequel, its gameplay is starting to look more like BioWare’s other major RPG series.
Mass Effect 4 & Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Might Be In Trouble
Although news on upcoming Dragon Age and Mass Effect games has been scarce, comments from a former BioWare writer might spell trouble for both series.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Gameplay Looks More Like Mass Effect
Moving Away From Tactical & More Toward Action
As can be seen inDragon Age: The Veilguard’s 20-minute gameplay reveal shown on June 11 via the officialDragon AgeYouTube channel,the game’s combat bears distinct similarities toMass Effect, and seems to trend even more towards action than its predecessor,Inquisition, already had. While this change isn’t necessarily bad, and is in line with the more action-heavy direction that the series has been heading towards, it remains to be seen ifVeilguard’s gameplay will manage to retain any of the tactical feel that theDragon Ageseries started with.
The most obvious point of comparison betweenVeilguardandMass Effectis party composition, with the former directly mirroring the latter by allowing players to take two companions with them at a time, down from the standard three of previousDragon Agegames. In a similar vein, abilities for both Rook and companion characters inVeilguardwork almost identically toMass Effectas well - the game seemingly makes only three abilities available to Rook at any given time, and allows players to call for companion abilities through a combat wheel, instead of directly taking control of different party members.
Veilguarddoes include a tactical wheel of abilities for Rook and other party members, which pauses time and allows players to select abilities without time pressure, but other tactical elements from previousDragonAgegames seem minimal.
As a result,Veilguard’s previews present it as almost entirely action-oriented, like aMass Effectgame with a focus on melee combat instead of shooting and a fantasy theme replacing sci-fi. And while it would be premature to make judgments on the overall quality ofVeilguard’s combat from just a short 20-minute preview set at (seemingly) the very start of the game,the game does seem to lack almost any traditional CRPG or tactical elements, whichDragon Age:Inquisitionretained to some degree even as it shifted more towards action as well.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Preview: I’m Worried, But Maybe That’s The Inquisition Talking
I watched the first hour of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and I can’t tell if I should legitimately be worried or if Inquisition looms over the series.
Veilguard Isn’t The Start Of Dragon Age’s Action Focus
Dragon Age Has Been Shifting Towards Action Since 2011
Of course,Dragon Age’s general shift towards more action-oriented gameplay is nothing new. Even as early asDragon Age 2, the series had shifted away from the more classic CRPG combat style ofOrigins, and, coincidentally,Dragon Age 2was also the game that switched dialogue options to a wheel more closely resemblingMass Effect. But while the two games afterOriginsretained the original game’s tactical elements to some degree, it seems like only the barest vestiges of it will be present inVeilguard- and even then, only those parts that are like the systems inMass Effect.
Streamlining the tactical elements ofVeilguard’s combat could be a net benefit, though, allowing the combat to be more focused instead of creating a greater split between action and tactics. The tactical elements that remained inDragon Age 2andInquisitioncould be more or less ignored, after all, and so it makes sense from a certain perspective to minimize them even further. The action elements ofDragon Ageare, at this point in the franchise’s history, much longer-lived than the pure CRPG gameplay ofOrigins, and so it follows that the series would continue developing in that direction.
With the release ofBaldur’s Gate 3proving that “old-school” CRPGs can still find mainstream success, however, it can be hard not to feel likeDragon Ageis missing an opportunity by straying so far away from the gameplay ofOrigins, especially withOriginsitself being something of a spiritual successor to the original twoBaldur’s Gategames developed by BioWare. The release, and subsequent success, ofBaldur’s Gate 3would have come much too far intoVeilguard’s development for it to really influence the game’s direction, but it does show that action isn’t the only route to success.
On some levels, it makes sense thatDragon AgeandMass Effectwould grow to be similar, as both franchises are developed by the same studio and share much of the same DNA. However, streamliningDragon Age’s combat also comes with the risk of diluting the franchise’s identity, making it “fantasyMass Effect” instead of allowing it to establish its own style. For better or worse,Dragon Age: The Veilguardseems to be the endpoint of the series' ever-shifting identity, and its steady de-emphasis of RPG elements.
