Summary
BioWarehas announcedDragon Age: The Veilguardhas officially gone gold ahead of the game’s October 31 release.
For those unfamiliar with the term, ‘going gold’ means a video game is finished and is ready to be shipped to retailers on discs or digitally distributed on online storefronts. It’s been almost a decade since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, meaning The Veilguard’s release will represent the culmination of a long wait for fans of the RPG series.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Ready To Go
The next Dragon Age instalment has gone through several iterations, including a multiplayer live-service title and a singleplayer title solely focused on heists, in the vein of the series' animated show, Dragon Age: Absolution. The title also went through a name change, being previously known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. After the underwhelming release of Mass Effect: Andromeda in 2017, and the subsequent disastrous release of Anthem in 2019, BioWare has a lot riding on the success of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard casts the player in the role of Rook, a hero of varying origins who must lead a group of companions, the eponymous Veilguard, to stop the resurrected Elven gods Ghilan’nain and Elgar’nan from tearing down the Veil. BioWare has engaged in a lengthy marketing campaign ahead of this month’s release, meaning we already know quite a lot about what to expect from the fourth Dragon Age game.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be set in northern Thedas, somewhat insulating the upcoming game from the events of the previous three games which largely took place in the south of the continent. This is what BioWare is claiming anyway, as youwon’t be able to import world statesfrom the previous games. To not conflict with the accumulated choices of players over the past decade, BioWare has written The Veilguard in such a way that major events of the previous games won’t be addressed by the characters. Some have been critical of this approach, especially considering characters like Morrigan were involved in preceding events that are directly relevant to the narrative of The Veilguard.
One of the major changes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the combat, which is going to be more free-flowing and combo-based than the series has been previously. Furthermore,the tactical camera has been removed, and you’ll only be able to control Rook, as opposed to your entire party,which is down to 3 from the usual 4. The combat changes are one of the aspects of The Veilguard that have been praised as the series moves away from its CRPG roots to a more action-RPG style.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases October 31 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
