3.5/5 ★ – bryansbane's review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

I’ve played all of the Dragon Age games and most of the DLC’s over the years. A few things have remained true throughout all of it; the story, characters, dialog and setting have been sublime while the combat has been either okay or downright awful. With The Veilguard it’s not quite the same or the opposite, but it’s a very different experience altogether. Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a top tier action based modern God of War styled combat system that can go toe to toe with many of the other best combat systems in the industry. Something wildly new for this particular franchise. Returning as expected is another crew full of memorable and interesting characters in typical BioWare fashion. The setting is as beautiful and as interesting as it has ever been. These are where The Veilguards strengths lie. Where the fourth entry in the Dragon Age series struggles most is its writing. While there are moments that are as good as the series has ever been, that’s the exception and not the rule. Writing on a broad level I would still describe as good, but it’s very inconsistent and certainly a far cry from the heights the series once had. There will be moments where what the characters are saying is either meaningless and hollow or downright cringe inducing. Another downfall for some may potentially be the level design. Where I personally found it exciting, what you ultimately have is tightly designed linear areas with purpose as opposed to any kind of open world or even open area imitation you might expect from a modern day fantasy RPG. The art style is gorgeous the vast majority of the time but sometimes lets down its character designs that otherwise could have felt gruesome and otherworldly. It’s very inconsistent how one character can look straight out of Dragon Age Origins in one scene while in the wrong lighting another character may look more at home in League of Legends. Choice and consequence seems less pronounced here than it has in prior BioWare games, but there are still far more choices to grapple with than 95% of the video games on the market. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the dialog options is the fact that there is no way to be mean or rude at all throughout the entire experience. Make no mistake, your character is a good guy. Ultimately, The Veilguard fixes problems that have plagued the series since its inception while introducing several new ones. It’s the most accessible and fun to play that it’s ever been, but in the process of sanding off the edges some of the depth has been lost. Playing the Veilguard I was often reminded of Final Fantasy XVI, another game that sanded off the rough edges of a franchise that is sometimes unapproachable, but lost some of what it was known for in the process. It’s worth noting both games heavily reduce the expansiveness of your party members as opposed to prior entries. I personally had a blast playing this game. It’s the first time I had difficulty pulling myself away from the controller during a Dragon Age playthrough. I’m confident The Veilguard isn’t for everyone and is not even for every Dragon Age fan, but it hit on all the right notes for me. I won’t accept the claim that this isn’t a highly polished and quality experience, even if it’s not your forte because the care put into this product is extremely obvious. The mistakes hold it back, but the positives propel it forward, ultimately leaving us with another Dragon Age entry that’s as good as any other. Flawed, but great.