The Veilguard’ review: excellent combat, inconsistent story : NPR

In 2010, Canadian developer BioWare was in peak form. It released Mass Effect 2 to near-unanimous acclaim, winning over 100 awards, just one year after the successful launch of an old-school roleplaying series in Dragon Age: Origins. The company was the name in cinematic RPG experiences, with a near-pristine record of classics like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and Knights of the Old Republic (we don’t talk about Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood).

But in the following years, BioWare’s reputation began to falter. Dragon Age 2 was rushed and underbaked. Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition sold well, but felt a little off — from Dragon Age brightening up its dark fantasy setting to Mass Effect failing to deliver the meaningful choices players expected. Then came the critical disappointment of Mass Effect: Andromeda, the commercial disaster of Anthem, leadership departures, and layoffs. BioWare’s heyday had all but ended.

Now, after a nearly decade-long development cycle, BioWare is shooting for redemption with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. After completing it in 60 hours, I’m happy to report that the game is packed with excellent combat, level design, progression systems, equipment optimization, and charismatic companions. It is, simply put, a well-executed action RPG. However, Veilguard’s wildly inconsistent tone prevents it from standing tall in BioWare’s illustrious catalog.

If you’re hoping for a return to the series’ origins, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for an expertly streamlined blockbuster, Veilguard is a delight.

Controlled detonation

Let’s start with Veilguard’s strongest feature — its action gameplay. Mastering combat and party composition is a thoroughly rewarding experience from start to finish. I began the game in normal mode, dying more than I care to admit with my rogue assassin build. After completing Shadow of the Erdtree, I thought, “I’m better than this!” — so I respecialized until I found the right archery-focused build, stacked gear buffs on gear buffs, assigned all the best combinations of companion skills, and demolished the game on hard mode.

I say this not to flex my true gaming prowess (although I’ll gladly take credit), but to show how well BioWare created mechanics that encouraged, nay demanded, mastery. Veilguard’s undoubtedly their strongest outing when it comes to action-focused combat — and plentiful accessibility and difficulty settings allow for a more casual experience, if you want to take it easy.

Similarly, the level design, clearly inspired by 2018’s God of War, beautifully improves on Inquisition’s bland open zones. Rather than focus on formulaic checklists, Veilguard offers side quests that consistently reward exploration with useful loot and impactful plot points. I was often surprised by the depth of Veliguard’s missions, particularly when they involved factions or the history of Solas and Mythal (hint hint: do that one).

Avengers assemble

Compared to its predecessors, Veilguard often feels ripped from a different franchise. Some scenes are distinctively Dragon Age, while others feel more like a Disney movie. It’s an M for Mature game with an excess of tonally conflicting E for Everyone moments. On the one hand, you have blood mages ritualistically sacrificing enslaved people, a horrifying blight decimating villages, and ancient Elven gods turning innocent people into monsters. On the other hand, you have a silly skeleton butler soundtracked by music that feels like Christmas morning at Hogwarts.

It’s not wrong to pepper moments of levity into a grim storyline — lord knows The Last of Us Part 2 could have used some — but Veilguard’s jarring tonal shifts betray the compelling dark lore Dragon Age was founded on. Ultimately, it doesn’t add up to a cohesive, well-realized world.

It’s not like the writing is awful. Companions are generally likable, and much of the dialogue feels organic and engaging. Your home base in the Fade, The Lighthouse, is crammed with rewarding character development, fun interactions, and, of course, romance (not just between you and your chosen partner, but also between companions themselves!).

Relationships are the horse driving the cart rather than, say, the political and religious complexities of Inquisition. It feels more like Mass Effect than Dragon Age in that sense — and that’s not always a bad thing. BioWare has always been ahead of the curve in diverse representation, and Veilguard incorporates a storyline involving a character coming out as non-binary. You can even have your character, “Rook,” identify as trans.

A new age

Another critical element of any BioWare game is player choice. On that front, there were several times I had to take a long, hard look in the proverbial mirror. The lasting consequences of many decisions tie together seamlessly in Veilguard’s stellar finale, and the scale of potential outcomes feels grander than any past BioWare game (it’s not as grand as the ending Larian pulled off in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s still quite impressive). One choice hit me with a gut punch so hard that I’m still grappling with it days after finishing the game.

But like Mass Effect 3, if you’re hoping for decisions from prior entries to matter, you’re in for a letdown. There are only three choices that you can set for Veilguard’s world state, and they’re all from Inquisition — flying in the face of the “Dragon Age Keep” system that recorded your decisions across the whole series. I can understand how complex it would have been to honor every choice made in prior titles, but it’s a tragic lost opportunity not to reward fans who have been playing since Origins.

It’s easy to see how this squandered potential, along with the tonal inconsistencies, could have arisen out of Veilguard’s near-decade of troubled production. David Gaider, Dragon Age’s lead writer and creator, left BioWare in 2016. Originally designed with substantial live-service components, Veilguard shifted to a full-on single-player RPG in 2021, six years after development began.

But I’m ultimately hopeful. Even though BioWare didn’t quite hit the mark in Veilguard, if it could take its best innovations and stick the landing with consistent storytelling, the anticipated Mass Effect 5 could restore the company to its prior glory.

Golden Age BioWare is dead. Long live BioWare.

James Perkins Mastromarino contributed to this review.