Ten years is a long time to wait for a sequel. In the world of video games, a decade is basically an eternity. When Dragon Age: Inquisition wrapped up in 2014, fans were left staring at a cliffhanger involving a bald elf and a literal hole in the sky. Fast forward through reboots, name changes, and studio shifts, and we finally got Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Honestly, the game that landed on shelves and digital storefronts in late 2024 wasn’t exactly what everyone expected.
It’s different. Very different.
If you’re coming from the tactical, slow-burn combat of the older games, the first thing you’ll notice is that Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels more like an action game than a traditional CRPG. It’s snappy. It’s loud. It’s colorful. But for a lot of long-time fans, that shift felt like a betrayal of the series' roots. Others, though, found the streamlined focus on a "hub-and-spoke" world design a breath of fresh air after the bloated, fetch-quest-heavy maps of Inquisition.
The Story: Solas, Gods, and a Messy Ritual
The setup is pretty straightforward, even if the lore is deep. You play as Rook. You aren't some "chosen one" with a glowing mark on your hand this time—at least not at first. You’re basically the person Varric Tethras (everyone’s favorite chest-hair-baring rogue) hires to stop Solas from tearing down the Veil. Solas wants to bring back the ancient elven world, but doing so would basically nuke the current one.
Things go sideways immediately.
🔗 Read more: A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead Is Way More Stressful Than I Expected
During the prologue in Minrathous, Rook disrupts Solas's ritual. Instead of saving the day perfectly, you accidentally trap Solas in the Fade and release two much worse elven gods: Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. These two aren't misunderstood scholars; they are blighted, power-hungry tyrants who immediately start messing up Northern Thedas. This sets the stage for the rest of the game. You spend your time traveling through the Crossroads—a magical subway system of sorts—to recruit specialists from different factions to help you clean up the mess.
The game takes place roughly nine to ten years after the events of the Trespasser DLC. You’ll see familiar faces like Lace Harding, who is now a full-blown companion with her own magical secrets. But the heart of the game is your new crew, the Veilguard.
Combat: Is it Actually RPG Enough?
This is where the internet started fighting. Dragon Age: The Veilguard ditched the four-person party for a three-person squad. You only control Rook directly. You can’t swap to your companions and walk around as them mid-fight like you could in Origins or Inquisition. Instead, you use a tactical wheel to trigger their abilities.
The flow of battle is built around "Primers" and "Detonators." Basically, one character applies a status (like Sundered or Weakened) and another hits them with a specific move to cause a massive explosion. It’s satisfying when it clicks, but it feels a lot more like Mass Effect than Baldur’s Gate.
- Warriors use Rage and focus on parrying and staggering.
- Rogues use Momentum and reward you for dodging perfectly.
- Mages use Mana and stay back, managing the battlefield with spells.
By the time you hit level 20, you unlock specializations. If you’re a Mage, you can become a Death Caller and literally drain the life out of people. If you're a Warrior, you might go Reaper. The skill tree is actually pretty huge—it’s a giant constellation of nodes that lets you refund points whenever you want. That’s a huge plus. You’re never locked into a bad build.
👉 See also: Why the Gen 2 Pokemon Index Still Feels Like a Fever Dream
The Faction System and Why Your Background Matters
When you make your Rook, you pick a faction. This isn't just flavor text; it changes your last name, your casual clothes at the Lighthouse (your home base), and how certain NPCs treat you.
The six factions are:
- Grey Wardens: The classic darkspawn hunters. You get extra damage against darkspawn and a boost to health.
- Shadow Dragons: Resistance fighters in Tevinter. They're great for mana/resource regeneration.
- Antivan Crows: Flashy assassins. Choosing them lets you carry an extra potion, which is honestly a lifesaver on harder difficulties.
- Veil Jumpers: Elven ruin explorers. They focus on critical hits and weak point damage.
- Lords of Fortune: Treasure hunters from Rivain. They make it easier to perform takedowns.
- Mourn Watch: Nevarran necromancers. They let you stack more "afflictions" (status effects) on enemies.
Choosing a faction that matches your companion’s background—like being a Shadow Dragon when you’re hanging out with Neve Gallus—gives you unique dialogue options. It makes the world feel a bit more reactive, even if the main plot stays largely on the same tracks.
The Hard Truth About Sales and the Future
By early 2025, the dust had settled, and the picture wasn't as rosy as BioWare hoped. Reports from Electronic Arts indicated that Dragon Age: The Veilguard reached about 1.5 million players. While that sounds like a lot, EA had reportedly projected closer to 3 or 4 million. In the world of "Triple-A" gaming, "good" often isn't enough to satisfy shareholders.
The industry analyst Mat Piscatella noted that the game launched into an incredibly crowded market. Between Metaphor: ReFantazio and the lingering shadow of Baldur’s Gate 3, players had a lot of RPG options. BioWare also made the tough call to not produce any post-launch DLC. Patch 5, which dropped in early 2025, was essentially the "farewell" update. The developers even used the elven phrase dareth shiral in the notes—which means "safe journey" or "farewell."
BioWare is now shifting almost all its resources to the next Mass Effect. This means Dragon Age: The Veilguard is likely the last piece of content we’ll see from this universe for a very long time.
What Most People Get Wrong
There’s a common myth that the game "ignores" your past choices. That’s not entirely true, but it is limited. Unlike previous games that used the Dragon Age Keep website to import hundreds of decisions, The Veilguard only asks you about three specific things from Inquisition during character creation.
It asks who the Inquisitor romanced, what happened to the Inquisition itself, and how you dealt with Solas at the end of Trespasser. Everything else—who is on the throne of Ferelden, what happened to the Hero of Ferelden—is basically hand-waved away or ignored. It’s a bit of a bummer for those of us who spent 100+ hours in the older games, but it was a deliberate choice by BioWare to make the game "approachable" for newcomers.
Actionable Tips for New Players
If you're just starting your journey through Northern Thedas, don't just rush the main story. The game uses a "Power" system where your allies' strength matters for the finale.
👉 See also: Connecticut Play 4 Nightly Number: Why the 10:29 PM Draw is a Local Obsession
- Upgrade your companions' gear: They don't have a full inventory like you, but you can find or buy upgrades for their specific weapons and armor. It matters.
- The Lighthouse is for talking: Return home after every major mission. The best writing in the game is hidden in the optional conversations with your crew.
- Don't ignore the side content in the Crossroads: There are Fen'Harel statues that give you extra skill points if you find the hidden statuette they're pointing at.
- Prioritize Armor/Barrier breaking: Some enemies have yellow or blue bars over their health. If you don't have an ability equipped to deal with those, fights will take forever.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a gorgeous, polished, and often emotional ride, even if it’s not the tactical RPG some people wanted. It marks the end of an era for BioWare. Whether it’s a high note or a cautionary tale depends entirely on what you value in an RPG.
To get the most out of your playthrough, focus on building your companion relationships early. Completing their personal "Hero of the Veilguard" quests is the only way to ensure they survive the game’s brutal final act. Without those bonds, you're looking at a much darker ending for Thedas.