I can not cease looking at Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Whether or not I am exploring the sport’s house base within the dream-like Fade, or a forest shimmering with golden leaves and wild magical vitality, the sport merely seems attractive. And, for those who’ve obtained the graphical horsepower to see it, it additionally delivers among the most luxurious ray tracing I’ve ever seen. There is a degree of polish throughout each side of the sport, together with its new action-oriented strategy to fight, that is merely superb to behold.
Veilguard continues the story of the decade-old Dragon Age Inquisition, which was most notable for the stunning ending of its DLC. It turned out that Solas, one in all your extra cantankerous companions, was really an Elven god hellbent on destroying the Veil, a boundary he created to separate the actual world from the spirit-filled Fade. Oh, and that is the place he additionally trapped much more evil Elven gods. Solas thought-about himself a hero, however then once more, so did Marvel’s Thanos.
This time round, you play as Rook, a brand new recruit enlisted by collection common Varric to trace down Solas earlier than he tears down the Veil. That occurs ahead of you’d suppose — your staff finds him and stops his magical ritual in your first mission. However doing so unleashes two very pissed off Elven gods, who proceed to wreak havoc throughout Thedas.
BioWare wastes no time displaying off its new aesthetic for Dragon Age. The sport’s characters are extra stylized than in Inquisition, however I did not thoughts the slight loss in realism. If something, it makes this entry really feel extra distinct from earlier Dragon Age titles. The sense of favor carries over to each setting, as properly. The Lighthouse, your base of operations, is a shocking collection of medieval buildings floating in the course of a dreamy, magical storm. I’d typically discover myself simply staring off into the space of the Fade, imagining what else lay past the horizon. That’s one thing I discovered myself doing in each new location, the element on this planet hints at 1000’s of untold tales.
For a recreation that was , and suffered some (together with dropping its authentic inventive director, Mike Laidlaw), Dragon Age: The Veilguard is surprisingly well-constructed. And all through my twenty hours with the sport (to this point), it’s that degree of craft and high quality I admire probably the most.
Whereas the storyline is not precisely groundbreaking, I have not been capable of put down Dragon Age: The Veilguard as a result of it is such a pleasure to play. The brand new fight system is extra action-oriented than earlier than (consider the distinction between Mass Impact 1 and 2), with counters and particular strikes paying homage to the latest God of Battle. You possibly can’t straight management your companions, however you’ll be able to have them deploy particular skills that may both help you or assault your enemies. It is a well-balanced system that makes small encounters really feel genuinely enjoyable, and it permits for some epic boss fights (a few of which have lasted practically 10 minutes and left my controller a sweaty mess).
As you degree up, you’ll be able to tweak your character to your liking with Veilgaurd’s huge ability tree. I’ve honed my Rook to be a lightning-fast dual-sword wielding Rogue who is not afraid to whip out her bow for the occasional headshot. (You can too select from Warrior and Mage courses early on, which ought to be fairly self-explanatory.) Every ability tree has three specializations: Rogues, for instance, can select to be Veil Rangers (an archery emphasis), Saboteurs (specializing in traps and poison) or Duelists. Personally, I am a sucker for the Duelist’s double sword motion.
Battles can get hectic, and fortunately Dragon Age: The Veilguard performs properly sufficient to maintain up. Whereas taking part in on a PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and NVIDIA RTX 4080 Tremendous GPU, the sport managed to remain properly above 100fps whereas taking part in in 4K with DLSS, “Ultra” graphics and ray tracing settings. When you’ve got the {hardware} to assist it, it will seemingly change into a brand new showpiece for the chances of ray tracing: Lighting from the solar and magical parts realistically hits characters and the setting, and shadows throughout the board look extra pure.
However I used to be additionally stunned to seek out that Veilguard was additionally nonetheless very playable on my Steam Deck, albeit with low graphics settings (undoubtedly no ray tracing) and a fundamental 30-to-40fps. That is actually not the perfect option to play, nevertheless it’s useful for coping with facet missions in mattress, or on the go. Given how properly it performs on a mere handheld, I might wager the sport would play properly on low-end and mid-range GPUs, in addition to consoles, with out a lot of a sweat. (And if you wish to experience superior ray tracing options out of your sofa, there’s for the .)
Past merely wanting nice, Veilguard stored me hooked due to BioWare’s consideration to its characters. I loved strolling by Docktown with Neve, who warmed as much as my character (additionally a fellow Shadow Dragon) whereas discussing how a lot she liked her rundown neighborhood. I helped Davrin come to phrases together with his new position elevating one of many final Griffons on this planet, and I discovered in regards to the trauma behind Bella’s sometimes heat demeanor. As ordinary, you’ll be able to romance any of your companions (how will you not love Neve?), and there’s nonetheless loads of enjoyable available making an attempt to arrange these relationships.
I’ll admit, it merely felt good to pour some hours main a bunch of ragtag do-gooders to save lots of the world in opposition to relentless odds. That’s just about each RPG and journey story, certain, however who can deny the pleasure of killing a number of evil gods? (Bringing on the mixed abilities of composers Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe to attain the sport seemingly additionally made me a bit extra emotional.)
After Baldur’s Gate 3 did not seize me (I’ll get again to it, I swear!), I feared that Dragon Age: The Veilguard can be one other letdown. However it turned out to be precisely the type of spectacle I wanted: It’s stunning to behold, enjoyable to play and I genuinely loved the brand new batch of characters. It’s BioWare at its finest – I’m simply hoping they’ll do the identical for the .
