Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to launch later this year and if you’re wondering exactly what the game is about and what you’ll do in it, we have you covered. I scouted all online previews from the game to put together this guide on everything you need to know.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard takes place after the events of the Trespasser DLC in Dragon Age Inquisition. The game continues the events which were kicked off at the end of the DLC where Solas revealed his plans to destroy the world in order to restore his people.
While little is known about the exact plot in Dragon Age: The Veilguard if you played the Trespasser DLC, you kind of get what is going on here. Of course, there’s a lot more happening. The gameplay trailer touched on the rift collapsing and two shadowy figures passing through the in-between.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in “fall”. This means the game will launch sometime between September and December this year. At launch, the game will include two graphics modes on console – Quality and Performance.
The game is a single-player, offline RPG. Players won’t need an EA account to load up Dragon Age: The Veilguard either. There are also no microtransactions and additional purchases. However, I would not rule out the possibility of future DLC packs to expand the story in the future.
When you load up Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players can import their character from Dragon Age Inquisition and tweak their appearance. The game features a robust character creator with different body sizes and shapes to choose from.
The creator will let you change the lighting and scene while working on your build. That way, you can gauge how your character will look in different scenarios.
Cool fact – Dragon Age: The Veilguard makes use of the same hair physics system from EA Sports meaning your hair will flow naturally and each and every strand is rendered individually. This creates a life-like hair system.
BioWare says the character creator in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the biggest they have ever built. It will let players adjust just about anything including morphing certain body parts to get any figure you want.
The game will also offer a handful of story decisions to decide your character’s backstory and how The Veilguard begins. These decisions will be delivered through a Tarot Card system the player can go through and decide the outcome of certain events from Dragon Age Inquisition.
You can also create a new character or change your Inqusiiton character. This includes choosing between a Human, Elf, Dwarf or Qunari. There are six factions you can choose from which also determines certain aspects of the story. These include:
- Antivan Crows
- Grey Wardens
- Shadow Dragons
- Veil Jumpers
- Lords of Fortune
- The Mourne Watch
Deciding your faction will determine what buffs you’ll get. Each faction comes with 3 buffs. Some buffs let players hold an extra potion, some unlock more dialogue options during conversations and others do extra damage to certain enemies.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard then includes three combat classes and 3 sub-specialization classes which you can unlock as you progress and level up. Only a handful of these specialisation classes are known.
- Rogue Class: Utilizes quick movement and reflexes. You can wield a bow or dual swords with “powerful, precise strikes for lethal damage”
- Specialisation: Veil Ranger
- Mage Class: Use magic to incinerate, freeze, electrocute and crush. Some cast from afar, while others prefer close-quarters combat
- Specialisation: Duelist
- Warrior Class: Use a sword and shield or two-handed weapon to send enemies flying
- Specialisation: Saboteur
Each class has a resource system that ties into the game’s combat. These resources build up during combat and certain attacks drain it. For example, the Rogue has Momentum that gathers while performing basic attacks. It can then use this Momentum to pull off a hip fire bow shot which sees it burst fire arrows from the hip. The Warrior can use its Stamina resource to toss its shield at emeries like a boomerang.
Combat in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is done in real time. Players will need to attack, dodge, parry and counter enemies to beat them. They can then use the ability wheel to pull off special attacks and command party members to use their own abilities. You’ll take two party members with you during the game and be a party of 3.
The combat wheen acts similarly to Mass Effect where it pauses the combat and gives you an overview of your unlocked abilities and a handful of party member ones. You’ll then scroll over the ability to trigger it. However, the main character can also have abilities on a hotkey.
Chaining together abilities will help in combat. For example, one squad member can use a Gravity Well attack to pull enemies into one area. You can then command the other to use a devastating AOE spell.
Enemies also have elemental weaknesses and resistances you’ll need to learn in order to beat them. Some enemies will take no damage at all to certain elemental attacks while others will take less damage from physical attacks.
The skill tree in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is vast and will let players build themselves and their squad members into certain playstyles. You can target specific attack styles, elemental abilities and health and stamina builds. Essentially, building into flexible all-rounders, brute tanks, healers or squishy heavy magic wielders.
Outside of the combat, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will feature a main hub where players will spend their time when not on a mission. This is similar to Skyhold. Here, they can chat with squad members, get to know them better, unlock new quest lines and eventually start romancing them. Squad members will each have their own unique questlines.
However, if you don’t pursue certain romantic relationships with certain squad members, they will end up romancing other squad members. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will also feature nudity and explicit sex scenes.
BioWare has also confirmed that players can permanently lose squad members in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This is likely tied to decisions you make at key moments throughout the game.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to launch later this year.