Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Worth A Second Look Now That It’s On PlayStation Plus
Put your preconceptions aside and dive in.
Compared to Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus is lacking in big new releases. But while Sony is sticking to its policy of not bringing first-party titles to the service on launch day, new games have started appearing on PS Plus more frequently. February saw Don’t Nod’s Lost Records: Bloom and Rage - Tape 1 show up on release day, and now March is kicking off with one of the biggest — and most divisive — RPGs of 2024.
You’ve probably heard a lot about Dragon Age: The Veilguard already, and a lot of it likely hasn’t been positive. As the latest entry in a beloved RPG series that hadn’t put a game out in a decade, The Veilguard had a lot to live up to, and it didn’t quite succeed. But even though it wasn’t what long-time fans of the series were hoping for, there’s still plenty to love about The Veilguard if you know what to expect going in.
The latest Dragon Age game is stuffed with series lore, including plotlines that hinge on returning factions and conflicts, developments in the world’s metaphysical side, and characters from older games making comebacks. The biggest returnee is Solas, a Dragon Age: Inquisition party member who serves as The Veilguard’s antagonist. There’s a lot to be gained by going into the latest game only after you’ve played the rest of the series (especially if you were won over by Solas in Inquisition, which I vehemently was not).
Despite that, it’s a surprisingly approachable game for newcomers. The Veilguard takes place in lands not seen before, and most of the cast is new. There’s a wealth of optional notes to collect that explain the minutiae of Dragon Age’s history if you want to dive deep into worldbuilding, and some optional questlines explore Solas’ rationale for wanting to tear down the Veil that separates the physical and magical realms. But that’s bonus content, not required reading for neophytes.
Despite being steeped in series lore, The Veilguard isn’t difficult for new players to get into.
Playing older Dragon Age games also won’t give you a leg up on The Veilguard’s new combat system. Since its 2009 debut, Dragon Age has moved game by game from dense tactical RPG to fast-paced action title. I was initially unhappy about the choice to remove the series’ most strategic elements from The Veilguard’s combat, but was quickly won over.
It might be light on strategy, but there are still interesting choices to be made in how you direct your party members, and the moment-to-moment feel of combat is just too good to really be upset about. Its three classes all play very differently, and an expansive skill tree lets you customize your chosen class to develop your own personal playstyle.
The Veilguard’s excellent combat is the game’s saving grace.
Where most players took issue with The Veilguard wasn’t its combat, but its story. It’s definitely the weakest part of the game, which is a big deal for a massive, character-driven RPG. Still, it has its moments thanks to its cast of NPC companions, even if their dialogue sometimes veers into sounding like a Marvel movie. Flawed as its writing can be, The Veilguard still delivers some compelling character moments, including some of the best writing for a trans player character I’ve seen in a game of this size.
I’m not here to tell you The Veilguard is perfect, or even a secret masterpiece (I did give it a 7/10, after all). But a few months removed from the high expectations of its release, it’s clear that some of the furor surrounding the game was unjustified. It may not be the absorbing experience that gave earlier Dragon Age games a rabidly devoted cult following, but it’s still a worthwhile adventure for anyone looking for solid RPG combat in a captivating fantasy world.
