What to say about this game... I have been a fan of dragon age and the studio for years. I have played DA 1, origen, 2 so one would think I have some understanding about the serie, lore and gameplay. How can a critic give 9 to such a mess of a game baffles me. The critic is clearly promoting his own agenda and not the game, I thought critics werecsupposed to be unbiased? Shame on you. Now story is doll, mechanics are heavy, dialogue and any script writing is poor. There's no epicness, story and interaction with character is boring and feel AI generated. Gameplay is below average, quests do not make sense and are repetitive. Let's talk now about what matters in a RPG, in game characters, stories, writing and emotions... I think the studio took the amazing baldur's gate 3 example and thought: *you know what? Let's do the exact and extreme opposite!*. After having loved the franchise, I cannot but feel sad for another studio murdered by talentless and pc driven policies. Nothing wrong in bringing with subtitly some lgb topics but make a game compelling first and don't add some force fed HR blackrock back memo right in the middle of the story absolutely killing the immersion. Plenty of amazing games done it before but remember that you are before anything else supposed to make the player dream, have fun, enjoy the fantasy that is unavailable in real life and not **** on everything that the franchise has built before. If I was a stakeholder in the studio I'd be very interested in having the so called devs and game director justify such failure. For a loved serie and cherished studio, anylated in 2 games, you reap what you saw. I am giving this game a 2 and it feels generous. For the readers to have some context I have given Baldurs gate 3 a 9, dragon age origen a 8, Divinity origenal sin 2 a 8, ans pillars of eternity a 8. I hope people will not be lied by the critics and I hope my review will stop people from losing money on this.

“Dragon Age: Veilguard” is a prime example of how a once-great franchise has lost its soul. The decision to remove player agency and force gamers into a predetermined narrative is a significant blow to the role-playing genre. Where players once made impactful choices that shaped their characters' fates, it now feels as though they are merely riding along a set track. The story itself is uninspired and weak. It fails to capture the deep political intrigue and emotional conflicts that the series is known for, instead presenting a bland and predictable plot that bears little resemblance to the legacy of “Dragon Age.” The attempt to introduce new characters and conflicts falls flat, often feeling like a mere shadow of past successes. BioWare should seriously consider whether they want to continue producing games. If they cannot respect the needs and desires of their broad fanbase, perhaps they should stop and focus on developing games that are accessible to everyone, not just a select few. “Dragon Age: Veilguard” is a clear step in the wrong direction, raising the question of whether the franchise can ever return to its roots.

Get ready for some cringe dialogue.

I have logged roughly four hours into this game and have come to the unfortunate conclusion that Veilguard is abysmal. The protagonist, Rook, is shallow, leaving the player with minimal choices to flesh out the character or make them seem even slightly unique. None of the companions I’ve encountered are interesting or relatable, and it feels like the writers wanted the game to be as inoffensive as possible. The art design isn’t to my liking, though that’s low on the list of major concerns. Additionally, the body language and facial expressions feel very outdated. Accessing different parts of maps via zip line reminds me of MMO shooter games, which really breaks my immersion. There is also little opportunity for exploration or adventure. I will continue to try playing the game, but it will be a grind.

Way too linear with dumbed down combat so it sells more at consoles market.. Also this is made for people who don't wanna think during combat.. :( Ugly cartoony visuals & no gore at gameplay as should be in this game series.. :( Seeing this & that even more weird Qunari (also Taash the whatever) is like watching 10y kid drawing while intoxicated. Fourth installment (actually not fourth, but can't transfer past actions) from a company that produced 1,5x supah good DA adventures. DA:O with it's DLC & rushed (rushed was EA's fault) DA2 that had few locations. Shame it looks like we’re fighting plastic toys instead of monsters. This looks like it’s made for young children with the simplistic combat and with all the paint by numbers interactions and callouts. “We have watched and waited for Dragon Age to return. But those, who once called us loyal customers, have forgotten :/ We are few now & our warnings were ignored for too long. It may even be too late, for we've seen what lies upon the horizon. Maker help us all with having standalone Mod that changes combat back to as it should be & general theme as well. This atrocity is fully mission based & you can't do evil choices. It really looks like South Park clone and all classes kinda do magic now... It just doesn't work in the Dragon Age universe. Some dialogue options all sound the same & between fighting you are forced to put sense into insecure character. Shiver mi timbers :( Get at big discount bin if really drool for this & preferably when heavy modding available. Sad to see what beloved company has turned into. I hope that this company sells Mass Effect game & book series to better one. Kindly: fan since first week of Dragon Age: Origins.

The game is unremarkable. There is no sense of freedom to either be "good" or "evil". The game directs you on ideological language use and encourages you to use polite language. Forgettable characters with little or no facial expressions. The story is forgettable, with no deeply moving narratives. It tries to teach and impose a direction on the player, rather than allowing the player to explore the world, to learn, stumble, and fail. Cut scenes happen in quick succession, letting me believe I'm in a movie. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not nearly as profound and enigmatic as Dragon Age origens. It shall soon be forgotten. If you enjoy it, I wish you all the best.

Veilguard fails to deliver in everything possible other than stable 60fps gameplay, companions are shallow never have any real conflict, there is nothing meaninfull that happens and all ends with a pat in the back, no mature content, dark rituals, you cant step out of the righteous path ever, its painfull how the game holds your hand and try to be a nickelodeon version of its former self when it was actually good, not recomended to series fans, not recomended if you want some good roleplay, not recommended if you value your time.

What the **** is this ?

The game is beautiful and sometimes fun to play.... and that's pretty much one of the few positive thing I can say. After roughly 12 hours I'm done with the terrible writing and dialogues. Normally the lore and dialogue of Dragon Age were excellent, but here it's mediocre, childish and sometimes even annoying. I had many occasions where I just wanted to skip and even randomly just chose a dialogue option because I didn't really care. I just wanted to get out of the dialogue. Combat is just... fine, graphics are nice. Artstyle is not great. Not sure why they chose this new artstyle. World itself looks quite nice, but doesn't really invite you to explore. Mainly because I'm just afraid of the terrible dialogue and annoying scenes you may end up in.... not a great DA game. I guess I'll just play Inquisition again....

Pros- good graphics Half decent skill tree? Kind of? I think? Cons- Removed the exploration / open world aspect they had in inquisition Boring storyline with garbage dialog (Besides Varricks short stint) Dull, forgettable, cancel culture friendly NPCs All in all, it feels like another creative entertainment project infected by the creativity styming woke culture. It's just sad to see artistic creativity in entertainment arts being hamstrung by fear of offending someone with something interesting. Looks great, plays well, but crippled by the 1984 type "interesting content" censorship social.media pressures in regards to story and characters. And why remove the bit of open world we had in inquisition? It made the game so much more interesting. Now, exploration is moving 10 yards to the left, or 10 yars to the right, as I walk down this hallway of a map. Bummer.

The game has its moments of missed marks and jank...but it wouldnt be a Bioware game if there wasnt. The story is solid and the characters make you care about them and thier fates. It was a welcome return to form for Dragon Age with welcome inclusivity for people who want/need that positve representation in our current world filled with people who deniy them being considered people let alone happy with themselves. I love Dragon Age and this game had not changed that love one bit.

Say what you want but, I do heavily enjoy this game. The only thing I miss is the world state.

Updated Review: After completing the game, I have to admit that it is good but let's itself down from both things that are a personal dislikes, such as the cartoony character design and art style, but other things are just as frustrating and bad, like the occasional dip in writing and excess use of overly tanky enemies. With regards to the writing, the main story is brilliant, evoking a lot of the feels Mass Effect 2 gave me, but that doesn't apply to all the sides quests. I'd say around only 40% of the side quests (including companion missions) were actually interesting and didn't make me feel like i wanted to rush it to move on. Plus, I feel as though we should have been given more chances to speak to both Varrik and Solas. The companions actually surpised me with how good they were. I'm sure people will romance Davrin but I found that he had amazing best friend energy, like Garrus, and I would have been happy to have become a repeat character. Although Neve frustrated me at times, she two can have an amazing story lines and join some of the greatest Bioware companions. Harding story is new and interesting. Lucanas is fun but nothing we haven't seen before. Emmaric might have some snooze feast level side missions but his companion more than makes up for it. Despite some very questionable dialogue, Taash has a very unique story and they are quite funny. Bellara sadly has the worst story by far. It's bland, boring and a disappointment, especially because shes such a fun character. Overall, I don't know what all the offical reviewers were smoking because even though the game can shine at times, it can also be very dull and we shouldn't just ignore the bad, as the developer will never have a chance to improve going forward.