Dragon Age: The Veilguard Reviews
The Veilguard has some fun combat and exploration mechanics, but in no way do they redeem a sterilized, safe, inoffensive, fully "Netflix" and badly written version of a dark fantasy world that has little to do with the series' past.
Pretty aesthetics aside, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a boring sludge of grey. It's not awful enough to poke fun at for its broken mechanics like Star Wars: Outlaws, but similarly, it's nowhere near good enough to compete with the best Bioware have put out. Veilguard is a complete nothingburger; an indifferent shrug of a fantasy epic that fails to live up to what's come before, and destined to be thrown into the veil, reduced to a passing whisper of what could have been.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a worthy release that won't disappoint most fans of the series or its genre.
Review in Greek | Read full review
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, what we no longer thought possible after Anthem has actually happened: the good old BioWare RPG is back. Veilguard offers us classic trademarks of the studio such as atmospheric locations, strong characters, an elaborately staged story and numerous decisions that shape our relationship with other characters and thus also our character. Graphically, the role-playing game definitely takes some getting used to and is far from a modern photorealistic representation, but the sometimes more or less limited areas shine with atmosphere, attention to detail and a strong mission focus. In terms of sound, on the other hand, The Veilguard plays in the very top league and offers us not only flawless synchronization but also a great orchestral soundtrack at film score level. The very action-oriented combat system, which we really enjoyed, will probably not appeal to everyone, however, as it has already developed strongly in the direction of an action-adventure game, and elements such as rope-sliding, slithering and climbing interludes soften the classic role-playing game framework noticeably. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is ultimately up to each player to decide. In any case, we really enjoyed Dragon Age: The Veilguard and once again proved the truth of the proverb “The dead live longer”. With this in mind: Welcome back, BioWare!
Review in German | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn't quite a full return to form, but it is definitely a step in the right direction for BioWare, and is a win that the studio definitely needed after a series of demoralizing releases over the years. The game, with all its positive points, always seems to trip over its own feet - fantastic environments but divisive character design, engaging story but overly cheesy dialog at times, and more. There's always a give-and-take that holds it back from being a great game.
Dragon Age The Veilguard isn’t the big comeback from BioWare we had hoped for; in fact, it seems like a project born out of countless uncertainties and shaped by an idea completely different from what we experienced in our 70 hours of gameplay. The game tries, and it would be unfair not to admit it: it seeks to embrace new elements, but it does so in a completely misguided and inconsistent way, partly due to shallow writing and an art direction lacking a true identity.
Review in Italian | Read full review
As a Dragon Age fan, you're better off avoiding Dragon Age: The Veilguard—the once-dark fantasy world has been transformed into a Disney-like fairytale with childish, shallow dialogue, limited and inconsequential choices that restrict you to being nice, and a linear storyline that disregards the deep lore, impactful choices, and character-driven narratives the series is known for. Enemy design is laughable, side missions are shallow, puzzles are overly simple, and while the flashy combat is fun, it feels out of place, lacking strategic depth, making it painful to accept that this beloved franchise may meet its end in 2024.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a gorgeous feast for the eyes with solid combat, but a vapid story filled with terrible, unrelatable characters.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard offers beautifully crafted environments, but its shallow enemy design and lack of narrative depth may disappoint series veterans. For those seeking a more casual RPG experience, it could be enjoyable, but it’s not worth paying full price. Wait for a discount.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is truly an impressive game, but it might have fared better without the Dragon Age title, as it doesn’t entirely align with the series' concept. Unfortunately, certain controversies have overshadowed the game’s quality, pushing its merits into the background—a situation that’s never ideal.
Even with some missteps and controversial design choices inspired by Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: The Veilguard paves the way for a triumphant return for BioWare, delivering the studio's best-written final act and one of the best in the entire industry. The main flaws lie in a few tedious moments in the early hours and an unnecessary amount of side quests that bloat the game.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an action RPG with extremely fun gameplay, especially in the combat phase. The main plot and characters fail to captivate the player from the start, but if we give the narrative the right amount of time, we will have a compelling script and interesting teammates on our hands. Visually, The Veilguard is a spectacle, with its effects-laden abilities and postcard fantasy world design. One unfortunately gets the feeling of being led by the developers' hand a little too much, but on balance this is a very good product.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard absolutely shines in some areas while falling short in others, though it never really coalesces to form something great. It's a fun, engaging action-RPG but BioWare still has a few miles to go before it can recapture its best days.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumphant return for the series, combining compelling storytelling, intricate character interactions, and action-packed combat into an RPG that feels both fresh and timeless. The game plays to BioWare’s strengths, creating an adventure that will keep fans and newcomers busy for dozens of hours. The world is super cool, and the regions all look completely different. The story is top-notch, the presentation is of an extremely high quality, and the combat is deep and tactical. It’s a shame that the dialogues won’t be equally interesting to every player.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
It should be said that for all of the criticism to be made about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there’s nothing it outright does poorly. It is absolutely lots of fun in the moment, and the cast is worthy of note. However, when all is said and done, there’s little that sticks in the memory.
Returning to Thedas has never been so fun! Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the installment that Dragon Age fans have been waiting for almost 10 years and that will surely not leave anyone indifferent.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a return to old form, albeit not the best form. The action-packed battles with tactical elements are once again a lot of fun and the characters, both good and evil, bring the usual Bioware quality. It could have been a bit more stringent and there aren't many really important decisions, but this is the studio's best title since Mass Effect 3.
Review in German | Read full review
Dragon Age - The Veilguard is far from being a disaster that many internet haters are claiming it to be. It's a serviceable and high-budget comfort food-level action role-playing game. Though if I'm being fair, that's probably the worst thing a standout trendsetter company like Bioware can commit: something that straddles along the lines of "fine".
Dragon Age: The Veilguard shares no true DNA ancestry with RPGs. It is at best an Assassin’s Creed look-alike, a Hogwarts Legacy wannabe, but its infantile and banal storytelling makes it more of a Roblox game in a grown-ups’ graphics engine. There’s an argument to be made that this game was made by the new generation for the new generation of gamers. The point of its existence is not to raise and discuss serious topics or explore dark emotions. It’s here to provide good fun. Its target audience seems to be your average high schooler. You don’t want to bother him with topics of racism, religion, oppression, inequality, dogmatism, relationships, social interactions and other big topics previous games in the series tackled. Give him positive reinforcement, fairy-tale cartoonish looking worlds and loot. I think Bioware thinks very little of the new generation if this is their vision of what a game for them should look like.
We were really hoping Dragon Age: The Veilguard would be the big, satisfying comeback that would remind us why BioWare was once an RPG powerhouse. But it just doesn’t make the cut. Instead, it makes us wonder if BioWare can still create games like the Mass Effect trilogy and the early Dragon Age titles as they did. If this is what the future of Dragon Age looks like, maybe it’s time to give the series a break.