The first gameplay footage of Dragon Age: The Veilguard revealed that the darkspawn are back, once again plaguing Thedas. However, they looked much different than they did in previous games, and it was a redesign that many were unhappy with.
In response, The Veilguard's director, John Epler, said there was a reason behind this, although he didn't elaborate on it at the time. Now, both he and fellow director, Corinne Busche, have explained this reason, and it's all to do with the elven gods attacking Thedas.
This comes from a new gameplay review hosted by IGN. Here, we get 22 minutes of gameplay, mostly focused on mage combat.
"You might notice as we get into combat with some of these darkspawn, that they do look a little bit different than before, and that's very intentional," says Busche. "Ghilan'nain, the god of monsters, she uses Blight like a medium to sculpt and warp the darkspawn to do her bidding, to suit her purposes."
Epler also touched on this, saying that Ghilan'nain has been "enhancing" the darkspawn, which explains why the Grey Wardens are struggling against them so much. She's also building an army of darkspawn to carry out her plans, so...
