"Dragon Age – The Veilguard": Bioware's comeback spectacle
Bioware's "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" ticks all the boxes for a great role-playing spectacle. Will the cult studio succeed in breaking free?
(Image: Bioware)
What was the fear among fans: Bioware at the end? After such catastrophic disappointments as "Mass Effect: Andromeda" or the "Anthem" disaster, the studio's good reputation had suffered badly. With "Dragon Age: The Veilguard", it has now made a successful comeback: a spectacular role-playing adventure that dares little, but is probably unrivaled in terms of scope and gameplay this year.
"The Veilguard" begins where some games end. A troop of brave heroes tries to prevent a renegade mage from taming ancient gods. The rescue plan is only partially successful. In the end, the two evil gods have escaped and mysterious rifts to a demon world open up. The players must now found the titular Veilguard from a bunch of outcast dragon hunters, bizarre necromancers and honorable knights to once again save the world from destruction.
A best-of from the fantasy genre
Bioware tells this story as a broad fantasy epic. The Veilguard is reminiscent of the Fellowship of the Ring, friendships are forged and disputes are settled. Even here, players can lose themselves in side quests to deepen the relationship between the characters – typical Bioware. It's all about lost brothers, rogue honor, guilt and atonement and the usual fantasy pathos. Bioware not only tells a story, but also offers a best-of of the last decades of the genre. Sometimes there is also a reunion with the heroes of the earlier "Dragon Age" games.
"Dragon Age: The Veilguard" angespielt (5 Bilder)
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)In terms of gameplay, much has remained the same. At the beginning, fans choose a hero or heroine from four races and the three classes "Warrior", "Mage" and "Rogue". This doesn't sound like much at first, but can be tailored to the respective player type over the course of the game through skills, specializations or redistribution of skills. Thanks to the extensive skill tree, mages can mix lightning with melee combat or warriors can choose between brutal brawlers and steadfast tanks. A maximum of three players can then set off on an adventure as a team. However, players can only control the main character directly.
Faster than its predecessors
Battles against giant dragons or demons cause the stress level to skyrocket. Compared to previous titles in the series, everything has become a little more fast-paced and spectacular. Especially when mages or rogues attack their opponents with fire spells or bows, it's more like a third-person shooter than a tactical role-playing game. Although players can pause the game at any time and give orders to their two companions, in practice this was unnecessary on the medium difficulty level. The invulnerable helpers did their job quite well on their own.
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The missions mostly boil down to the same thing: kill monsters, collect loot. Some enemies are armored, others are protected by an energy barrier. Only those who use the right weapons and team skills can beat even the biggest enemies. In addition to the battles, players can expect a few puzzles in which they have to activate crystals in the right order with the help of their teammates. Special missions are not absolutely necessary for the main story, but provide important details about the story. The popular crafting, on the other hand, has been reduced to a minimum. Players can only upgrade their equipment at a few merchants.
The game does not offer a conventional open world where players can run around for hours. Instead, the individual sections are divided into instances. Although these become larger and larger as the game progresses, fans should prepare themselves for extensive backtracking. It may look great, but by the halfway point of the game at the latest, things can become repetitive.
Varied scenery
Does that make it boring? Absolutely not. The battles play smoothly thanks to smart combat combos, the story is impressively staged and there is always something to discover somewhere. The individual areas vary from imposing cities to green meadows and gloomy catacombs. If you want to see everything, you can easily plan 80 entertaining hours of gameplay.
Technically and visually, the game doesn't show any weaknesses, and the natural landscapes are particularly beautiful in the outskirts. The action scenes are a real blast. "The Veilguard" will also be one of the first games to benefit from the improved technology of the PS5 Pro. There is also an excellent multilingual soundtrack and a number of accessibility settings, from the difficulty level to audiovisual aids. The overall package is just right. "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" is a game that fans won't be letting go of any time soon.
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Conclusion
Well done, Bioware. The term blockbuster was invented for games like "Dragon Age: The Veilguard". It is big, extensive and spectacular. If you want to, you can spend several hours fighting monsters in a beautiful fantasy landscape and delve deep into the history of this world and its inhabitants in the side quests. Exciting, fluid to play and varied.
The action scenes sometimes make you forget that Bioware isn't trying anything new and is just showing more of the same. "The Veilguard" is not subtle or original, but simply a breathless role-playing spectacle. Not as cumbersome as "Dragon's Dogma 2" and not quite as sprawling as the famous "Baldur's Gate 3". If you simply want to experience a great and exciting role-playing adventure, you won't be able to get past "Dragon Age: The Veilguard" this year.
"Dragon Age: The Veilguard" will be released on October 31 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series. It costs around 60 – 80 euros. USK 16+. We played the PS5 version for our test.
(mki)
