revive a party member

This game wasn’t what I expected it to be. I followed the development of Dragon Age 4 very closely so waiting for this game was already a rollercoaster of emotions. From Project Joplin to Morrison, senior devs quitting, Jordan’s Titanic metaphor to the layoffs. After everything the project went through, I knew this was not going to be exactly a cohesive game.

The game is undeniably gorgeous but it also values aesthetics over substance. When it comes to the themes, it flounders. It feels like the game lacks focus and as a result it does not seem to commit to anything in particular. Not to roleplaying, not to its themes, the pre-established lore, characters, or relationships. I’d have loved to see an exploration of morality, guilt, and grief, all which have been heavily present in previous games. Since the Treviso/Minrathous choice, I kept expecting to face more of these impossible choices which only appeared during the last 5 or so hours of the game. Twisting the knife and making the game choice-heavy would’ve driven home the burden of being a leader during a world-ending event.

I think most of my criticisms towards the game can be summarized to “lack of nuance and depth.” The game holds your hand and tells you how to feel instead of trusting its narrative to deliver and its audience to find meaning. A lot of the previous complexity is removed, especially relating to Solas, his plan, and his motives. Any mention of his people, the elven spies, and the Dalish that sided with him have been removed, thus flattening the conflict. Villains are villains and they’re not allowed to be anything else. And based on the post-credits scene, this is a deliberate, rather sanitized direction they’re going with.

Now, I do think everything I mentioned before is related to the changes in development and time constraints. Dragon Age 4 (Code name: Joplin) was first conceptualized 10 years ago but Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Code name: Morrison) was not created until 3 and a half years ago. Of course, that still does not exempt the game from criticism and it has received its fair share of it. To me the most frustrating part is seeing what the game could’ve been. But I am extremely happy that there is a game at all since at some points it wasn’t looking too good.

Despite the many faults I found in the game, I still found it enjoyable. It is a Dragon Age game to its core and in true Dragon Age fashion it made me cry, laugh, and cringe. I will be drawing and writing fics as always, I did love the companions!