A former Dragon Age executive producer has called The Veilguard "the best Dragon Age game that I've ever played."
The latest issue of Game Informer features an interview with former Dragon Age series executive producer and BioWare veteran Mark Darrah, who departed the studio in 2020 before returning last year as a consultant on Dragon Age: The Veilguard. "What I see from Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap," Darrah says.
This "gap" is apparently a gulf between Dragon Age's storytelling and combat. "Uncharitably, previous Dragon Age games got to the realm of 'combat wasn't too bad.' In this game, the combat's actually fun, but it does keep that thread that's always been there. You have the focus on Rook, on your character, but you still have that control and character coming into the combat experience from other people in the party," Darrah continues.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard changes up combat big-time by ditching the traditional four-character party for the protagonist, Rook, and two allies at a time. We saw this in the Veilguard gameplay reveal earlier this month - Rook was accompanied in combat by series staple Varric and newcomer mage Neve Gallus, all packaged in a brand-new real-time combat model.
"This is really the best Dragon Age game that I've ever played. This is the one where we get back to our roots of character-driven storytelling, have really fun combat, and aren't making compromises," the Veilguard consultant tells Game Informer. That's certainly some lofty praise for someone who's been around for many of Dragon Age's highs.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally launches later this year across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For our impressions of BioWare's new RPG from over an hour spent with it, read our full Dragon Age: The Veilguard preview from Summer Game Fest 2024.
