I've been less than convinced by what EA and BioWare have shown of Dragon Age: The Veilguard so far. Its debut trailer put far too much stock in me investing in characters I knew nothing about. The more recent story trailer was definitely an improvement, but I still found the game's choice of aesthetic to be at odds with its dark fantasy setting.
Now though, EA and BioWare have provided a proper look at how the game plays, or at least a part of it, via a 10-minute combat deep-dive that really gets between the knuckles of its fantasy fisticuffs. And although I still have some reservations, it did convince me that I'd like to at least try getting hands on with BioWare's latest RPG.
The deep-dive starts with a quick tour through The Veilguard's character-building elements, which look to be pretty involved. While the video focuses on a warrior build to showcase the combat, an accompanying blog post notes that players can also experience the game as a Mage or a Rogue. Moreover, each of these classes has three specialisations, some of which sound fairly out there. The warrior, for example, can specialise as a reaper, which lets you "steal life and risk death to gain incredible unnatural abilities." Rogues, meanwhile, can specialise as a saboteur, letting them "deploy explosives and turrets that devastate enemies, then pick them off with arrows."
Each specialisation can be further refined through its respective skill tree, with you able to select three special abilities and one Ultimate ability to take into battle with you. Naturally, your choice of weapon and equipment also affects how your Rook plays, with swords, armour, and other items adding various effects to your character.
The video then proceeds to combat basics, which quickly shows The Veilguard to be the most hack 'n' slashy game in the series so far, moreso even than Dragon Age 2. An inevitable dodge-roll suggests at least a sprinkling of Souls DNA to the combat, while you also get a hefty-looking kick ability to boot enemies off ledges. That said, The Veilguard hasn't completely forgotten the series' tactical heritage. You can pause the action at any time during combat, letting you select abilities and issue orders to the two companions you bring with you.
The third part of the video focuses on crowd control, showing Rook dashing between several groups of Darkspawn in a large open area, using abilities like a shield bash and a big AoE attack called 'Titan Stomp' to batter whole clusters of foes around the map. This was the point where I began to think "Oh, this looks pretty tasty actually". The way Rook flits between fights looks incredibly fluid and stylish, although the addition of exploding barrels to the combat area is a bit naff.
The final chunk of the video shows off what BioWare refers to as 'Primers, Detonators, and Ultimates'. The former two of these are set-up/knock down abilities you can perform with your Companions. For example, Rook uses a freeze ability on a group of Darkspawn to hold them in place, while Rook's companion Lucanis conjures an "Eviscerate" spell to deal massive damage to the group. Ultimates, of course, are big flashy abilities. The example shown involves Rook calling down a barrage of spectral arrows, followed by a big ol' exploding meteorite.
By the end of the video, I was in two minds about what I'd seen. Mechanically, The Veilguard's combat looks impressive. The basic combat seems weighty and purposeful, and I'm intrigued by how much nuance there will be to individual builds. That said, with all those abilities popping off, the screen does get pretty garish, and I'm not sure the UI design helps that situation. At times, it felt like I was watching a third-person Diablo 3. Which is not necessarily a bad thing–Diablo 3 was a good game. But it's also the one players take the most issue with over its aesthetic choices. I fear the case will be the same here, however good The Veilguard's story and characters prove.
You can watch the full video above. I'm still not convinced that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will bring back the BioWare good times, but I am interested in giving some Darkspawn a battering now, whereas I wasn't before. Hopefully the upcoming character deep dives of Companions week will sell me on the other side of The Veilguard too.
