Dragon Age The Veilguard is a massive new world full of thoughtful stories, epic battles, and beautiful visuals to accompany them. This round of companions is among the most interesting, thoughtful, and downright charismatic, and adventuring with them made for an unforgettable journey.

CGMagazine - Dayna Eileen - 10 / 10

From style to story and everything in between, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is everything I wanted from this entry in the Dragon Age universe.

COGconnected - Mark Steighner - 90 / 100

Polished and confident, Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like a return to form for the developer. Dragon Age: The Veilguard gives us a beautiful world to experience, interesting allies to explore it with, and action that grows increasingly more nuanced throughout.

Checkpoint Gaming - Luke Mitchell - 10 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumphant return to form for one of gaming's most loved developers. It's an epic and grandiose RPG adventure, interwoven with intimate, powerful stories about its cast of endearing and quirky companions. It has a truly stunning world to explore, with hidden secrets, alluring side quests and a literal treasure trove of lore to comb through. Its tight, in-depth combat systems and breadth of accessibility options deliver a highly personalised experience. But beyond the adventure itself, it's another shining testament to diversity and inclusivity, polished to near perfection in its presentation. Put simply, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is Dragon Age at its most captivating, a truly generational adventure that is as heartfelt as it is thrilling.

Cinelinx - Becky O'Brien - 5 / 5

After ten long years, the world of Dragon Age is back in the best way possible. Longtime fans of the Dragon Age series will find so much to love in Dragon Age: The Veilguard as this is the best visit to the land of Thedas yet. An easy contender for Game of The Year, highly recommended for playing as soon as possible.

Dexerto - Ethan Dean - 4 / 5

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a stellar achievement that ends a decade-long dry spell. It tells one of the best stories in the series fuelled by some of its most memorable characters. It’s not a flawless journey but the minor imperfections don’t detract from one of 2024’s best RPGs.

Digital Trends - Tomas Franzese - 3.5 / 5

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a return to form for this once-lauded RPG studio that should satiate Dragon Age fans quite well after a decade-long wait. But returning to form and perfecting form are not the same thing. BioWare has plenty of room to regrow as it gets back on track making the kinds of games RPG fans want them to create.

Digitec Magazine - Philipp Rüegg - German - 4 / 5

With “Dragon Age: The Veilguard”, Bioware delivers a gripping action role-playing game that is aimed at the masses but doesn't forget its roots.

DualShockers - Callum Marshall - 8.5 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a compelling new entry in the series, taking the franchise in a new direction with more RPG-lite ideals. This decision will alienate Die Hard fans but will undoubtedly win favor with new fans willing to embrace the series.

GRYOnline.pl - Anna Garas - Polish - 7 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the best game BioWare has made since Mass Effect 3. It is crafted much better in terms of story and gameplay than DA: Inquisition (I find this game mediorce at best), and is superior to Andromeda in every way. But the things that used to dazzle me right now are „only” good. There's more to accomplish in the genre than that.

Game Rant - Joshua Duckworth - 10 / 10

After 100 hours and 3 playthroughs of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I feel justified in my ten-year wait and satisfied by the results.

Gamepressure - Krzysztof Lewandowski - 6 / 10

This isn’t the end of Dragon Age that I was expecting - in this respect, the game must be rated low. However, as an action RPG with flair and a beautiful fairy-tale world, it turns out to be decent, and sometimes even more than that.

Gamer Guides - Tom Hopkins - 92 / 100

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a phenomenal return to form for BioWare. The story is well-paced and the cast of characters are the trademark BioWare staple of fully-realised, but it’s in the newly action-oriented combat where things truly shine.

GamingTrend - Ron Burke - 85 / 100

The writing can be overwrought, written by committee, and occasionally forced, but it's also a major step forward for a team that needs the win. Dragon Age: The Veilguard brings us compelling characters, excellent combat, and a world worth saving.

Guardian - Malindy Hetfeld - 3 / 5

There is lots to do in this huge and beautiful fantasy world, but inconsistent writing and muted combat dull its blade

IGN - Leana Hafer - 9 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard refreshes and reinvigorates a storied series that stumbled through its middle years, and leaves no doubt that it deserves its place in the RPG pantheon. The next Mass Effect is going to have a very tough act to follow, which is not something I ever imagined I'd be saying before I got swept away on this adventure.

Push Square - Robert Ramsey - 8 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn't quite BioWare back to its absolute best, but it is the most cohesive and emotionally engaging RPG that the studio has delivered since Mass Effect 3. Its shift to crunchy action combat is an improvement over Inquisition's middle-of-the-road approach, and although the game feels a little light on meaningful player choice, the storytelling pulls no punches when it actually matters. This is a gorgeous and gripping adventure, backed by a cast of endearing heroes and deliciously devious villains.

Quest Daily - Julian Price - 9.5 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a fantasy epic that showcases the best voice acting and overall polish of any game I’ve played this year.

SECTOR.sk - Táňa Matúšová - Slovak - 7 / 10

The latest chapter in the Dragon Age saga successfully combines the best of semi-open-world gameplay with a balanced and engaging combat system. While Dragon Age: The Veilguard falls short of previous installments in areas like side quests, story choices, and dialogue depth, it excels in combat quality, world design, and audiovisual presentation, delivering some of the most epic battles in the series. This game is a roller-coaster experience; at its peak, it entertained and amazed me, yet at times, its lack of depth dampened my enthusiasm.

Stevivor - Hamish Lindsay - 8.5 / 10

Dragon Age The Veilguard is the epitome of 'better than the sum of its. It’s been so long since I experienced this level of joy in a long-form RPG; I have a compulsion to keep playing and finish one more quest.

TechRaptor - Erren Van Duine - 9.5 / 10

Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers an incredible experience built on fluid combat, deep lore and characters, and player choice. All of this is wrapped up in a polished package that is a must play for Dragon Age fans and RPG fans alike.

TheGamer - Stacey Henley - 4 / 5

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a Dragon Age game like no other, and that alone will put some people off. But it brings with it the traditions of excellent character writing, strong world building through narrative quests, and offers the most exciting combat the series has ever seen. There is a stronger version of The Veilguard in here, one with more Solas and companion quests that find a more natural ending, but the one we’ve got is still a worthy successor to Dragon Age: Inquisition, and is a much needed return to form for BioWare.

VGC - Jordan Middler - 3 / 5

Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like BioWare playing it too safe. While it nails what it does best, like the excellent cast and interpersonal relationships, from a gameplay perspective it feels out of date.

XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 10 / 10

https://xboxera.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=98913&action=edit&calypsoify=1

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[–] PunchingWood@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I'm still gonna wait and see, I think user reviews might turn out very mixed in contrast to the critics reviews. Not that I value user reviews all that much, but I'd like to see a bit more from the game before deciding anyway.

What really put me off from this game was the insanely boring dragon fight they recently showed in the PlayStation presentation, it dragged out so long too and nothing really interesting seemed to happen, it felt like a really outdated kind of boss battle, especially after games like God of War and Horizon. It just did not look that fun honestly, but perhaps story and other parts of the game are more entertaining.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 23 points 1 week ago (2 children)

"professional" reviewers never tell how the game runs or any problems games always have these days when they're released. They're basically useless.

[–] misk@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 week ago

I wait for a Digital Foundry tech review before making a purchase on AAA game these days. They tackle what’s quantifiable and add their thoughts on the game in general which is about as much as I need from a professional outlet.

[–] eRac@lemmings.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Part of the issue is that modern games are usually getting fixes right up to release. Pre-release reviews tend to focus on things that aren't likely to ever change significantly, like design and writing.

It would be nice if they gave a summary of issues they saw with a disclaimer that they may get fixed instead of omitting that information entirely.

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[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Looks like Skill Up on YouTube did not recommend -- I typically trust his takes over review outlets

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Watching Skill Up's review now, and oof. That art style... that writing. Don't know who they made this game for, but it's definitely not me.

[–] elgordino@fedia.io 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah I just watched Skill Up’s video and then was surprised to see so many positive reviews on this roundup. What gives? Are folks so keen for more Dragon Age that they turn a blind eye to such deficiencies? Or is it just a difference of opinion.

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I don't get it either. What I've seen doesn't look anywhere close to an 8+ out of ten rating. Will be interesting to see the player ratings on this one...

[–] shani66@ani.social 2 points 1 week ago

Access journalism. If you agree to say whatever EA wants EA gives you first access to the next game, which increases your views. Idk the exact process for this game, but big publishers often bribe these reviewers with expensive vacations too (it's why they fly journalists out to demo the game instead of sending the outlets a digital demo), Bethesda did it with 76 for instance.

[–] PunchingWood@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Just watched the first part of his video. It seems to line up perfectly with what I was expecting based on the gameplay we were shown so far, it's just outright boring. The amount of criticism and the footage in his review does not line up with the high ratings this game got.

Looks llike it's gonna be a skip. Shame, because visually it looks nice to me and I kinda dig the art style (except for the Qunari), but if story, animations and gameplay are bad and boring it's gonna be a no from me.

[–] CountVon@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

I don't dislike that art style in general, but to my mind it seems like a poor fit for a Dragon Age game. I guess they're pivotinf strongly away from the series dark and gritty roots, which is unfortunate because I think that was one of its strong points.

[–] Nima@leminal.space 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

weird. Mortismal Gaming rated it extremely highly. and even went so far as to say its his game of the year hands down.

guess people should just form their own opinions.

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[–] drasglaf@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I've found this in the wild, it's quite worrying, but not surprising, unfortunately.

[–] SlothMama@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

This comes from review guides, so yeah, they are literally sent by the company with a set of talking points and things to mention.

[–] Eccitaze@yiffit.net 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

This is gonna turn into the gamer version of "this is extremely dangerous to our democracy" isn't it

[–] EyesInTheBoat@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think most of us are just tired of obvious paid for reviews with built in talking points like that. I'd like to be able to remotely trust anyone without watching a one hour unedited let's play video but that just means you'll accidentally buy Andromeda. I hope Veilguard is playable but signs are not good when bioware is "returning to form" x100

[–] drasglaf@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

That's exactly what came to my mind when I saw the image haha

[–] zephorah@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

Oh hell no. Not until the first two patches are rolled out.

[–] hal_5700X@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

RIP Bioware.

EDIT 1 Also the new narrative just dropped. It's weird how all of them are saying the same thing.

EDIT 2 What the fuck is happening with the Qunari. Origins, 2, Inquisition, and finally Veilguard. This is just sad. In the first 3 games. They were cool, but now they look like shit cosplay.

[–] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The qunari design is the weirdest thing to me. They Bioware spent so much effort solidifying who the Qunari are in 2 and had a great design to reflect that. Then in 3 I feel like they maintained and perhaps even improved the design, but kinda watered down the characterization of the culture. Perhaps I'm misremembering and the group of Qunari present in 2 are a more extreme sect than they are representative of the people as a whole. Now in Veilguard they seem to have really softened everything about the race. I'm just confused about the design direction which is disappointing because I really enjoy the qunari of DA2.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

It’s weird how all of them are saying the same thing.

"Return to form" is just one of those reviewer-isms like "mixed bag" and "fans of the genre". You've probably seen the words "return to form" in dozens of trailers over the years that put the review quotes in their sizzle reels.

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[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

These are so reassuring, dear god I hope it's good. I really really feel like this is the make it or break it for Bioware. If Veilguard does well we could see a new era of Bioware games, refreshing Dragon Age and Mass Effect.

Or we'll see EA finally shutter it.

[–] shani66@ani.social 2 points 1 week ago

A new era of bad games. Look at Pokemon, those games are almost always bad now, but because it's already popular it'll never improve or go away.

[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

EA's been manipulating the review scores, and can still only muster their current metacritic rating. I'm interested to see what the audience scores look like later this week.

Fextralife's take on EA review manipulation

[–] Defaced@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

No idea why there are so many people who want this game to fail. Bioware has realistically made two bad games, Andromeda and Anthem, and for me Andromeda has the best gameplay in the entire series, not necessarily the best story and anthem is just not great. It's crazy the amount of bioware hate that exists that's completely unwarranted.

[–] BenFranklinsDick@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Dragon Age 2 is a bad game

[–] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

DA2 has several bad qualities. I personally would not generalize it as a bad game. I am willing to concede that this is an unpopular opinion, however.

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree. Gameplay from 2 to origins is shameful.

It's story is another matter. Have come around on that in recent years.

[–] shani66@ani.social 2 points 1 week ago

I feel like the story has good ideas but ultimately fails, personally. I like the idea of struggling against inevitable tragedy, but when the cause of such tragedy was against always immediately in arms reach of you and caused by a single person it falls flat.

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[–] Shadywack@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (4 children)

It depends on how you frame it. I don't see it as "hate" as I don't hate Bioware, but objectively speaking, the work speaks for itself. Hyperbole such as disaster, catastrophe, etc are embellishments, but to say the game isn't bad or just so-so isn't a scathing criticism.

Anthem was treated the way it was due to ME3 and the narrative choices, for better or worse. People wanted to tell off Casey Hudson, and the game suffered unfairly. Granted it wasn't a good game, it wasn't as terrible as it was made out to be either.

Now on Andromeda, however, it was fairly criticized. The gameplay was fun and engaging, but the narrative and storytelling were given their fair treatment. That stuff was just bad, and the developer responses didn't help either. The pathetic rants amounted to "I put mah heart and souuuulll into it", and just because people worked really hard on something, doesn't mean it was a good thing. People worked really hard in the sewers of London to get rid of fatbergs, but in the end all they achieved was moving shit around, and that's more dignified than the trash we got in Andromeda's writing and character animations.

Looking at the current marketing situation and the "Bioware hate" as you refer to it, I really think there's more EA hate at this point. EA is blatantly manipulating the review scores by means of review embargos and selectively cherry picking only favorable review outlets, and in some cases we are even spotting reused catchphrases that indicate signs of coaching by EA to say positive things about the game. They do this in light of the consumer sentiment about preorders "Not touching this or preordering, I want reviews first" is a common sentiment amongst their video comments telling their marketing engagement experts to use dirty tricks like review manipulation.

I'd honestly love for Veilguard to be fantastic, but the layoffs and staff turnover tell me they didn't value their developers, didn't value the product, and don't value the art or anything really beyond making some flashy flim-flam with marketable gimmicks. The reviews I've read mention that the characters in the game must definitely know what Tiktok is, due to the cringy dialogue, and that's a review that gave it a favorable score.

Just wait until the objective reviews hit and this game is widely panned. That will draw the line between "hate" and "oh, this is actually shitty", and make things especially clear.

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[–] simple@lemm.ee 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

General consensus seems positive. I'm excited to pick it up on release, it's been ages since Bioware did something good.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Guardian review is more critical than others. I've never known they even review video games. Are they always like this?

[–] simple@lemm.ee 14 points 1 week ago

Their reviews are usually not that critical. That said, I don't think they're really a great source for gaming journalism anyways.

If you want to see a very critical review of the game, check out Skill Up's review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF-Kd2BBpx8

[–] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago

Initial reviews seem remarkably positive given what we saw in the first gameplay reveal a few months ago. My impression at the time was that about half the voice actors sounded like they hadn't been given enough context about the scenario and some of the cutscenes had questionable direction, which were bad signs for a curated ten minute slice. I still think it's ultimately not for me—I don't really want action combat in my Dragon Age—but I'm glad people are enjoying it.

[–] Suavevillain@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I always need a mix of user reviews and professional ones because Cyberpunk at launch there was a ton of capping for good it was lol.

[–] TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I WANT TO BELIVEEEEEEE.

SOLAS YOU FUCK HOW DARE YOU END ON A CLIFFHANGER.

Apologies my inquisition lady elf character took control of the comment.

Really want it to be good. I don't care if it's biowares corpse telling the story just let it be worthwhile.

Hesitantly getting hopes up after seeing these reviews

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

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