The next one Dragon Age: Guard of the Veil is not only a return for BioWare's fantasy RPG series, but also something of a return to form for its developers. Released ten years after the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Guardian of the Veil (formerly known as Scary Wolf) took a while to find itself during its lengthy development, which unfortunately saw key BioWare personnel leave the company. During this time, BioWare also released Hymna cooperative multiplayer title that struggled to find an audience and distanced the studio from its single-player roots.
But now, The Guardian of the Veil It's shaping up to be a modernized version of a classic BioWare RPG, building on the developer's rich narrative lore and cast of characters, all of which will inform players' decision-making as they explore the political and social aspects of the Dragon Age world during dark times.
As creative director Jonathan Epler explained to Game Developer in a recent interview after an extensive hands-on with the game, taking time away from Dragon Age gave the studio a chance to learn from its mistakes (and successes) of the past decade. He said the team took inspiration from previous critically acclaimed DLC releases and that he has an aversion to the phrase “BioWare Magic.”
Revisiting Dragon Age with a Renewed Focus
Set years later Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Guardian of the Veil sees the world of Dragon Age facing an apocalypse. Playing as Rook, a new player-created protagonist, you assemble a team of new and veteran heroes to confront the evil gods causing mass chaos and decide the fate of Thedas in its darkest hour. This all happens after a ritual performed by former alley-oop Solas goes awry, shattering the barrier between the mortal realm and the Veil.
That sense of impending doom in the midst of an apocalyptic event is at the forefront Dragon Age: Guard of the Veiland right from the start, we fight in the capital city, Minrathous, which is overrun by demons. It’s a cold, loud opening that welcomes newcomers to the series and chaotically greets returning players. The prologue serves as an effective overture to what’s to come, as well as a showcase for the game’s pivot to a more mission-driven structure that blends faster, more dynamic action with character-driven storytelling.
Image via BioWare/Electronic Arts.
According to Epler, this significant shift to a more tightly designed RPG without the open world expansion was not just a response to player feedback following Inquisition, but it also helped the game focus more on its characters.
“It's interesting, for a BioWare game we usually start with the world and story design and go from there, but for Dragon Age: Guard of the VeilWe knew from the beginning that we wanted this game to be about everything companions and your relationship with them,” Epler said. “Most importantly, we wanted to make sure that each character had a key role to play in the main story—we never wanted to have a companion who had one thing going for them in the group and who was just there for the rest of the game.”
“After bringing the Dragon Age series to an open-world style format in Inquisitionyou would be forgiven for thinking The Guardian of the Veil would take place in an even larger landscape. In truth, it actually goes in a different direction, leaning more towards the kind of experience that seems closer to Mass Effect 3 OR Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic—a more contained, mission-oriented experience that will hopefully be less chore-filled.”
Less waste, more purpose
After the opening sequence, Rook and his crew find themselves in a safehouse in the Veil known as the Lighthouse, an evolving base of operations where the group can coordinate and plan their next move. It also serves as a hub for traveling to different cities and areas of Thedas. The Lighthouse felt like a familiar headquarters, similar to Mass Effect's Normandy, but with more incentive to explore inside.
True to the developer's claims, The Guardian of the Veil It effectively presents an engaging party and sense of camaraderie, and you can quickly assemble a suitable crew.
As you enter the various explorable spaces, this is where the more guided and mission-focused structure of the game becomes clear. Instead of the Inquisitionthe open and sprawling areas, The Guardian of the VeilThe different regions present a more structured and focused space to explore, similar to areas in games like God of War: Ragnarok OR Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. While these areas initially seemed smaller in scope, and they certainly are compared to Inquisitionespecially its infamous hinterland area—open up throughout the story as Rook gains new abilities and learns of new threats.
Speaking to Epler, the choice to move away from the open-world experience and return to a more traditional story-driven progression was to focus on the game's cast of characters and their growth, while avoiding a sense of aimlessness and weariness that was present within InquisitionEpler specifically mentioned the response to how players interacted with The Hinterlands, which many players had a hard time getting past.
“The hinterland area from Inquisition “It was something we thought about a lot after release,” Epler said, “We realized that we needed a stronger narrative grip to get you out of that zone because, at that time, we wanted players to experience the space the way they wanted to in Inquisitionbut it ended up making it easy to lose track of that game's main story arc and feel a bit aimless. So, for The Guardian of the VeilWe wanted to make sure that no matter where you go and what you do, there's always this looming threat of the old gods or the impending end of the world.”
“We made sure that the content of the game was much more focused and anchored to that narrative hook.”
Image via BioWare/Electronic Arts.
He explained that the team was very inspired by the beloved downloadable expansions of previous games such as Intruder from Dragon Age Inquisition AND The Citadel from Mass Effect 3“I think a lot of the lessons we've learned have helped us build The Guardian of the Veil Inquisition era Intruder DLC,” the creative director said. “The full game is a big, big adventure and a big open world, and we got a lot of feedback about how the open world made the story and the narrative feel diluted, and like they weren’t as important. Intruder for us it was to focus more on the story, the villain, and build the experience around that more concise and contained story.”
“BioWare has always focused on its cast of characters and its most compelling story, and we've learned from that Intruderalong with Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC, which was fine to focus our attention a little bit on the open world structure and fit the story, side content and characters into a more complete experience.”
Will BioWare really go back to its roots?
After playing Dragon Age: Guard of the Veil I was really impressed with the player companions, something BioWare has long specialized in. A standout character was Lucanis, an assassin who specializes in hunting down rogue mages who is also haunted by an evil spirit only he can see. The interactions with Lucanis and the way he plays with player choices and his dark passenger’s reactions felt a lot like classic BioWare character growth, nuanced but with a wonderful sense of layered gravitas.
Image via BioWare/Electronic Arts.
Epler recognized that The Guardian of the Veil It took BioWare a while to find its vision during development, especially since it was in an awkward transition period following the 2014 release of Inquisition.
“The phrase ‘Bioware Magic’ is something I kind of have an allergic reaction to at this point, but for us when it comes to making this game, it was all about the characters in this world and building that world,” Epler said. “It’s what we’re good at, and it’s also a reflection of the people who made this game. This team has put together something truly incredible, and I think people are going to see that enthusiasm and love that’s been poured into every detail of this game.”
For now, Dragon Age: Guard of the Veil presents an emotional return to the series that’s more of a punchy, character-driven take on a fantasy epic. For the creative director, the game represents a big moment for BioWare and its focus on returning to its roots and bringing the studio back to what it does best.
“Honestly, the big lesson we learned while making this game is that we just have to focus on what we were created to do. BioWare has always been about making strong, character-driven RPGs. We definitely tried other things while making this game, but once we really focused on what BioWare is, that's when the game really came together for us. I want this game to feel like you're coming home to the Dragon Age universe and stepping foot into Thedas again.”