Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is at War With Itself

ign.com:

There’s a line in our Dragon Age: The Veilguard review that has stuck with me throughout my own playthrough: “It’s hilarious that no one ever says the word ‘Veilguard’ out loud across the 100 hours I played of this dialogue-packed campaign, exposing a last-minute marketing pivot for what it was.”

While I’m nowhere near the 100-hour mark myself, that line is so far proving true – not a single character has mentioned The Veilguard. My team of D&D archetype oddballs may collectively be known as such in all the marketing, online articles, and the physical box itself, but within the world of Thedas they’re none the wiser. Imagine Tony Stark and Steve Rogers having no idea the world called them Avengers… that’s how odd it is.

A name that Rook, Varric, Harding, and the rest of the gang definitely do know, though, is Dread Wolf – the mythical moniker of former Dragon Age companion, Solas, as well as the original subtitle for this fourth entry in BioWare’s fantasy series. While ultimately it really doesn’t matter what this game is called, the more I play The Veilguard, the more it feels like it’s awkwardly in conflict with itself, torn into pieces that reflect two very different intentions – one a sequel to a decade-old RPG, the other a fresh beginning with no ties to what came before.

Many aspects of The Veilguard point to it being something of a soft reset or even spin-off from the main Dragon Age series. Set in the northern Tevinter region, it leaves behind the saga’s original southern home of Ferelden, along with all its characters and politics. Dragon Age has always started afresh with each new game as, unlike Mass Effect, there’s no persistent protagonist across the series as each instalment tells a brand new story. The shift to Tevinter is perfectly in keeping with Dragon Age’s history, then, but The Veilguard isn’t a typical Dragon Age game. It is its first direct sequel – a continuation of Dragon Age: Inquisition, which dedicated its post-credits and Trespasser DLC