Dragon Age The Veilguard: Is BioWare rising from its ashes with one of the best RPGs of 2024? Our final verdict on video

Game news Dragon Age The Veilguard: Is BioWare rising from its ashes with one of the best RPGs of 2024? Our final verdict on video

A structure that strikes the right balance between extensive narration and compact exploration

Last September, we were lucky enough to be invited by Electronic Arts to preview the title, a hands-on experience that we had been impatiently awaiting since our first meeting with Dragon Age : The Veilguard last June. Following this test, we were able to partly identify the good ideas in this section, while highlighting a few points which left us skeptical. After more than 50 hours of play on the sequel to Dragon Age : Inquisitionwe actually had confirmation of our doubts, while the title revealed itself more to us on certain points. On the character editor side, Dragon Age : The Veilguard had nothing left to prove, it is overflowing with options allowing you to create the hero you really want to embody and even allows customization which influences the conditions of the adventure from the start that we are about to begin.

Regarding this journey to the north of Thedas, we were finally surprised by its classicism. Divided into two acts, the progression during Act 1 proves somewhat redundant, the time to recruit all the members of what will become the Guard of the Veil. Result of the races, we had a little difficulty being totally excited by the scenario, even if it was able to offer us, at times, rather epic moments, notably in the second part of the adventure. Where Dragon Age : The Veilguard is doing better, from a narrative point of view, it's about everything that revolves around this adventure, namely the very numerous secondary missions that we can carry out (region quests, factions, companions). Thanks to this, we discover more about the lore and the characters, and we realize the high quality work provided by the BioWare teams.

See Dragon Age: The Veilguard on PS5

The gameplay of Dragon Age: The Veilguard will not be unanimous, and it's not that annoying

Despite the return to a more narrative and linear formula, BioWare ultimately gives us an adventure that we enjoy exploring. As we said, the exploration of the universe and the development of the characters have a lot to do with it, which helps to mitigate the reduction in the possibilities of exploration compared to Dragon Age : Inquisition. Far from completely ignoring exploration, Dragon Age : The Veilguard invites us to search the settings of the missions and important places in the plot to recover a whole bunch of collectibles which allow us to deepen the mechanics of the game (the equipment system, filling the Codex, improving allied factions, developing the Vigie Workshop). Ultimately, the balance between linearity and exploration works well.

Where we felt a certain disappointment is in the action-oriented gameplay which takes precedence over the RPG heritage of the franchise.. Sometimes imprecise, quite heavy in its animations and somewhat lacking in depth, this one blows hot and cold. Nevertheless enjoyable at high level and equipped with an intuitive tactical wheel which adds a little strategy and tactics to clashes, the combat system can convince newbies but should frustrate a lot of early fans. In the end, there was perhaps better to do but, fortunately, this one fits well into the adventure and does not weigh so heavily in the column of negative points. Moreover, on this list, we can also mention slight ergonomic issues in the menus on consoles and interactions slightly lacking in impact on the relationships between the characters.