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Is Dragon Age: The Veilguard worth playing?
Yes, especially if you already care about Thedas, enjoy party-based character stories or like experimenting with combat builds. In TechRadar’s PS5 review, Cat Bussell praised the kinetic fights, detailed character creator, scenic regions and companion writing, along with satisfying answers to mysteries built up across the series. The main reservation is that The Veilguard does not consistently reach the narrative heights of earlier Dragon Age games.
Bussell’s assessment followed more than 35 hours spent on the campaign, companion and side quests, trying all three classes and replaying set pieces to examine choice outcomes. That is the reviewer’s time with the game, not a claim about how long a typical player will take. The PS5 version mostly ran smoothly in that review, though menus occasionally lagged in response.
Who is most likely to enjoy it?
- Returning fans: the story continues themes and plotlines from Dragon Age: Inquisition, with payoffs for people who know the series.
- Ensemble-story fans: companion quests and relationships are a major part of the appeal.
- Build-crafters: class-specific progression and combat options offer room to shape how Rook fights.
Who should think twice?
- Players wanting a self-contained fantasy story may find the returning lore and characters demanding.
- Players expecting a deep, freely explorable open world may be disappointed by the more structured regions and uneven side quests.
- Those looking for frequent, far-reaching ethical choices may find that consequential decisions are less common than they would like.
Is The Veilguard good for newcomers?
New players can follow the broad conflict, but the story is easier to understand with some familiarity with Inquisition and the wider series. Rook, a customizable protagonist, must unite companions to stop Solas and the dangerous consequences of his ritual. The plot draws on earlier events and assumes a world filled with returning characters and unfamiliar names.
#1 Best Overall
![Dragon Age: The Veilguard Standard - EA App [Online Game Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ZqXAl6P5L._SL160_.jpg)
- SAVE A BATTERED WORLD - Enter Thedas, a vibrant world of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities. The world is teetering on a knife’s edge while corrupt gods unleash havoc across the continent. Nations war and factions splinter. Who will you trust? From the Arlathan Forest to the back alleys of Minrathous, this is a broken world. Your actions will affect the fate of Thedas forever.
- Unite THE VEILGUARD - Unite a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories. These are characters to befriend, and even fall in love with. Among them, an assassin, a necromancer, a detective, each and all bringing their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. You are never alone, decide who to take into battle and together face down demons, dragons and corrupt gods.
- BECOME THE LEADER OTHERS BELIEVE IN - Select from different races and combat classes, customize your appearance, choose your character’s backstory and begin your journey as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. The choice is yours. Brace yourself, there are tough decisions to be made, allies to inspire, and a fight that needs every sword, staff and bow you can muster.
- Dramatic Single-Player Campaign - When corrupt Elven Gods threaten Thedas, lead the charge to save it. Rook isn’t afraid of a fight, no matter the odds. No matter the cost.
- Vibrant And Diverse Environments - Enter a vivid fantasy world and experience imaginative new locations as well as some you’ve heard of, but never seen. Larger Than Life Foes - Battle darkspawn, demons from beyond the Veil, dragons that rule the skies, and unique enemies as you advance your quest and fight for Thedas’s future
Varric, Solas and Thedas are among the references that may carry more weight for a returning player. A high volume of proper nouns and codex text can also make the lore-heavy introduction feel dense. That does not make the game impossible to enjoy for someone new; it means newcomers may understand the immediate stakes more readily than the history behind them.
How is the combat in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?
Combat is real-time and action-focused: Rook attacks, dodges, parries and uses abilities while two chosen companions fight alongside them. Warrior, Mage and Rogue each have their own class progression, and the review found meaningful scope for customizing builds.
Rank #2
![Dragon Age: The Veilguard Deluxe - EA App [Online Game Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51zBindg8NL._SL160_.jpg)
- SAVE A BATTERED WORLD - Enter Thedas, a vibrant world of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities. The world is teetering on a knife’s edge while corrupt gods unleash havoc across the continent. Nations war and factions splinter. Who will you trust? From the Arlathan Forest to the back alleys of Minrathous, this is a broken world. Your actions will affect the fate of Thedas forever.
- Unite THE VEILGUARD - Unite a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories. These are characters to befriend, and even fall in love with. Among them, an assassin, a necromancer, a detective, each and all bringing their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. You are never alone, decide who to take into battle and together face down demons, dragons and corrupt gods.
- BECOME THE LEADER OTHERS BELIEVE IN - Select from different races and combat classes, customize your appearance, choose your character’s backstory and begin your journey as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. The choice is yours. Brace yourself, there are tough decisions to be made, allies to inspire, and a fight that needs every sword, staff and bow you can muster.
- Dramatic Single-Player Campaign - When corrupt Elven Gods threaten Thedas, lead the charge to save it. Rook isn’t afraid of a fight, no matter the odds. No matter the cost.
- Vibrant And Diverse Environments - Enter a vivid fantasy world and experience imaginative new locations as well as some you’ve heard of, but never seen. Larger Than Life Foes - Battle darkspawn, demons from beyond the Veil, dragons that rule the skies, and unique enemies as you advance your quest and fight for Thedas’s future
A button-activated tactical pause lets players select powerful abilities or direct followers without turning the whole combat system into a permanently turn-based one. Cooldown skills can work together with status effects, while a successful parry can stun an enemy and trigger benefits that depend on Rook’s build. Players can tune difficulty settings such as parry timing and enemy health.
Why the fights stand out
The combination of quick movement, timed defense, ability cooldowns and companion commands gives encounters a lively rhythm. Players who like actively controlling their character and adjusting a build have more to engage with than players looking for a purely tactical party RPG. BioWare’s class and gameplay introduction describes the three classes and the customizable ability wheel that pauses action and issues follower commands.
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Are the companions and side quests good?
The companions are one of the game’s clearest strengths. EA lists seven companions, and the story gives them substantial personal arcs; Bussell singled out Taash’s story in particular. EA says companion and faction side content can affect later stages of the game, while the review’s quality judgment is more mixed: those quests vary in how rushed they feel and how much agency they offer.
That distinction matters. A quest can influence later events without giving the player a particularly rich decision or a consistently developed story along the way. The supporting cast is more reliably appealing than every piece of optional content surrounding it.
Rank #4
- Dragon age the veilguard action rpg: Immersive action role-playing game where you become the leader others believe in as Rook
- Save a battered world: Explore Thedas, a vibrant realm of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities teetering on the edge as corrupt gods unleash havoc
- Unite the veilguard: Recruit a team of seven companions with rich backstories, including an assassin, a necromancer and a detective, each bringing unique abilities to the fight
- Customize your hero: Select from different races and combat classes, customize your appearance and choose your character's backstory as Dragon Age's newest hero
- International region free version: Region free PS5 disc plays on all systems, imported international packaging may differ in age rating and labeling, DLC may require correct region
How much do choices matter?
Some major story moments have meaningful outcomes, and the review revisited set pieces to assess how choices played out. But ethical decisions with major consequences are not as frequent as the reviewer would have liked. The game offers moments of agency without making every quest or conversation a branching decision point.
Is The Veilguard open world?
No: it is not a full open-world RPG. The game offers scenic regions to explore, but its structure is more focused than a continuous world packed with optional activities. That helps keep attention on the central campaign and companion stories, but it also means side content can feel limited for players expecting broad freedom and consistently substantial quests.
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Best Value
- SAVE A BATTERED WORLD - Enter Thedas, a vibrant world of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities. The world is teetering on a knife’s edge while corrupt gods unleash havoc across the continent. Nations war and factions splinter. Who will you trust? From the Arlathan Forest to the back alleys of Minrathous, this is a broken world. Your actions will affect the fate of Thedas forever.
- Unite THE VEILGUARD - Unite a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories. These are characters to befriend, and even fall in love with. Among them, an assassin, a necromancer, a detective, each and all bringing their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. You are never alone, decide who to take into battle and together face down demons, dragons and corrupt gods.
- BECOME THE LEADER OTHERS BELIEVE IN - Select from different races and combat classes, customize your appearance, choose your character’s backstory and begin your journey as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. The choice is yours. Brace yourself, there are tough decisions to be made, allies to inspire, and a fight that needs every sword, staff and bow you can muster.
Which platforms is Dragon Age: The Veilguard on?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard launched globally on October 31, 2024, for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC through Steam, the EA app and the Epic Games Store. TechRadar’s review covered the PS5 version, so its performance observations apply to that reviewed edition rather than establishing how every platform performs. EA’s launch announcement lists the release platforms and date.
For accessibility, the review reports color-vision filters, subtitle controls, adjustable visual effects, camera and aiming sensitivity settings, and tunable combat difficulty.
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