Larian Studios director of publishing Michael Douse has praised ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ for being the “first ‘Dragon Age’ game that truly knows what it wants to be”.
Larian Studios director of publishing Michael Douse has praised Dragon Age: The Veilguard for being the 'first Dragon Age game that truly knows what it wants to be'
The developer had worked on the studio’s critically-acclaimed role-playing-game (RPG) ‘Baldur’s Gate III’, and has now heaped praise onto BioWare’s efforts in its upcoming title, calling it “a well-made, character driven, binge-worthy Netflix series”.
On X, Douse gushed: “I’ve been playing ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ in complete secrecy (behind my backpack at the office in front of a giant window, in the kitchen). From me, you may be wondering, ‘Is this a game compatible with my experience during ‘BG3’?’ So I’ll tackle it from that perspective.
“The answer is yes. It is to a heavy, nine season long show what a well-made, character driven, binge-worthy Netflix series is.”
The developer likened ‘The Veilguard’s “excellent” combat system to those seen in Nintendo’s ‘Xenoblade Chronicles’ series, and Avalanche Software’s ‘Harry Potter’ RPG ‘Hogwarts Legacy’.
He continued: “It has a good sense of propulsion and forward momentum. The combat system is honestly brilliant (to me, a mix of ‘Xenoblade’ ‘Hogwarts’ which is giga-brain genius). It knows when it needs a tentpole narrative moment, and it knows when to let you toy around with your class and exploit some of its stronger elements.
“More important, to me, it feels like the first ‘Dragon Age’ game that truly knows what it wants to be.”
Douse concluded he was “extremely happy” that BioWare had proven themselves with ‘The Veilguard’, and added he hoped the title would help the studio “stick around” as the industry continues to navigate financial troubles.
He penned: “In short, if you want some character driven romping with a strong combat system in a universe you know, love, or have heard of, it is much better than the average action game, and much less heavy than the gargantuan RPGs that may intimidate at times. In a word, it’s fun!
“To me, I’m extremely happy BioWare gets to stick around - presumably - in these uncertain (because of moronic corporate greed) times. An existential game, and a fun one at that.”
‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ releases on 31 October on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.