I'll be the first to admit it: I’m a huge Bioware fanboy. I grew up playing their games and have replayed nearly all of them multiple times. They’ve created some of my favorite games of all time, and I continue to admire their ability to craft compelling stories, characters, and worlds.
I’ve been discussing Dragon Age as a whole with a close friend lately who is still currently playing through Veilguard, and our conversation came to design decisions in Veilguard, particularly the choice to have only three decisions from Inquisition carry over while leaving most others unaddressed. It was a deliberate choice by the team, and ultimately, I think it was for the best. This has also made me think more broadly about storytelling and design.
As someone who writes and creates worlds and stories,There comes a point in writing, producing, or designing where you need to shut off that creation valve and focus on the core of your story or world.
I’ve faced this challenge in some of my own works-in-progress. At some point, you have to stop worldbuilding and start telling the story. Trying to include everything or cater to everyone often results in a diluted, less impactful experience. Many games, films, books, and shows fail because they try to walk that line without making bold decisions or narrowing their scope or never really figure out what they are about.
When I think of my favorite games, books, and movies, they’re often great because they excel at a few key things. Take The Elder Scrolls series, for example. It thrives on exploration, role-playing, and its open sandbox world. Combat and meaningful story choices aren’t its strong suits, but that doesn’t diminish its appeal because it knows where to focus.
Coming back to Veilguard, I don’t feel that it ignores the choices we made in earlier Dragon Age games. Instead, those choices are intentionally put on the back burner to wrap up Solas’s story and soft-reboot the series. Honestly, they could have ignored those choices entirely, and I would have been fine with that. However, Bioware understands how passionate their fans are and respects them enough to incorporate those elements—even if they aren’t front and center. The in-lore explanation for this makes sense, and the game respects players’ headcanons.
I hope that in future Dragon Age installments, we get a more grounded story with greater freedom of choice—something that roots us in the world and allows our decisions to have a deeper impact.
The team behind Veilguard had an almost impossible task: to create a Dragon Age game that pushes the narrative and world forward while wrapping up plotlines from Inquisition—a game released nearly a decade ago. At the same time, they had to make the game accessible to new fans while staying true to the Bioware hallmarks of engaging stories, memorable characters, and meaningful decisions.
And somehow, they did it. Veilguard has exceeded my expectations in every way.
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