Since Dragon Age: The Veilguard was properly unveiled this summer, BioWare’s long-awaited fantasy RPG has been frequently compared to Larian Studios’ 2023 Game of the Year contender Baldur’s Gate 3. At a glance, the comparison seems appropriate, as Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fantasy RPG with difficult decisions, memorable companions, and an in-depth character creator so you can properly roleplay in its fantasy world. But The Veilguard is an action RPG that isn’t looking to accomplish the same turn-based, immersive sim-style systems of Larian Studios. So how did BioWare feel watching Baldur’s Gate 3 become a runaway success as it was working on a game that would undoubtedly be scrutinized next to it? Pretty optimistic, it sounds like.
IGN recently ran a story about the decade-long development ofDragon Age: The Veilguard. In it, developers at BioWare discuss the multiple gameplay iterations the studio went through to reach the single-player, choice-driven RPG that will launch on October 31. Before it became the titlewe’re getting in a few weeks, the fourth Dragon Age was a multiplayer game still trying to tell the story of the elven rebel god Solas, but as the studio went back to the drawing board over the past ten years, it eventually became a game that let the team go “back to [its] roots.”
After all that strife, Mark Darrah, the ex-executive producer of the Dragon Age series, who left BioWare in 2020, returned to consult on The Veilguard, told IGN Baldur’s Gate 3’s success didn’t worry the studio. Instead, it emboldened BioWare that its decision to go back to basics was the right call, as it confirmed the audience is still there for games like The Veilguard.
“Yeah, I didn’t really feel that earthquake in terms of people being worried about it,” Darrah said. “I think what I really saw last year more than anything was a renaissance in the RPG genre. Last year was arguably the strongest year we’ve ever seen in terms of RPGs. Not only do we have [Baldur’s Gate 3], we also had Hogwarts, we also had Starfield, we had tons of RPGs come out last year that covered a really wide swath of what an RPG can be. I think it silenced some of the naysayers. It didn’t cause a massive shift in the way The Veilguard was being developed, but I think it made some people who maybe were thinking, ‘Well, we should really be making action games because action games sell 10 million copies and RPGs sell 6 million copies,’ and silenced those voices.”
We played seven hours of The Veilguard last month, and came away pretty optimistic. Though some news has trickled out about how the sequel will handle choices from previous games that has fans concerned.
