Historically, I’ve typically considered photo modes in games to be a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong; I love a pretty picture as much as the next person, but it’s rare for me to want to stop and smell the roses, so to speak, when there’s so much to see and do in motion. Video games are interactive! I want to interact. And yet, Dragon Age: The Veilguard has somehow finally managed to not only make me use its photo mode, but actively want to.
There are some what I’d call demographic reasons for this change in me. I’ve grown older, as one does while experiencing linear time, and my inclination toward capturing the fleeting images before my eyes has expanded. Having kids also influences this, and framing the exact right moment – capturing everything that makes something alive, but still – has shifted from tedious to meaningful.
But the game itself is certainly largely to blame for my change of mind. The photo mode itself is fairly robust considering it’s the first time the franchise has had one, allowing images to be taken from various angles and viewpoints with the camera’s point of view being moved around pretty significantly. I don’t think the available toolset is going to blow anyone away, especially if they’re accustomed to photo modes, but it gives all you need to take some solid pics.
Substantial style
There’s also a significant shift in Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s graphics from chasing realism to something slightly more stylized, which actually works in its favor when it comes to capturing images. Seeing a vista that approximates something realistically is all fine and good, but seeing a vista that leans into the fantastical, pushing shapes and designs with more stylistic forms and colors, allows the various locales to really truly pop.
This all mechanically informs the design of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s locations too. While none of the maps are particularly huge, they are large in terms of scale. Sweeping elven ruins charged with energy float far away into the sky, giant statues dot the horizon, and the twisted landscape of the Fade opens up to massive arenas or perfectly frames some objectively fascinating scenery that’s both out of reach and seemingly hanging right there. It’s absolutely packed to the gills with photo mode bait.
Maybe it’s my well-established love for the Dragon Age franchise as a whole, but I frequently found myself having the exact same impulse in the game to take a photo that I do in real life. Cresting a little ridge in Dragon Age: The Veilguard only to see the completely obvious remains of a Titan far off in the distance, but still so clearly defined as the foundation of several different and distinct mountains, elicits the same “wow” and urge to pick up a camera as an inspiring sunrise at the top of the hill I drive every morning during the week.
I frequently found myself having the exact same impulse in the game to take a photo that I do in real life.
It’s not uncommon to find awe-inspiring imagery within video games, of course, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard specifically seems to arrange them in such a way as to encourage these emotions. There’s plenty of bombastic action to be had, sure, but nearly every moment that actually made me want to pull out my camera was quiet, introspective, and allowed me the space to just sort of exist and wander or stare and contemplate. It might purely be coincidence, but it happens so often that I’m instead inclined to believe it’s intentional – and more importantly, it worked.
But now that I’ve gone down this particular rabbit hole, the pain points of the process on the PS5 are also immediately apparent. Unless I’ve been overlooking some simple method that’s not obvious, the way to actually get those photo mode images off of my console involves grabbing them from a mobile app, which is frankly ludicrous. Is this how the rest of you have been doing it all this time? Anyone that’s previously been lapping up sweet photos from games on the PS5 has far more patience than me. Then again, maybe the fact that I’m even willing to jump through all of these hoops at all is saying quite a bit about how much I actually enjoy using Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s photo mode.
If Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t do it for you, there are plenty of other options in our ranking of the best RPGs that might be to your taste.