At this point, there’s basically nothing left for me to do in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This isn’t a brag; I reviewed the game ahead of launch, generally quite enjoyed myself, and spent around 80 hours in BioWare‘s latest RPG across nine days. I left no meat on that bone – except for a couple quests that failed at a narrative juncture, which I have since gone back to do in another playthrough. And yet, I already want more.
This isn’t necessarily meant as a knock against Dragon Age: The Veilguard, either. I stand by my Dragon Age: The Veilguard review score and general thought that while it’s certainly not what Dragon Age was, it very much is what Dragon Age, well, is in the here and now. But there are seemingly no plans for significant DLC, and so now I’m left at a bit of an impasse. My desire for more is perhaps a bit churlish to say, but it’s honest.
Given that my only real concern about Dragon Age: The Veilguard earlier this year was how it might impact one of my several tabletop campaigns set in Thedas, it is likely little surprise to learn that I inhaled everything the new game has to offer already. I am absolutely an outlier, and I recognize this, but I’m also already wistfully looking at the calendar and wondering exactly when EA might let the developers at BioWare play in this particular sandbox again. If the space between this and Dragon Age: Inquisition is any indication, I’d be closer to 50 than not, and Maker knows I don’t need that existential crisis kicking around in my head.
Dragon middle-aged
Don’t get me wrong; there are still some parts of the game that’ll take me a good chunk of time to see. The various permutations of teams all seem to have unique dialogue interactions, and while I’ve heard just about everything there is for Harding and Bellara to say to each other and to a lesser extent Emmrich and Taash, every other possible combination would effectively be new to me. And each companion has at least one significant choice I could play out differently.
Also, my big review playthrough was a Warrior, leaving two entirely different classes to mess around with and 50 or more skills to grab each – not to mention the fact that I’ve only really done one specialization, leaving eight more to experience. I’m not a particularly gifted mathematician, but that’s quite a few potential builds, statistically speaking. (I’m pretty sure.)
There’s something to be said, however, about going through the absolutely grueling process of reviewing a giant RPG ahead of launch and coming out the other side going, “please, sir, can I have some more?” I could nitpick narrative choices or the structure of the game – the official art book has some pretty wild details about three different, distinct versions of what Veilguard could have been, all of which I’ve salivated over – but this is less that I wasn’t sated by Dragon Age: The Veilguard and more that I didn’t realize I’d previously been starving.
Now that I know there is sustenance to be had, nourishment to be gained in the form of official Dragon Age stories, I’m left wondering when my next “meal” will be. For now, it looks like I’ll be left to tell stories among friends, which is far from the worst thing in the world, but if BioWare could deliver something, anything in half the time it took to get Veilguard to market… I wouldn’t complain.
If you don’t want to wait for more Dragon Age, you could always check out one of the best RPGs instead.