Key Takeaways
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s creative director says he wants to bring back the “golden age” of BioWare.
- This would be the time that BioWare was releasing hit after hit, with both Mass Effect and Dragon Age going strong.
- Both series suffered in the 2010s, with Mass Effect fans getting Andromeda, and Dragon Age fans getting nothing after Inquisition.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard creative director John Epler says he wants to bring BioWare back to its “golden age” when the studio released “hit after hit”. He adds that The Veilguard was made to put the company back on track, focussing on story and characters.
This comes after BioWare struggled for a decade, with both of its major releases – Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem – received poorly. Now, the Dragon Age lead wants to stick to BioWare’s single-player roots, after experiments with multiplayer and live service elements failed to win over fans.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Director Reflects On BioWare’s “Golden Age”
Epler’s comments come from the My Perfect Console podcast, hosted by journalist Simon Parkin.
For The Veilguard, we really wanted to make sure that we got back to those things that made the studio what it was, that contributed to what I would call the golden age of BioWare when there was hit after hit being turned out,” says Epler.
“The Veilguard was a very conscious return to that with a focus on characters, a focus on storytelling, and a focus on being this really bombastic single-player RPG that allowed you to play through this story as yourself if you want. Or as an idealised version of yourself. Or as something completely different for yourself.”
Epler joined BioWare around the time of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (remember that one?), meaning he’s been there for every Dragon Age game. BioWare was certainly on a winning streak back then (its dip into the Sonic series excluded) as it alternated between releasing instalments for Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Dragon Age: Inquisition was a high, winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards in 2014.
Then, we got Mass Effect: Andromeda, and the cracks started to show. It was received so poorly by fans and critics, both for its writing and bugs, that its DLC was cancelled. Then, we had Anthem, which took BioWare away from its single-player roots. During this time, the original plans for a fourth Dragon Age game were scrapped so that this could be multiplayer as well, before this too was cancelled. From that, we got Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is out now, available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.