The Veilguard UI Element Needs to Be in Mass Effect 4

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 29, 2024 35 Views 6 Min Read
The Veilguard UI Element Needs to Be in Mass Effect 4



After almost 10 years to the day since the release of the last game in the series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard has arrived to what can only be described as a mixed reception. While some fans are eagerly finishing up first and even second playthroughs of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, others are coming away disappointed in the title’s shedding of RPG systems and true role-playing freedom in favor of a more curated, action-oriented experience. Regardless of how players feel about Veilguard, it’s a safe bet to assume that many of its elements will carry over to BioWare’s currently in-development Mass Effect game, and the newest Dragon Age‘s UI is a perfect fit for the tactical squad management combat of the sci-fi RPG series.




Both the Dragon Age and Mass Effect franchises have always shared common DNA, both being original IPs from developer BioWare and developed concurrently for 7th-generation consoles and PC. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the closest that the Dragon Age franchise has come to feeling like a Mass Effect game, though, with its greater emphasis on combat and squad management in real-time combat. Veilguard‘s radial menu that players can use in managing companions and their abilities in combat is both intuitive and easy to use enough that it’s a standout element needing to return in the next Mass Effect game.

Dragon Age Veilguard N7 Day Mass Effect

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Even though BioWare toned down 2024’s N7 Day for Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s launch, its commemorative armor might hide clues for Mass Effect 4.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Combat UI Could Correct a Misstep from Mass Effect Andromeda


In the 7 years since the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, reception for the game has somewhat warmed after an initial knee-jerk reaction against the title from die-hard fans. To be fair, Andromeda always had the deck stacked against it in trying to follow up one of the most beloved sci-fi RPG trilogies of all time, but it also abandoned many of the Mass Effect series‘ core mechanics in favor of being a more action-focused open-world RPG distinct from the structure of the first three games in the franchise. One of the biggest missteps made toward that goal was the removal of players’ ability to directly control squad mates.

While players could issue commands to squad members in the form of directing them to attack, retreat, or regroup, Mass Effect: Andromeda did not allow players to select and execute their abilities. Considering the tactical depth inherent in squad management was part of what made the Mass Effect trilogy’s combat so engaging, removing that extra layer of strategy felt like a swing and a miss both at the time of the game’s release and now. The next Mass Effect has a chance to correct course by bringing back nuanced squad management during combat, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard sets a great precedent for those elements.


How the Next Mass Effect Could Adopt and Adapt Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s UI

The radial menu that players utilize during Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s combat has an easy-to-follow user flow that separates the player and their companions’ abilities into three separate zones for easy assignment during the heat of battle. And while it’s clear where the player needs to move the cursor to select abilities, activate runes, and set up devastating Applicator and Detonator abilities, the on-screen elements of the combat UI could use some trimming to become less cluttered. If the next Mass Effect takes a similar approach to its radial menus and UI, it has an opportunity to iterate and improve on the work BioWare has already done with Dragon Age: The Veilguard.


The aesthetic and setting of the Mass Effect games (along with the somewhat cyberpunk-leaning look at the future the games crib from Blade Runner and other noteworthy 1980s sci-fi films) gives the artists and UI designers at BioWare the opportunity to get creative with how they design the menu and HUD elements of the series’ next entry. Still, rather than try to reinvent the wheel from scratch, the next Mass Effect can take an already great approach to combat menus and squad management from Veilguard and build on it.

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