The Veilguard’s Writing Is “Heavy Handed”, Says Ex-BioWare Designer

Over the past couple of months, fans, critics, and industry professionals have widely criticised the narrative aspects of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. BioWare is traditionally known for well-written plots and strong characters, so The Veilguard falling short in its writing is certainly noteworthy.

Åsa Roos, a senior user experience (UX) designer who spent over five years at BioWare (and now works at IO Interactive), posted her thoughts on Dragon Age: The Veilguard on Bluesky after playing the game over the holidays.

Heavy-Handed Writing

“I think it’s a decent game with high production values,” Roos began. “There are a few things that stand out as a bit condescending, though. Maybe condescending isn’t the right word either because it sounds harsh. What I am trying to say is that I’m getting strong Dan Brown vibes from the game [author of The Da Vinci Code]. As in “I really have to tell you what I’m about to do so that you understand how smart I am as a writer,” but in this case, it’s more along the lines of “Look how many choices we’re giving you as a player; look, we remembered that you made this choice.”

Roos goes on to criticise The Veilguard’s ‘reminder’ system. Often, the game’s UI will tell you the current dialogue is affected by past decisions and/or dialogue choices. She describes conversations with Lucanis where he remembers what Rook’s favourite beverage is much later in the story, something that doesn’t warrant an on-screen reminder.

“It doesn’t really tell me much, except the game doesn’t trust me to pay enough attention to what is happening, so it feels I need to be reminded. It is heavy-handed, inconsistently heavy-handed which means I pay more attention to it,” she says.

Roos is also critical of how The Veilguard handles Taash’s gender arc, calling it “somewhat clumsy.” She stresses that she “strongly supports” the storyline, but feels the game handles it poorly.

She explains, “I feel that it has a somewhat clumsy and “pat on the head” approach that leads me to feel spoken down to rather than supportive of Taash. It becomes really apparent when having drinks with Isabela, Bellara and Taash. This sequence is so heavy-handed it’s almost cringeworthy, especially in combination with all the other times Taash’s choices are being pretty much handed to the player, the insistence that I take notice of their choices and respect them. Rook even loses some of their snarkiness and the game pushes me to be empathetic towards Taash.”

Roos is referring to a scene with Isabela, Bellara and Taash where the trio, along with Rook, are drinking at The Hilt. Isabela accidentally misgenders Taash and does a set of push-ups as a means of self-punishment. The group then discusses how Taash isn’t the first non-binary member of The Lords of Fortune.

Roos explains that Dragon Age: The Veilguard lacks subtlety in its storytelling, and the explicit manner of the game’s writing hinders rather than elevates the narrative. She compares Taash’s arc to those of Jacob (from Mass Effect 2) and Fenris (from Dragon Age 2) where the player character doesn’t necessarily need to spout platitudes to empathize with their comrades’ personal tragedies.

“In comparison, I’m almost annoyed at the game and at Taash for being so in my face about their coming to terms with themself, even if I honestly and deeply support this kind of transformation and level of self-discovery,” Roos goes on. “To a certain extent, the game feels derivative of itself. It’s so anxious to present itself as a BioWare game and as a Dragon Age game that it almost becomes a parody of itself…”

The full thread is worth a read and is a poignant breakdown of the feelings of many Dragon Age fans about the series’ latest entry.

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.