Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the fourth Dragon Age title to be released by BioWare. Many players have been waiting nearly 10 years for the appearance of another Dragon Age game, since the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

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However, since many years have passed, Dragon Age is not the same franchise it was all those years ago, with plenty of news being revealed to show the changes that have been made to the game. With Dragon Age: The Veilguard being expected to release in Fall 2024, these are the things that have most seemingly changed for players when they return to Thedas.

6 Enemy Designs

Demons Have An Entirely New Look

Enemies have seen redesigns in almost every version of Dragon Age, though none have looked as different as they do in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While the only officially named demon to be shown during the gameplay preview was the Pride Demon, even this memorable foe has had a major makeover.

Many of the demons appear to have had their looks drastically changed to look similar to spirits, meaning, the Pride Demon has lost its legs, making it now float. Besides this, the demons appear a lot more vibrant with what can only be assumed as veins of lyrium emerging from their bodies. This may also be due to the changed art style of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, though only time will tell what other enemies have been remade.

5 The Number Of Companions In The Party

Three Followers Have Been Reduced To Two

One of the biggest changes players noticed during both screenshots posted about Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and was confirmed when watching the gameplay reveal of the fourth title, was that players will no longer have three companions exploring with them during the various missions.

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Players will have seven companions to choose from, but they can only decide on two of them tagging along during whatever quest they wish to take. While this may limit party composition for some players, it appears that the skills for each companion are unique to each one, with some looking as if they overlap between the basic classes. This would then encourage players to experiment with using two different companions for the best results.

4 New Skill Trees

A Web Of Skills To Choose From

In previous Dragon Age titles, especially Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, players had various skill trees that they could invest points into. However, in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the players will instead expand across something BioWare is calling a Skill Web.

Dragon Age: the Veilguard's Skill Web will work similarly to Final Fantasy 10's Sphere Grid as players start in the center and work their way out from there. It will still allow players to go down certain avenues to get the skills they want or specialize in a certain play style, but each class will have its own Skill Web to explore.

3 Friends Have Gotten Old

9 Years Have Passed Since Dragon Age: Inquisition's Trespasser DLC

Similar to how players have waited countless years for the next Dragon Age title, the RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard is also a culprit of a time skip as the game is set 9 years after the events of the Dragon Age: Inquisition Trespasser DLC.

Naturally, this means many characters that players have been fond of seeing throughout the franchise are now a lot older, with Varric turning gray from the stresses of every tale he has been a part of. Some players worry about what this might mean for Varric in Veilguard as well as who else they might see during the game's story.

2 Players Choose A Faction To Be A Part Of

Factions Provide Extra Dialogue And New Buffs

Players haven't had as much control over the background of their character since Dragon Age: Origins. The backstory of Hawke was already set in stone and the Inquisitors' background was based on both the class and race the player had chosen. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the character creator has changed once more to allow players to pick from one of six factions.

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This includes: Mourn Watch, Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, Antivan Crows, Grey Wardens, and Lords of Fortune. This choice is more than just dialogue and intertwining Rook into the world, as each faction will give the player various bonuses. For example, a player who chooses to make their Rook part of the Shadow Dragons faction will do extra damage to the Venatori Blood Mages.

1 A Heavier Focus On Combat

Parry, Block, And Dodge Attacks

One of the biggest changes seen in Dragon Age: The Veilguard that players noticed has been the combat. Since players are only able to have two companions fight beside them at a time, watching the official gameplay reveal from BioWare showed that players will feel part of the action, especially as seen when playing a rogue. When controlling Rook, players will have the ability to dodge out of the way of incoming attacks or parry them to throw potential spells back in the way of its caster.

During this gameplay reveal, the combat felt a lot faster as players jumped between enemies, hitting them with various attacks while also being able to pause the action when accessing their ability wheel to use one of the three skills available. Not to mention how rogues were also able to easily pull out their bow to fire an arrow instead.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X , Microsoft Windows

Developer(s)

BioWare

Genre(s)

RPG

Released

2024