Quest summaries are the best idea in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is focused on being as accessible as possible. Combat is action-oriented and flashy. The linear level design (and overall structure) has much more in common with Sony's God of War Ragnarok than fan favorite Dragon Age: Origins. RPG choices are also streamlined, with a dialogue wheel that similarly follows in the footsteps of another PlayStation blockbuster, Horizon Zero Dawn.

I tend to like things a little less streamlined, so I struggled with some of these design decisions. But there's one brilliant move that I'd like to see other developers steal outright. I'm talking about mission summaries.

In summary, this is a great idea

Every time you finish a quest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you're presented with a short text summary of what you just did, the obstacles you faced, and what you'll (hopefully) accomplish in your quest against the gods. So, for example, after finishing a mission called The Smuggled Relic Case, I received a six-sentence report that effectively summarized all the crucial information about the mission (I've included a screenshot below if you want to see the slight spoiler specifics). The summary reminded me of a) who gave us the tip that started the quest, b) which of your companions played an important role, c) what you accomplished during the quest, d) what was at stake, e) the complication that made it interesting, f) the negative consequences, g) and how the partner who played a key role in the research felt about those negative consequences.

Mild spoilers, but here's the summary

That's a lot of information, and if you've ever read the plot summary of a game with an emphasis on story, you know how arbitrary plot points can seem out of context. Characters often chase MacGuffins that advance the plot, but don't have much importance outside of setting your goal for a level. The Veilguard solves this problem by including an authorial voice in these summaries, which can highlight why the things you're doing are important to the larger story, to your character, and to your companions.

The recaps are bringing me up to speed on Dragon Age lore

This was especially helpful for me as I have only intermittently played Dragon Age games. While The Veilguard is accessible in many ways, it is still the fourth game in a narratively dense series. Characters I don't recognize appear, factions I don't know are mentioned, and ideas about lore I don't understand play a huge role in the story. The summaries help me keep my head on straight as I try to wade through these waters.

The Veilguard helps you understand the role you're playing in the story in smaller ways too. When one of your decisions leads to an outcome, the game highlights it when you win. It's like the butterfly that appears on the screen in Life is Strange – the signal that your action will have consequences – but in reverse. Instead of pointing out uncertain consequences along the way, point back to the specific action that caused that particular consequence.

These are interesting ideas, and I look forward to seeing other story-focused games include similar mechanics. Unlike movies, we often play games for long periods of time, which can make it difficult to keep all the details of the story fresh in our heads. Games have attempted to fix this problem in the past – think of the Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green recaps that greeted you every time you booted up the game – but BioWare has found some clever innovations here. For all of us who don't remember well who is that boyThe Veilguard is a potential game changer.