Veilguard's writing is “heavy,” says the former BioWare designer

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

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

Heavy writing

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

Roos goes on to criticize The Veilguard's “reminder” system. Often, the game's UI will tell you that current dialogue is influenced by past decisions and/or dialogue choices. He describes conversations with Lucanis in which he remembers what Rook's favorite drink is much later in the story, something that doesn't merit an on-screen reminder.

“It doesn't tell me much, other than that the game doesn't trust me to pay enough attention to what's happening, so I feel the need to remind myself. It's heavy, inconsistently heavy, which means I pay more attention,” he says .

Roos is also critical of the way The Veilguard handles Taash's genre arc, calling it “a little clunky”. He stresses that he “strongly supports” the plot, but feels the game handles it poorly.

She explains: “I feel like it has a bit of a clunky, pat-on-the-head approach that makes me feel criticized rather than supporting Taash. It really becomes apparent when I'm having drinks with Isabela, Bellara and Taash. This sequence is so heavy that it's almost embarrassing, especially in combination with all the other times Taash's choices are basically handed over to the player, the insistence that I take note of their choices and respect them even misses some of them the sarcasm and the game pushes me to be empathetic towards Taash.”

Roos refers to a scene with Isabela, Bellara and Taash where the trio, along with Rook, are drinking at the Hilt. Isabela accidentally gender-swaps Taash and does a series of push-ups as a means of self-punishment. The group then discusses how Taash is not the first non-binary member of The Lords of Fortune.

Roos explains that Dragon Age: The Veilguard lacks subtlety in storytelling, and the game's explicit writing hinders rather than elevates the narrative. He compares Taash's story arc to those of Jacob (from Mass Effect 2) and Fenris (from Dragon Age 2) in which the player character doesn't necessarily need to utter platitudes to empathize with the personal tragedies of his companions.

“By comparison, I'm almost annoyed at the game and Taash for being so upfront about them coming to terms with themselves, even though I honestly and deeply support this kind of transformation and level of self-discovery,” Roos says SU . “In a way, the game feels derivative of itself. It's so eager 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 reading and is a touching analysis of how many Dragon Age fans feel about the latest installment in the series.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in BioWare's fantasy role-playing game series formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.