7 things we learned from the Dragon Age: The Veilguard gameplay trailer

The world of Thedas beckons once again with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the first gameplay trailer released by BioWare should be enough to whet the appetite of any fantasy RPG fan. Here’s the biggest things we learned from the trailer.

We finally get to see Tevinter

Tevinter has long been an important location in Thedas, but one we’ve mostly only heard and learned about through enemies and companions. That changes right off the bat in The Veilguard, which drops your character, Rook, and a grizzled Varric right into Minrathous—the capital city of Tevinter.

Minrathous is dark and crowded, with plenty of signs and symbols showing off how Tevinter embraces magic far more than other nations in Thedas. From the glowing, magical shop signs to the gigantic floating palace, Minrathous is a location we absolutely can’t wait to get into ourselves, and hopefully there will be more to do in the city after the game’s title sequence. After all, one of The Veilguard’s seven companions, Neve, resides there.

Party size is slimming down to 3 members

Perhaps a bit of a surprise, The Veilguard is choosing to streamline your party somewhat. Whereas party sizes in previous Dragon Age games went up to four including the player character, The Veilguard‘s parties will only have three members to them (including your Rook).

While that might be disappointing to some that wanted to fully flex their tactical skill in assembling and building a party, it may also lend more replayability to the title as you try out characters you neglected in your first couple playthroughs.

The tactical camera has been replaced by the ability wheel

Another change that will probably be divisive among Dragon Age fans, the top-down tactical mode has been replaced by a close-to-the-action ability wheel. While you can still pause the game with this ability wheel and give orders to your other party members, check on their cooldowns, and look at enemy weaknesses and resistances, it’s not quite the same as the old system that could almost make combat function like a turn-based ARPG, if you relied on the mechanic completely.

Dodge and parry mechanics are now part of combat

Did you catch that?

Those shifts and flips looked a whole lot like dodges to me, and I didn’t notice any cooldowns being expended to perform them, either. That means we might be in for some slick new combat mechanics at the player character’s disposal. There were even some sword-to-sword moments that looked suspiciously like parries in the trailer.

I imagine that exact flavor and adeptness at dodging or parrying probably comes down to their choice in core class. After all, the Rook on display was a Rogue, and I don’t necessarily expect a Mage to pull out some underflip dodges in the heat of battle. Regardless, combat is looking fast, and your timing seems important as well.

Dialogue options and companion choices are back

It wouldn’t be a BioWare game without dialogue options and choices that affect how your companions see you. The gameplay trailer showed off multiple instances of classic Dragon Age dialogue choices, from gruff and to the point to unmitigated snark.

You’ll also have choices that affect your companions’ approval of you. As in other Dragon Age games, this approval rating can help or harm your chances to romance one of your companions. But according to game director Corinne Busche, The Veilguard takes it a step further, as companions can unlock special abilities if they reach a high enough bond with your Rook.

Iconic enemies return with new tricks

If you played Inquisition, you probably remember Pride Demons—huge, slow-moving, electrified tanks that were a pain to bring down. The Veilguard takes that design and gives them a whole lot more tricks, as this version of the monster teleports around the battlefield and unleashes brutal ranged attacks.

It seems safe to say The Veilguard is ready to kick the “action” part of action RPG up a notch.

The events of Inquisition loom large

The end of the gameplay trailer features Solas, the companion character from Inquisition who was revealed as an ancient elven trickster god at the end of the main campaign and in DLC. Solas (or the Dread Wolf) was the one responsible for erecting the Veil to separate the mortal realm from the Fade, or the realms of magic. The move succeeded in helping bring down the corrupt elven gods he was warring against, but also wrought havoc on elves and robbed them of their power and immortality.

Now, Solas is trying to undo all that and bring down the Veil. Players were required to journey at least a little with Solas at the beginning of Inquisition and the bulk of the game deals with shutting down rifts in the Fade that allow demons to pass through the Veil and wreak havoc, so seeing a character try to undo all of that work is disconcerting—especially one that might’ve been a friend or even a lover in the last game.

While this game seems like it will be fine to play on its own without knowing every detail from the sequels, there’s going to be Easter eggs and consequences galore for those players that took down Corypheus and his hordes with the Inquisition.