I'm an Origins die-hard and I adore this game, where I disliked DA2 and DAI. It is a return to Dark Fantasy where the character's team acts as the light in the darkness. DA2 and Inquisition were worse because they leaned into Heroic Fantasy. This is closer to Origins in the tone of its story and stakes, though not its companions. Its companions are charming (except for boring Davrin). They are adult enough to get into some fights and then put their beef aside when they don't agree because the stakes are too high for say, a Grey Warden to spend the entire game crying and throwing hissies about a "father figure" he knew for six months.
Some of the terminology is a little modern, but that can be summed up to cultural differences between northern and southern Thedas. The changes to the darkspawn aren't completely welcome, but are explained well, while the primary enemies of the game bring big stakes and are enormous threats. Combat is actiony, but that's EA's fault, not BioWare's. I mean remember, this was gonna be an Overwatch style game--talk about tone deaf. BioWare made the game they were told to make, and for that kind of game, it is very, very good. I love this game.
Haters gonna hate, and there's no bigger hater than a fan. This game is fighting almost 20 years of nostalgia, but taken on its own merits, it is a strong, heartfelt dark-fantasy RPG. Origins is still the better game, but Veilguard is the first sequel that made Thedas feel alive to me again.
No, this is not my dream Dragon Age. Yes, I miss playable origins and tactical combat. But I would rather have Veilguard’s dark world, environmental storytelling, and emotionally supportive party than Inquisition’s heroic-fantasy throne simulator and empty checklist maps.
