Key Takeaways
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Dragon Age: The Veilguard's creative director says he wants to bring back BioWare's “golden age.”
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This was BioWare's release period after the disaster, along with Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
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Both series suffered in 2010, with Mass Effect fans getting Andromeda, and Dragon Age fans getting nothing after Inquisition.
Dragon Age: Veilguard creative director John Epler says he wants to return BioWare to the “golden years” when the studio released “hit after hit.” He added that The Veilguard is meant to reinvent the company, focusing on story and character.
This comes after BioWare struggled for a decade, with two major releases – Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem – doing poorly. Now, the leader of Dragon Age wants to stick to BioWare's single-player roots, after experiments with multiplayer components and a live service failed with fans.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Director Reflects on BioWare's “Golden Age”
Epler's comments come from the My Perfect Console podcast, hosted by journalist Simon Parkin.
“For The Veilguard, we really wanted to make sure we got back to the things that made the studio what it was, which was part of what I call the golden age of BioWare when there was a seed after the explosion, ” he said. Epler.
“Veilguard is a very conscious return to that with a focus on characters, a focus on storytelling, and a focus on being a really bombastic single-player RPG that lets you play this story like yourself if you like. Or something else entirely for you.”
Epler joined BioWare around the time of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (remember that one?), meaning he's been around for every Dragon Age game. BioWare was definitely on the winning side at the time (not including the Sonic series) as it was releasing installments of Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Dragon Age: Inquisition is a popular game, winning game of the year at The Game Awards in 2014.
Then, we got Mass Effect: Andromeda, and the cracks started to show. It was so poorly received by fans and critics, due to both its writing and bugs, that its DLC was canceled. Then, we had Anthem, which took BioWare away from its single-player roots. Meanwhile, original plans for a fourth Dragon Age game were scrapped to allow for multiplayer as well, before that was scrapped as well. From that we got Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Dragon Age: Veilguard is out now, available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, focusing on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
