Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Release Window, Story Details, & Confirmed Characters

Summary

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
  set for a October 31, 2024, release, focusing on Minrathous and a new playable character, “Rook”.
• Gameplay in
  The Veilguard
  resembles
  Mass Effect
  with a smaller party size and emphasis on action combat.
• Solas serves as the main antagonist in The Veilguard, with returning and new characters featuring as companions.

Bordering on a decade since the series’ last installment, a new trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly Dragon Age: Dreadwolf), has been shown at the summer Xbox Games Showcase, revealing a general release window, major characters, and hints at the game’s overarching plot. A sequel to Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Veilguard is, overall, the fourth major entry in the Dragon Age series and will feature characters and story threads from Inquisition and the games before it, while also carrying forward with its own plot.

Despite having initially been announced in 2018, the prospective fourth Dragon Age game, which was later named Dreadwolf, has spent a significantly long time in development, having only just recently settled on a (hopefully) final title, The Veilguard. The long wait almost certainly stems from development troubles – at various points throughout its development; the upcoming Dragon Age game has faced cancelations, delays, high staff turnover (including creative director Mark Laidlaw), and, seemingly, some changes in the game’s general direction. Fortunately, The Veilguard finally seems like it’s close to release, with a showcase for the game on June 11 revealing far more details about the title.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Release Date

The Fourth Dragon Age Game Releases On Halloween

The summer 2024 Xbox Games Showcase revealed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set for release in Fall 2024, and on August 14, the official Dragon Age X account confirmed a more specific date would be revealed in a trailer on August 16 alongside plans for more reveals such as a combat showcase and a better look at the game’s companions. Unfortunately, this trailer was leaked early, revealing that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will launch on October 31 to players mere hours ahead of the official announcement.

The Release Date trailer also announced that
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
is available for pre-order.

Set primarily in Minrathous, the capital city of Tevinter, The Veilguard continues where Inquisition and its DLCs left off, with Solas serving as the main antagonist, and a new player character and protagonist, nicknamed “Rook”, gathering allies to stop his plans. Currently, the full scope of The Veilguard is unknown, but more will be revealed closer to the final release date.

In terms of gameplay, Bioware has indicated that Veilguard will move the series’ combat to something more resembling the studio’s other major RPG series, Mass Effect, cutting the size of the party down to three members (Rook and two companions) and allowing players to issue commands on the battlefield. As with Dragon Age II and Inquisition, Veilguard seems set to focus more heavily on the action side of its gameplay, potentially moving even further from the more tactical combat of Origins.

The Story Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Veilguard Directly Follows The Story Of Inquisition

As of the game’s initial trailers and teasers, not much of the overarching story has been revealed, but it is known that The Veilguard will directly follow up on Inquisition‘s story, most notably with the game’s main antagonist, Solas. A former companion character and party member in Inquisition, Solas is, in actuality, an ancient elf responsible for creating the Fade, and now seeks to destroy it and restore the elven race to its former glory – at the expense of the rest of the world, which would be destroyed as a result.

Although details on the story of The Veilguard are currently scant, the plot seemingly starts with Scout Harding and Varric, characters from Inquisition and Dragon Age, looking for allies in their fight against Solas, and presumably establishing the titular Veilguard to oppose him. The game has been confirmed to take place in Minrathous, the capital of Tevinter, and as a result, it will most likely delve into aspects of that nation’s culture that have only been hinted at or described in previous games.

While every
Dragon Age
game takes place in the wider setting of Thedas,
Origins
and
Inquisition
have mostly taken place in or around the nation of Ferelden, with
Dragon Age II
instead taking place in the city-state of Kirkwall. As such,
Veilguard
taking place in Tevinter represents a significant change in setting.

While Veilguard will directly follow up on the story of Inquisition, it’s currently unknown if events or characters from the two previous games will factor heavily into the game’s story outside the appearance of Varric. In all likelihood, the events of the first two games will at least receive light references in Veilguard‘s story but may not impact the plot in major ways — at least, in terms of player choices that could be made in the first two games.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Confirmed Characters

The Veilguard’s Companions Are Mostly New Faces

While not much is currently known about the overarching story, many of the characters in Veilguard have been revealed, including several companions who will serve as potential party members, as well as the main playable character and protagonist, “Rook.” Not much is known about Rook, specifically, but they will serve as the customizable player avatar, and official comments have revealed that players will be able to choose from six factions for Rook to be associated with in character creation, including the Antivan Crows, Grey Wardens, and Shadow Dragons.

In addition to new protagonist Rook, it has also been revealed that the Inquisitor, protagonist of Inquisition, will also make an appearance in Veilguard as a customizable character, and players will be able to make certain decisions for the Inquisitor that will influence the start of Veilguard. Also returning from previous Dragon Age games are Varric Tethras, originally from Dragon Age II, and Lace Harding from Inquisition, with Varric serving as an NPC/guest party member, and Harding having been promoted to a major companion from her lesser role in the previous game.

Aside from Harding, Veilguard has revealed six other companions – Neve, Emmrich, Taash, Davrin, Bellara, and Lucanis, each of whom have their own titles. Veilguard marks each character’s first appearance in a Dragon Age game, but Neve, Emmrich, and Lucanis have previously appeared in short stories released separately from the games, most notably the anthology collection Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights. Each companion character has their own role and title, which have been listed below.

After a long wait, the fourth Dragon Age game is finally set for release in Fall 2024, a full decade after the initial release of the previous entry. While the game seems to have undergone a troubled development cycle, it is now bound for a final release date, the first game out of Bioware’s two major RPG franchises to be released since 2017’s Mass Effect Andromeda. Hopefully, for fans of the franchise, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be worth the long wait.

Source: Dragon Age/X