After what can politely be called “much hand-wringing” and impolitely be called “a lot of whining” online about Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s art style, trailer choices, and action-adventure stylings leading up to its release, it seems the game isn’t struggling to move units.
In fact, the newest Dragon Age game is already setting records for EA. The RPG’s launch day on Steam garnered over 70,000 concurrent players, a few thousand more than Star Wars Jedi: Survivor managed at its PC launch. That’s good enough for EA’s best single-player launch on Steam, and considering the acclaim Jedi: Survivor garnered on the back of one of the world’s most popular entertainment IPs, the company has to feel good about where The Veilguard has situated itself in the current gaming landscape.
If you paid any attention to the discourse about the game on the internet during the game’s marketing phase this summer, that might surprise you. A lot of people seemed to hate the “Marvel-style” companions trailer, more people thought the art style of the new game was too cartoonish, and still others wanted you to know that the game was woke, and therefore shouldn’t be played.
And, as it turns out, it looks like none of that really mattered for most players when it came down to it. The game might not be putting up Baldur’s Gate 3 numbers, but precious few games ever have.
That’s generally what happens when the game is fun to play. I’ve only just begun my own playthrough as a rogue, and the new game admittedly feels extremely different from the combat and roaming of its predecessor, Inquisition. But I quickly fell into a backstory I liked for my main character and really started to enjoy the feeling of dashing around with my swords, then dodging backwards and pulling out my bow for a quick snipe to the head of an enemy. The action parts of this game really do deliver on the action, and it’s clear to me why so many people were always going to give the game a shot.
If you were hung up on some of those earlier talking points and wanted to see how The Veilguard shook out before buying it for yourself, I think there’s still plenty to like here for new players and Dragon Age franchise fans alike.
