After thatless than popular reveal trailerforDragon Age: The Veilguardat theXbox Games Showcase, the subsequent gameplay demonstration on June 11 was BioWare’s chance to win favour back with displeased fans. At the very least,Dragon Ageseries creator David Gaider likes what he saw, saying the development team have done a “great job.”
Gaider, who served as lead writer on theDragon Agegames until he left BioWare in 2016 (makingThe Veilguardthe first entry without his involvement), recently got round to watchingthe gameplay trailerfor himself and shared his thoughtson Twitter. Said trailer covers a curated segment of an early mission, with new player character Rook and their party doing some exploring and combat before confronting antagonist Solas. It honestly does a better job of demonstrating whatThe Veilguardis like than its weirdlyBorderlands-esque reveal trailer; something Gaider also feels is the case.
“I’d say this made for a better introduction than the reveal trailer,” says Gaider. “We see some story, and tone-wise it feels a lot darker and moreDragon Age. Like I said, trailers often need to be taken with a grain of salt, and my impression is that many fans are relieved. Which is great.” He does admit the new art style will take some getting used to, but acknowledges this is an aspect that has “changed every game so that’s nothing new.”
However, Gaider has nothing but praise for the environments, calling them “utterly gorgeous,” adding, “To see the sprawl of Minrathous—wow. I wish we could have done this for Kirkwall or even Val Royeaux.” He wraps his thoughts up by saying it was lovely to see Solas again and the teases forThe Veilguard‘s story have left him eager to see how things will play out: “Could probably chatter about the implications for days, and how this aligns (or doesn’t) with where I thought the story would go… but I won’t.”
While Gaider has plenty of nice things to say aboutThe Veilguard, it does seem like the gameplay has done little to appease a significant number of fans. At the time of writing, the gameplay trailer on YouTube has approximately 199,000 dislikes compared to 72,000 likes. Although that’s still a better split compared to the reveal trailer, which now sits at 234,000 dislikes and 41,000 likes.
The fact that the gameplay trailer has scored more likes than the reveal trailer does suggest it’s won over some people, anda quick glance at Twittershows, amid the harsher criticisms, there are plenty of fans still excited forThe Veilguard‘s launch later this year. Early previews of another demo shown to press at Summer Game Fest have been mostly positive too.VGCcalled it “exciting, and engaging and made us desperate to see the next 50 to 100 hours of game,” whileInversesaid it’s “hopeful the secret sauce ofDragon Ageis still there.”
