Dragon Age: The Veilguard is one of the most hotly-anticipated games of the ever-ravenous fall release window. Arriving on October 31, it promises stacked RPG action and plenty of menacing dragons to fight. The flames of hype were only fanned further with the unveiling of the Blighted Dragon Gameplay Trailer and Mage Build Deep Dive at the September 2024 PlayStation State of Play presentation.
Now, fans of the series and those who have been given exclusive access to the game early are hailing it as a rousing RPG success and one that’s deserving of the legendary Dragon Age name. After all, it is seen as the series that propelled deep fantasy RPGs into the mainstream in western markets, making subsequent role-playing games all the more appealing. Plus, it means that BioWare might just regain its once-vaunted reputation.
A series worthy of another world-class installment
Back in the days of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, BioWare announced itself on the fantasy RPG scene with 2009’s Dragon Age: Origins. From the story and setting to the combat and companion mechanics, it was hailed a rousing triumph by critics almost unilaterally. Units sold exceeded the three million mark within one quarter, and it feasted on accolades across the various game awards ceremonies.
Beyond being a commercial success, Dragon Age: Origins proved something important to the video games market. It was very much the first western RPG to snatch the spotlight, proving the popularity of an incredibly deep RPG experience and even that this almost old-fashioned kind of play is still craved by gamers. Given the depth of the game and its sales, it set a new bar for later releases like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to aspire to.
Since 2009, Dragon Age has become a fully-fledged multimedia franchise, but more crucially, only ran for a handful of games until recently. Dragon Age II arrived in 2011, followed by Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, but then the releases stopped. This was predominantly down to parent company Electronic Arts wanting more live service and ongoing monetisation mechanics, which simply didn’t fit the Dragon Age model.
As more of BioWare’s team were sent towards the production hell pit of Mass Effect: Andromeda and the ill-conceived live service Anthem, Dragon Age IV was looking less and less likely before being killed in 2017. In 2018, a live service Dragon Age was in the works, but it took the demolition of Anthem and the success of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to kick into gear the single-player Dragon Age IV that we’ll get in the form of The Veilguard.
At one time, especially with EA reaping the cash of Ultimate Team, live service looked to be the clear path forward to greater gaming revenues. This was despite the notably-not-live-service Dragon Age: Inquisition selling a very impressive 12 million copies in 2014. Players were vocal about their dislike of the live service trend, watched on as big-budget releases from single-player studios flopped, and now, Dragon Age returns with perfect timing.
Perfect timing for a new Dragon Age game
Gaming news has recently been awash with monumental collapses of live service games like Concord and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – which combined for a reported budget of $600 million. This has been against the backdrop of the popularity of narrative-driven, single-player games like Baldur’s Gate III, Dragon’s Dogma II, Elden Ring, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Stellar Blade, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard will certainly fit into the category of the latter, furthering the desired departure from live service titles, and will hit on something else that’s tremendously popular in entertainment right now. The latest gameplay promises colossal dragon battles, and that’s exactly what the people want. Recently, the second season of House of the Dragon hit a huge viewer count that slipped a mere 0.3 million from the first – which is impressive.
As the title suggests, dragons are a big part of the show and a huge part of the appeal. The same can also be seen and said of many of the games in the ever-competitive online slot scene. Stacks of slots are released every week across the online casino space, and many of those slots that come out and remain popular heavily feature dragons. You can see this among the popular online lottery games, where eight top-ranking slots have dragons.
You’ve got Dragon’s Scroll, 8 Golden Dragons, Diamond Dragon, Dragon & Phoenix, Dragon Blast, Dragon Era, Dragon Fortune Dice, and Dragon Harmony. All of these slots lean into the power and majesty of the scaly, fire-breathing beasts, as well as the riches they famously covet – which translates well into the slot gaming premise. Naturally, it’s the gameplay features, design, and overall experience that keep slot players coming back to play any slot.
That doesn’t detract from the eye-catching appeal of dragons overall – which is especially important in slot gaming. The online casino boasts hundreds of games, all of which are scrolled through as little tiles just showing the slot game image and the title. Having an image of a dragon and “dragon” in the slot game’s title offers a huge leg up for the slot, thanks to the inherent appeal of the mythical creatures. The same can be seen in video games, more or less.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard promises a lot, and based on what we’ve been shown and told by those with hands-on knowledge, it’ll deliver on those promises. It’ll tap into the desire to desert live service games, deliver ferocious dragons, offer deep RPG mechanics that made the originals great, and return BioWare to the forefront of the genre.
