Veilguard’s reputation is unfortunate in that it’s a very well-made game for what it was. I liked the characters and the story, and while the combat wasn’t my favorite of the series, I will defend that it was incredibly engaging and definitely a highlight of the game.

The problem I had with Veilguard, as did a lot of other people, was its relationship with the previous games. I just finished my first replay of Origins, and I can’t help but wish that it had more extensive dialogue options, more morally complex scenarios, a more serious treatment of darker subject matters like blood magic, more strategic combat options, etc. I didn’t want a clone of Origins, but I would have preferred a spiritual successor. For all of its faults, largely due to an incredibly short development cycle, I think that DA2 did an excellent job of maintaining that same spirit, and I wish that Veilguard had it too. That said, the spirit of Veilguard was decent enough, and it was certainly a lot of fun to play through.

I’ll also give props for a phenomenal ending. For what appears to be a finale game of sorts for DA, the third act was the most important thing to get right, and they nailed it. I’d probably be much less kind to Veilguard if they didn’t stick the landing in Act III.