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"Copyright by Shen Comix"

When it comes to Bioware... I would say that they’re my favourite developer, they just don’t seem to want to be. The problem with Bioware isn’t that they’re bad necessarily, they’re just a mess. I can truthfully admit that I love a lot of their games, but saying that also comes with some heavy caveats.

Let me put it this way. Knights of the Old Republic is about how anyone can aspire to be better than they are and it’s never too late to turn over a new leaf. Baldur’s Gate is about how even simple acts of love can overcome anything. Mass Effect is about how bigotry and paranoia will fucking doom you and doom you fast. You can guess which one is my favourite.

But what’s Dragon Age about? Well, I suppose it’s torn between two different things. The first is the blight and the big fantasy battles because a lot of people are dull and that’s all they ever got out of the Lord of the Rings. The second is bigotry and genocide being committed by the humans against the elves... and also anyone with the misfortune of being born a mage. This game really said fuck Wizards.

The problem is that Dragon Age goes out of it’s way to avoid addressing it wherever possible. You could argue that Dragon Age doesn’t actually have something to say, but rather it has something to avoid saying. That means the systemic rot of the human kingdom is very much secondary to the hoards washing over the land.

The specific game I want to talk about, however, is Veilguard, which is the newest and the one I find to be the most interesting out of the bunch. The conversation surrounding this game is a weird one because it simultaneously gets branded as too political and also cowardly apolitical at the same time.

How about this, I don’t think Origins has aged all too well, to be honest. I don't see it as this dark and mature story that covers serious subjects and did it really well, so Veilguard ends up feeling refreshing in comparison because it’s more philosophically deep.

Dragon Age likes to gloss over it’s sociopolitical issues in favour of “fight the big evil guys”, so you would think it would be a problem that Veilguard goes even bigger with it’s stakes, but it actually isn’t. The thing is, the conflict is so big, and so massive, that everyone needs to be at their best. That means any unfinished business, or your companions being anything less than completely devoted to you, means that shit will hit the fan real fast during the final mission if you’re not prepared for it.

The end result is surprisingly similar to Mass Effect 2, which was a lot of taking your crew on little therapy missions before flying into the galactic core. And that’s great, there’s a reason why Mass Effect 2 was considered the most satisfying. People need to have a world they can actually fight for, after all.

Veilguard pulls back on the eldritch apocalypse for a moment to appreciate people looking forward to a brighter future, a future they now want to defend. This is the first time, for example, where you can help the elves do something. You can help them not just survive, but thrive, by giving them back their history and help make a path forwards for themselves. The elves actually get to look forward to something, not just to reclaim the past, but to build a real future for themselves.

Let’s talk about Taash. Everything about their identity is in turmoil, their culture and their desires, and even their own gender. That means their story is all about determining those things, with most of them being in relation to their mother. I like how Taash has a backbone, you really get the feeling that this is someone who’s had everything about them constantly interrogated, and is at their wits end. Now, you can argue that this makes Taash come across as irrational, but if you’ve been there yourself, then I think you get it. It’s not irrational, it’s actually a rational response to other people’s bad behaviour.

Let’s just go ahead and rip the band-aid off, but I’ve hinted at before that the Dragon Age series isn’t all that deep. Origins didn’t do anything with it’s bigotry other than show you people being racist. If you play as an Elf, you get subjected to racism, but if you play as a Human, then you get to be racist.

As such, it doesn’t surprise me that the perpetually outraged gamer bros love Origins, but hated Veilguard, because a game that revels in that edginess and racism, would be exactly their thing. Origins was weird because it thinks, hey, look at how horrible that person is! You wanna be that person?

Veilguard is more brightly coloured, it’s characters generally more earnest and sincere, and it’s the heaviest game in the series in terms of emotional weight. There’s a theme of new beginnings that encompasses every character story, finding new reasons to live and keep going forward. Be that finding a new purpose in life and moving beyond grief, or literally defining who you are and moving into new and frightening territory.

Here’s the thing, Bioware is a mess, but if a game can make me cry, then who cares? It’s done it’s job despite any flaws that it might have, none of that matters anymore. People in this game lose the things they’re living for and have to find reasons to keep going, having to pull the drive to fight when they’re at their most hopeless. It’s the bleakest game in the series, but it employs that bleak tone to create something beautiful.

Veilguard is a good game, actually. Not only is it good, it’s fucking great.