With Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s rebranding and reveal taking place just a few months back during Summer Games Fest, Electronic Arts and BioWare only have two more months to promote and get the word out before their latest RPG hits store shelves. Evidently, the two aren’t wasting any time, and this weekend, they released a whopping 10 minutes of new footage, highlighting the Warrior class and giving us a more in-depth look at the game’s combat systems. Seeing as previous showcases focused on the Rogue and Mage classes, it’s great to see a bit more variety, though we’re surprised just how in-depth this is.
All the new footage is split across four different videos, with the first one focusing on how players can customize and fine-tune their characters to fit their playstyle. Admittedly, there isn’t anything revolutionary on display here. For instance, you can assign abilities to your hero to pull off special moves in the heat of battle, with equippable runes bolstering your power and abilities. We also caught a glimpse of the Veilguard‘s skill tree and inventory systems, and a sneak peek at some potential builds — the pyromaniacs out there will be happy to hear that fire-focused combat is one such option, and will certainly prove effective when taking on darkspawn.
The second video showcases the basics of Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s combat. Regardless of which class you pick, there are a set of foundational moves that you can perform, with jumping, dodging, light and heavy attacks that can all be chained together. Adhering to the strict guidelines laid down by the gaming gods, light attacks dole out damage quickly and inflict small amounts of stagger on your enemies, with heavier attacks taking longer while doling out more stagger. In this hectic world that we find ourselves in, it’s nice to see that the classics haven’t changed. There are a few more systems to tangle with (enemies, for example, can have armor or shield barriers that have to be whittled down), but from the outside looking in, Veilguard‘s ability and rune system seem to provide enough variety and freedom to tackle any situation you find yourself in.
The last two videos center around buffs/debuffs, ultimate abilities, as well as the concept of Primers and Detonators. These are essentially the alley-oop of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, letting players either set up a combo or unleash one, with their AI companions playing the accompanying role. For instance, one party member might freeze a small group of enemies, paving the way for another to unleash massive damage using their own abilities.
For those who’d rather sit back and enjoy the action, you can check out the multi-part showcase we’ve embedded above, which includes all four of the aforementioned videos.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to release on October 31, for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5.
