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The very first Dragon Age: The Veilguard trailer makes it look like a Fortnite heist movie

BioWare's fourth and firmly single player Dragon Age RPG breaks cover

A screenshot of a dragon hunter in Dragon Age: The Veilguard with "official reveal trailer" written on it
Image credit: EA

Microsoft have published the very first trailer for EA and BioWare's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, at their summer Xbox Game Showcase. It accompanies the first details of this "immersive single player RPG" - pause for ecstatic applause from Anthem haters - "where you become the leader others believe in". Not miles from the premise of Dragon Age: Inquisition, then. That footage, tho? Not entirely Inquisitiony.

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I was expecting a game in which you gather "a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories", but I wasn't expecting the presentation to be this, well, heisty. The trailer begins with old dwarf chum Varric taking part in a pub brawl, then launches into a montage of the game's other characters which reminds me more of Ocean's Eleven than Dragon Age. Others in the trailer comments are comparing it to Fortnite, and on reflection, it does look a bit like a trailer for an emotes and costumes rollout. The final piece of the puzzle is, needless to say, your anonymous custom character, who ends the footage by dropping a chandelier on a bunch of hoodlums.

I'm... cautious about this, but I also like that I've been caught off (Veil)guard. The fourth Dragon Age has been in the works for a while, amid difficult times for BioWare, so it needs to be something more than another straight-laced high fantasy offering. Still, I hope it's a bit more traditional in-game. I do not play Dragon Age for High Jinks and getaway music.

The companion characters are Harding, the Scout, Neve, the Detective, Emmrich, the Necromancer, Taash, the Dragon Hunter, Davrin, the Warden, Bellara, the Veil Jumper and Lucanis, the Mage Killer. All very "one last job". The plot pitches you up against corrupt gods who have escaped their centuries-old prison, demons and, of course, dragons. I guess I'm allowed to say that I'm seeing Dragon Age shortly - if you have questions, please fill the comments with them. There's a longer Dragon Age: The Veilguard video on the way tomorrow, 11th June at 8am PT/4pm BST.


The flurry of summer games events are now underway! Hit up our Summer Game Fest 2024 hub and our Day Of The Devs roundup for all the news worth caring about from the shows so far.

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