The Dragon Age franchise is not known for staying exactly the same from game to game. Whether it’s changes in scope, in setting, in who your player character is, or in the mechanics of companion approval, there’s always something new cooking. But the most surprising change Dragon Age: The Veilguard makes from its predecessors?

I’m actually enjoying the combat.

The combat has never been what I come to a BioWare game for — so emphatically that I have been known to scoff at anyone who might consider it vital to the experience. This is the gaming equivalent of insisting on referring to all mainstream sports as “sportsball” and talking about how you only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. It’s unfair, and I’m not exactly proud of it. But, then again, the selling point of a BioWare game has always been on the narrative side of things.

The company’s bread and butter is in presenting you with intricate world-building, complex characters, and compelling choices. BioWare has built a reputation as a titan of the CRPG genre, of which combat is one........

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