BioWare plays it totally safe with storytelling in Dragon Age: The Veilguard but there’s one emotional gut punch that really got me

I think it’s fair to say that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a game that was developed to be as safe as possible. Complex moral issues are completely bypassed, quest choices are rather simplistic, and ‘The Gods’ are just token evil characters that must be destroyed. I’m okay with all of that because the game itself has been lots of fun to play and complete.

Compared to previous Dragon Age games and other BioWare classics, I never felt particularly invested in any of the characters I interacted with, but again, not a problem as the combat more than made up for it. The writing and voice acting are partly to blame here but I think it’s more a case of that it was all very predictable.

That’s because BioWare rolled out lots of elements it has used in previous classics, and having already played the living daylights out of the Mass Effect and previous Dragon Age games, none of the twists and turns in the story were unfamiliar. Safe, remember?

But there’s one particular scene, late on in the game, that really caught me off guard. It was a full-blown emotional gut punch and although I wish it hadn’t occurred at the time, in retrospect, I wish Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a lot more moments like it.

Naturally, to explain what I saw is going to involve an awful lot of spoilers, so if you don’t want to know about what lies ahead, then back on out of here. G’wan now, scoot.

Still here? Right, then.

Spoilers ahoy

If you’ve played Mass Effect 2, you’ll probably guess where I’m heading with this. A critical element of that game is about building up your ship and crewmate relationships such that when the final battle commences, you stand an increasing chance of making it through unscathed.

Veilguard has a similar thing and that’s made pretty clear very early on in the game, where different factions have strength ratings that you can improve, as well as the ‘bond’ levels you have with each primary NPC.

Towards the end of Act 2, you’re given a main quest called Isle of the Gods. You all pile into ‘Teh g0ds’ main base to defeat the baddies but, naturally, you have to split your forces. So far, so familiar, so safe.

I chose to have Davrin lead the second team, as I’d got him to full strength, and completed all his sidequests, involving Assan, his loyal griffon. I don’t know if exactly the same thing that I experienced would happen if you picked someone else but I’ve only played the whole game through once. Besides, picking him made sense, as he’s a Grey Warden and built like a proverbial brick house.

So I set off, hacked my way through hordes of enemies, to eventually come face-to-face with one of ‘thE G0dz’…sorry, Ghilan’nain. Cue a very protracted punch-up that was a little more frustrating and drawn out than I expected it to be. Still, I was making headway with relatively few tears and not a single save game reload. Safe.

But then a cutscene kicked in, as I moved in to free Lucanis so he could go all stabby-stabby with the wonder dagger. Davrin makes an appearance, doing his Grey Warden thing, but it goes horribly wrong as Ghilan’nain plunges her tentacles through his chest. He then falls into a gaping maw of blight and as he falls, you hear Assan scream and fly in after him.

For a brief moment, I thought the griffon would explode free, clutching his fallen master, because everything had been all so safe and simple thus far. But no, BioWare did its thing and there would be no saving of the Warden and his faithful companion. They’re both consumed by the blight.

It was a loss I wasn’t prepared for; it was a loss I absolutely didn’t want. I’ve had so many pets in my life, it was like losing one of them all over again. If you want to experience it for yourself, without playing the game, just watch the video above.

But why BioWare, why? I did everything right, I made sure everyone was as strong and as well-equipped as possible. Sure, Grey Wardens make the ultimate sacrifice to take out archdemons but Assan didn’t have to die. After all, with almost every other aspect of the game being so safe you could have it babysitting a toddler, it just felt far too much of an emotional jolt.

As much as it genuinely hurt to watch that cutscene again, I’m glad BioWare chose to do it. Mostly because it induced so much rage that I went on an absolute rampage through the rest of the game, battering the living daylights out of anything that moved (or didn’t), to the point where I’d finished Veilguard without really noticing.

I’m replaying Dragon Age: The Veilguard to get the last few achievements but now I’m faced with a genuine dilemma. There’s absolutely no way I’m having Assan die again, so who do I pick this time? It won’t be Harding, that’s for sure, as she’s awesome, but what if I’m forced to do so? Hang on a second, what happened to the game being all safe and cosy?

Dammit BioWare, you just couldn’t help yourself, could you.