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After a 10-year break, BioWare finally delivered a new Dragon Age to fans last year, offering a brand-new role-playing experience set in the fantasy universe. BioWare has already confirmed that Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't be receiving any more post-launch content, but now it looks like even regular updates are coming to an end. Patch 5 for the RPG just landed, bringing a single new quality-of-life change as well as a pretty big list of bug fixes. Alongside it, though, BioWare made a statement thanking players for spending time with the game and the following updates. It adds that the company is now moving to monitoring the game's health, which many fans are taking as a farewell. Here's the full message: The complete list of changes hitting the game with Patch 5 are these: BioWare confirmed a few months ago that its teams are now fully focused on the next Mass Effect entry, with no post-launch story content in the works for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. EA has recently confirmed that despite having 1.5 million players, the RPG missed its targets by 50%. Veilguard's game director also exited BioWare this year to pursue other RPG ventures. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Dragon Age series of role-playing games began with Origins in 2009. Following its hugely positive reception, developer BioWare quickly followed up with Dragon Age II in 2011 and Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014. Following that entry though, the series went silent for 10 years, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally landing in 2024. However, it looks like BioWare has just lost its game director. Reports of Dragon Age: The Veilguard game director, Corinne Busche, exiting the EA studio first surfaced from reliable industry insider Jeff Grubb, who added that other parts of BioWare is currently not affected by any imminent shut-down notices. Other publications like Eurogamer also corroborated Busche's exit later. Following hordes of social media postings about the departure, Corinne Busche has now made a statement confirming her exit from BioWare. She says the reason for the departure is due to her accepting another offer from a company, which will also involve the role-playing genre. Here's the complete statement via Eurogamer: Corinne Busche has been with EA for the past 18 years, with her stints involving The Sims franchise at Maxis before joining BioWare in 2019. She took up the Dragon Age: The Veilguard game director role in 2022, its final years of development after it had finally dropped its live service multiplayer elements to become a single-player RPG. Following Veilguard's launch, the EA RPG studio is currently focused on the next Mass Effect game. A TV show based on the sci-fi series has just been confirmed too. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

It's patch day for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with BioWare's latest RPG receiving a whole lot of bug fixes players have found since launch. Alongside it though, as this is N7 Day, the studio is celebrating its sci-fi series Mass Effect with a small addition for fans. "We can't believe it's been a whole week since Dragon Age: The Veilguard launched," says the studio. "Whether you've already been playing or are jumping in for the first time, we have our first patch releasing today with a few quality of life improvements and bug fixes." Mass Effect fans can now find a new armor after completing the "The Singing Blade" mission. it can be found in the Lighthouse area. The set is cosmetic only though, so don't expect shields and weapon holsters to pop up everywhere. Here's the full changelog: "We'll also be supporting the game with additional patches in the future to help make your playing experience even better," added the studio. While more bug fixes and balance tweaks are incoming, BioWare has already confirmed that no more story content is in development. The team is now fully focused on the next Mass Effect game. A TV show based on the sci-fi series has just been confirmed too. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Five years after the Anthem debacle, BioWare finally went back to being an RPG studio last week with the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While critics and owners who have played it seems to consider it an okay experience at the least, it looks like a large number of users are review bombing the title in the user review sections on the internet. Metacritic is one of the spaces hit with the tactic. The popular review aggregate website's Dragon Age: The Veilguard reviews for the PlayStation 5 version sees critic average score hovering at 83 or Generally Favorable. This is after 57 reviews from critics and major creators. However, the same platform's user reviews section shows a drastically lower score of 3.8/10 after almost 2,000 reviews. Similar numbers can be seen on the game's other platform pages on Metacritic, with PC user score sitting at 2.3/10, and Xbox Series X|S at 3.9/10. Many of the negative reviewers seem to be putting 0 or 1 as their scores for the game, stating it is "woke" propaganda by BioWare. At the time of writing, Steam reviews, which can only be set by those who have purchased the game unlike on Metacritic, has Veilguard's user rating balancing at 74%, or 'Mostly Positive'. This rating has been achieved after over 13,000 reviews have been submitted by players. When inquired about the review bombing of Veilguard on Metacritic by Eurogamer, a spokesperson for its parent company Fandom had said: EA and BioWare are yet to reveal the launch sales performance of Dragon Age: the Veilguard, but it did break the publisher's previous Steam records for a single-player release. Development has concluded though, as the studio is now working on the next Mass Effect entry. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

It's the first day of launch for BioWare's latest RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and it has already broken a record for EA. The single-player experience is the publisher's biggest release on Steam so far, with its concurrent players number peaking above what Star Wars Jedi: Survivor achieved in 2023. According to Steam data, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's day-one concurrent peak reached 70,414 players. As of writing, the current number stands at just over 30,000. There's a good chance the peak will rise to much higher heights once the weekend rush on Steam hits the game. For comparison, EA's second biggest single-player launch on Steam, Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, saw an all-time best peak of 67,855 players jumping into the game on at launch. While starting off at mixed, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Steam user reviews are steadily climbing up too. Many of the complaints seem to be stemming from a crashing issue being experienced by some players, who can't get passed the shader cache building stage. Hours later, the rating is currently sitting at 79% "Mostly Positive" state with almost 3,500 user reviews, and is soon about to reach "Very Positive". The title's lower price point on PC, $60 compared to $70 on consoles, lack of EA App integration on Steam (allowing the game to run natively), and already being Steam Deck verified are helping the game gain traction with the PC crowd as well. Don't forget that third-party DRM formatas like Denuvo is not a part of the game either. We will have to wait and see if EA shares any player or sales numbers across all platforms once the weekend numbers come through. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is now available on PC (Steam, EA App, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, as well as PlayStation 5. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Dragon Age: The Veilguard falters at times, but at its core is a cast of characters that rank among BioWare's best. I land three headshots in a row, crippling the Venatori mage that's right in front of me. I backflip to get away from the fireball, but I'm not fast enough, being set aflame, my already-low health burning away. Calling on my necromancer friend Emmrich to heal me, I have my scout Harding land a heavy blow, finishing the mage off and winning the battle. So go the adventures of Rook, latest in a long line of characters forced or fated to save Thedas, the setting for BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. Dragon Age: The Veilguard marks the fourth entry in this series, and its first new game since 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition, which launched just shy of a decade ago at the time I'm writing this. Dragon Age is a franchise that's close to my heart, and has been ever since I stayed up all night playing the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, falling in love with tales of Darkspawn, Grey Wardens, and a dark fantasy world that still found levity and humor in the characters that inhabited it. I've spent 50 hours playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and now that the credits have rolled, I'm ready to share my thoughts. Dragon Age: The Veilguard streamlines a number of things, with breakneck pacing and an action-packed focus that makes this game in many ways closer tonally to BioWare's Mass Effect 2 than to other Dragon Age titles. The story (while intriguing) doesn't always give its earth-shattering reveals time to marinate or focus. At its heart, however, is a cast of characters among BioWare's finest, with bonds that carry this new journey to greatness. Disclaimer This review was made possible thanks to a review code provided by Electronic Arts. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing. What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Petting the griffin is an important part of team-building. (Image credit: Windows Central) Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an action role-playing game (RPG) developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. Crafting a player character named Rook — you can pick Rook's race, gender, class, and background affiliation — players build a team called The Veilguard to stop ancient elven deities from destroying the world. Acquiring new gear like improved weapons and armor, you grow stronger as you level up, evolving with additional skills that lend passive strength or abilities that can turn the tide of a battle. Like in other BioWare games, you'll make decisions on who to befriend (and even possibly romance) while completing main missions and side quests across different regions, with your decisions affecting individuals and entire nations alike. Altering the Dragon Age formula, The Veilguard leans in heavier than ever before on action, prioritizing moment-to-moment gameplay and reactive skill usage over tactical thinking and extensive preparation. Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Story and characters The Dread Wolf claims to have a plan. (Image credit: Windows Central) Coming 10 years after the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition (and eight years after its Trespasser DLC), The Veilguard juggles a number of story beats, functioning as both the most direct sequel ever in the series but also its most singularly distinct entry. Solas, Fen'Harel, The Dread Wolf — the elven god of trickery and deceit has many names, but only one goal, to tear down the Veil separating the world of Thedas from the Fade, a dreaming world of spirits and demons. Varric, one of Solas' former companions, is determined to keep him from destroying the world. Enter Rook, hailing from some chunk of northern Thedas. While there's a range of role-playing customization options available, Rook has something of a set personality, operating as a blunt instrument trying as best they can to lead their team. Ultimately, Rook has more in common with Hawke than the Hero of Ferelden or the Inquisitor, feeling like a defined character as well as a player avatar. Given Rook's role in opposing Solas — this game was once named Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, after the titular antagonist — the relationship between the two is fascinating to see unfold, and while I don't want to spoil anything in particular, it's one of the most rewarding relationship dynamics I've seen in a BioWare game. The decade-long wait for longtime fans paid off, and I found myself shedding a tear or two while experiencing the story unfold. Shadowy organizations like the Antivan Crows can be powerful allies. (Image credit: Windows Central) Arguably, even more important than Solas are the Veilguard, the companions that Rook gathers in their quest. Party members and their dynamics are a hallmark strength of BioWare storytelling, and The Veilguard delivers here in spades. I found myself getting attached to characters I initially rolled my eyes at, ecstatic to see how their stories would continue in friendship or in romance. All seven companions — Harding, Davrin, Emmrich, Taash, Bellara, Lucanis, and Neve — are an eclectic bunch, but they earn their place here. Extending outside the core companions are the factions populating northern Thedas, with groups like the Antivan Crows, the Grey Wardens, Mourn Watchers, and many more to ally with. While all these characters — friend, foe, and everyone in-between — are a treat to interact with, a number of the game's reveals are not given quite the same attention. The Veilguard isn't afraid of radically altering the status quo, throwing curveballs and questioning (or outright rejecting) long-held in-universe beliefs. I'm all for that, but many of them are glossed over or barely-addressed outside of offhand remarks, which is a shame because the ideas here are fascinating to grapple with. I also wish the decisions from past games carried over here. Dragon Age has never been as interconnected as the original Mass Effect trilogy, but it was always cool seeing characters return in a new game after you'd saved their lives in the prior outing, or seeing a codex entry reflect one of your choices. What's here is handled well, but that touch is mostly missing, outside of a couple of key decisions from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Gameplay and features The Darkspawn are back, and they're seeing red. (Image credit: Windows Central) Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition both inched the franchise away from the CRPG-esque roots of Dragon Age: Origins. Perhaps reflecting the decade-long wait between games, Dragon Age: The Veilguard does not inch, but instead takes a flying leap into full action-RPG territory. That's not at all a bad thing, as playing as a Rogue has never felt this fun and responsive. Instead of awkwardly shuffling into position, my Rook zips across the battlefield, dodging and weaving, turning enemies into pincushions with a bow and arrow from a distance before closing in with poisoned blades. It's not tolerable or okay, it feels downright great to play. The Mass Effect influence here is strong, and it works well. Like in prior games, you'll level up after getting enough experience points, earning skill points that can be used to expand Rook's repertoire. It's also how you unlock a particular specialization, making it feel natural as you literally expand your skills in a certain direction. My Rook ended up with a Saboteur specialization, unleashing enhanced explosive traps. Combat is hectic, but you can pause and issue orders at any point. (Image credit: Windows Central) The continued influence from Mass Effect does rear its head in one annoying way, however, as you're now restricted to only two companions at a time in your party, issuing orders instead of being able to control them directly. In addition to a noticeable reduction in banter, it means you've got fewer options in particularly brutal fights. My adventures in other Dragon Age games are filled with desperate struggles where only one party member remained standing against a tough boss. With a battle over the moment Rook falls (and is unable to be revived) that's not an option here, and the experience is poorer for it. General exploration and combat takes place over tight zones, with mostly-linear missions that have little space for exploration. I do wish these areas were larger, with more room to venture and wander, but it does neatly avoid the open-zone fatigue of Dragon Age: Inquisition, which often slowed the game's pace to a crawl. Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Visuals and audio The forest of Arlathan evokes haunting beauty. (Image credit: Windows Central) Continuing with the themes of constant change, every Dragon Age game has featured a markedly different art direction than its predecessor, and The Veilguard isn't stopping the trend now. Eschewing a hyperrealistic visual tone, The Veilguard instead opts for something more ethereal at first glance. Dark, towering spires and lush coastlines are awash in color, giving the game an almost painted aesthetic. It's quite beautiful to look at, and is downright mesmerizing at times, given the wide range of locations The Veilguard visits. The nations of Antiva, Rivain, and Tevinter, long-mentioned in the stories of Dragon Age, are finally seen in a game here, and their presentation delivers in spades. The ray-traced reflections BioWare has implemented work wonders here, mirroring a thousand streetlights and magical wonders. It's not all beautiful high fantasy, though, and there's plenty of grime and darkness to go around. At multiple key points, BioWare dips back into its dark fantasy origins. The dry, haunted crypts of Nevarran tombs are as eerie as they are awing, while Blighted regions ooze with blood and puss. While the character designs aren't the most detailed I've ever seen, art direction once again shines over raw fidelity, with tons of personality and beauty across your companions and the factions you interact with. Particular praise must be levied at the hair physics, which are a downright generational leap over anything in prior BioWare games. I've enjoyed every Dragon Age and Mass Effect game before this, but they all shared a similar, shameful lack of manes that's been heartily corrected here. The one real exception is the Darkspawn. These once-horrifying foes have suffered with every entry in the franchise, being finally reduced here into uninteresting, goopy cannon fodder. There is a story explanation for the visual disparity here, but it's not enough to justify how thoroughly tiresome their new look is. The Tevinter Imperium is fallen from grace, but Minrathous is still spectacular to behold. (Image credit: Windows Central) Running on my gaming PC with an RTX 3070 and an NVMe SSD, I was able to get Dragon Age: The Veilguard going at mostly maxed-out settings while maintaining 60 frames-per-second, with a small handful of features tweaked or disabled to avoid VRAM issues and stuttering. This setup worked for most of the game, though I noted a couple of larger areas in Arlathan forest seemed to be more demanding, with dynamic resolution visibly kicking in but still not being enough to avoid dropping frames. Solid audio design work complements the game's visuals, with fantastic feedback as blades ring and spells fly. I particularly love the shattering glass sound associated with parrying a deadly blow, a noise that turns an impact of otherwise-imminent death into a second wind for a fight. Dragon Age has a strong musical legacy, so I'm relieved to say The Veilguard also features a great soundtrack, with a rousing main theme co-composed by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe that kicks in across pivotal moments of the game. There's a strength but more importantly an urgency in this score that suits the game's high stakes. It's different, lending a unique tone to The Veilguard that helps set it apart from the grander, more epic scale that Trevor Morris lent to Dragon Age: Inquisition, which itself stands apart from the haunting wails that Inon Zur composed for Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Accessibility and approachability The Darkspawn are one of many constant threats to the Veilguard. (Image credit: Windows Central) Like many other big games in recent years, Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a full suite of accessibility options. From font sizes and colorblindness settings to screen shake and a persistent dot, there are plenty of features that players can use to avoid motion sickness or suit their particular needs. This extends to the difficulty options, which can be adjusted at a granular level, letting players alter enemy aggression and combat timing to get things just right for their skill level or desired combat intensity. As for the world's approachability, Dragon Age: The Veilguard does its best to set newcomers up, explaining key characters and concepts, while the in-game codex can be consulted for further information. Ultimately, though, this is the conclusion to an arc that began with Dragon Age: Inquisition, and a lot of the ideas simply aren't going to hit as hard for someone that isn't steeped in this world. Newcomers can absolutely have a fun experience, but I highly recommend being familiar with the world of Dragon Age before playing The Veilguard. Dragon Age: The Veilguard review — Final thoughts Manfred is the best skeleton that any necromancer could ever ask for. (Image credit: Windows Central) Dragon Age is fascinating, a truly unique franchise that sows debate with every appearance. Each entry has evolved and changed the formula, for better or worse. Coming a decade after its predecessor, that constant change never been more evident than here with The Veilguard. The combat is wildly different and the tone varies, but the characters here are the same vital, meaningful core that BioWare is known to deliver. While far removed in many ways from the fantasy franchise I grew up loving, Dragon Age: The Veilguard takes its place by prior adventures in Thedas with pride. Like the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor before them, Rook shows that Dragon Age isn't out of tricks just yet. Some story reveals aren't expounded on nearly enough for my taste, and I certainly wish we had more time to explore some regions of Thedas that we're finally getting to see in a game. I'll forever mourn no longer directly controlling my companions. When all is said and done though, every prior Dragon Age game has managed to make me feel something, to grow attached to characters, cheering for their victories and mourning their passing. By that ultimate personal metric, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a success. Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on Oct. 31, 2024 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (Steam, EA App, and Epic Games Store), and PlayStation 5. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Here's when you can play the new Dragon Age adventure fans have waited a decade for. 2024 may almost be over, but what could be one of the year's best games is still on the way. The title I'm referring to is none other than Dragon Age: The Veilguard — the fourth mainline entry in BioWare and Electronic Arts' legendary RPG series, and the first in it since 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition released a decade ago. The wait for "Dragon Age 4" has been an incredibly long one, but now that it's finally almost here, excitement for the game is rapidly ramping up. With the RPG now just a few weeks away, players interested in the prospect of a new fantasy adventure are wondering when specifically they'll be able to embark on this new Dragon Age journey. Luckily, the developers have announced the game's official release date, along with precise launch time information. You'll find all of that in the sections below, as well as everything we know about things like preloads and storage requirements. What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a single player action RPG set in the fantasy world of Thedas, and it takes place after the events of the series' previous game Dragon Age: Inquisition. Players will create and take control of a custom character called "Rook" (you'll be able to give them an actual name in the character creator) and adventure through the game as one of three classes — Warrior, Rogue, or Mage — with each class allowing you to customize and finely tune your playstyle with specialization subclasses. Like many other action RPGs, combat involves utilizing weapons, magic, and skills to take the fight to foes while avoiding their strikes with well-timed defensive maneuvers like dodges, blocks, and parries. Naturally, most of The Veilguard's choice-driven story has been kept under wraps by EA and BioWare, though there are some things we know about the overarching plot of the game. Solas, a companion character that returns from Inquisition, threatens all of Thedas with a ritual that is said to restore lost elven immortality, but also rip open the Veil — the barrier between the world and the metaphysical "Fade" realm where demons reside. You and The Veilguard companions stop him, however, with the ensuing skirmish resulting in the arrival of a pair of elven gods that plan to destroy the world. In the aftermath, you and your allies are tasked with banding together to slay the two deadly deities. The game will have seven different companions you can recruit, travel, and fight alongside, with deep backstories and romances to engage with if you're so inclined. Also, several characters from previous Dragon Age games will appear throughout the story. For example, Varric Tethras and Lace Harding will both be in The Veilguard, with the former originating from Dragon Age 2 and the latter first introduced in Inquisition. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (via Steam, the EA app, and GeForce NOW), and PS5, and costs $59.99 to preorder (notably, it's also Steam Deck verified). In addition to the standard version of the game, there's also a $79.99 Deluxe Edition with a suite of exclusive cosmetic goodies for Rook and their companions (see our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preorder guide for more information). Dragon Age: The Veilguard — Release date and times Here's the official map for Dragon Age: The Veilguard's launch times on its release date. (Image credit: Electronic Arts) Fans hoping to play the new RPG soon will be happy to know that it's not at all far off, and is only a few short weeks away. Specifically, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's scheduled release date is October 31, 2024, officially making it 2024's spookiest game launch. In terms of exact launch time, BioWare has confirmed that The Veilguard will become available at the same time worldwide at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET. As a result of this global launch, though, it actually won't release until early on November 1 in a few eastern regions. If you're planning to stay up late on Halloween to play the game as soon as it comes out, keep that in mind! Thanks to a launch times map from EA and BioWare, we know exactly when The Veilguard will release in major time zones across the world. Each of these times is visible in the image of the map above, though I've also put them in the table below: Time zone Release date PDT Oct. 31, 9:00 a.m. MDT Oct. 31, 10:00 a.m. EDT Oct. 31, 12:00 p.m. BRT Oct. 31, 1:00 p.m. GMT Oct. 31, 4:00 p.m. CET Oct. 31, 5:00 p.m. TRT Oct. 31, 7:00 p.m. IST Oct. 31, 9:30 p.m. UTC+7 Oct. 31, 11:00 p.m. JST Nov. 1, 1:00 a.m. AEDT Nov. 1, 3:00 a.m. NZDT Nov. 1, 5:00 a.m. Can I play Dragon Age: The Veilguard with Early Access? These days, lots of big games — especially single player RPGs like this one — have special Early Access periods where people who purchase Deluxe or Ultimate Editions can play several days. However, Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn't have one of these, meaning that regardless of the edition you buy, you'll have to wait until October 31 at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET to jump into the game. Dragon Age: The Veilguard countdown clock Thedas depends on the Veilguard to stop malevolent elvish deities from wreaking havoc. (Image credit: Electronic Arts) Dragon Age: The Veilguard download size In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you can be a fearsome battlemage, a heavily armored knight, a nimble ranger, or anything between. (Image credit: Electronic Arts) New games have gotten quite large in recent years, and I'm not just referring to things like map sizes and quest counts. These days, it's not uncommon to see a massive and highly detailed single player RPG like this one require 100GB of file space or more, and unfortunately, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is in-line with that trend. As revealed by the official , you'll need 100GB of storage on a solid-state drive (SSD) to play the game. If you don't have enough space on an SSD you already own, you can try to free up hard drive space by deleting old files (especially large ones like videos), compressing others, or uninstalling other games you don't often play (these are just a few suggestions). If you want to add more space to your rig or need to get an SSD, consider picking up one of the best SSDs available right now. Dragon Age: The Veilguard preload date and time A player-created "Rook," the protagonist and playable character of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. (Image credit: Windows Central) One of the best features of modern gaming is preloading, or downloading and installing a game before it actually becomes available to play. Preloading has become increasingly prevalent ever since file sizes started ballooning into the triple digits, as it helps everyone — especially players with poor or slow internet connections — start playing at launch right away. Preloads are available for both the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with Xbox preloads live now and PlayStation ones coming a few days before the game's release date. You'll find its exact preload dates and times listed below. Xbox Series X|S: Oct. 14, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET PlayStation 5: Oct. 29, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET Can I preload Dragon Age: The Veilguard on PC? Sadly, preloads are not available for the PC version of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, meaning you'll have to wait until 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET on October 31 to download and install it. The developers say they weren't able to offer preloads for PC players since The Veilguard doesn't have any form of third-party digital rights management (DRM) like Denuvo in it. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to release on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 on October 31, 2024. It looks to be one of the top new single player RPGs, and could very well be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year, too. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts

EA and BioWare are just about ready to deliver their next RPG epic, with Dragon Age: The Veilguard coming in for fans in a couple of weeks. In its latest blog post covering preload times and advanced specifications for the game, though, the developer also shared some information about the digital rights management (DRM) technologies it will be using, confirming that no third-party facilities will be used. This means Denuvo will not be a part of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the popular anti-piracy measure used by many publishers and developers nowadays. There is a small drawback, though, with BioWare saying that "the lack of DRM means that there will be no preload period for PC players." Here's when Xbox and PlayStation players can begin their preload of the game, plus global launch times for the RPG: Xbox Series X|S: October 14th 9 AM PDT Playstation 5: October 29th, 9 AM PDT The studio has already shared hardware requirements for Dragon Age: The Veilguard PC players as well as details of the extensive testing this version is going through to make sure proper optimization is a major factor. It's even Steam Deck verified already. Today, the studio showed off another PC specifications table with a little bit more information on what kind of performance players can expect with ray tracing and different FPS expectations. See the table below: As for consoles, fidelity (30FPS) and performance (60FPS) modes will be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. The new PlayStation 5 Pro will feature the same options in Veilguard, but BioWare says additional resolution and visual improvements will be seen when using the latest and improved hardware. "The team at BioWare is proud of how immersed players will be when they enter the beautiful world of Thedas, with upgraded image quality thanks to Sony’s new AI-based upscaler, PSSR," says BioWare studio technical director Maciej Kurowski. "We’ve enabled Raytraced Ambient Occlusion (RTAO) in the 60FPS Performance mode, which previously was only available on the base PlayStation 5 with 30FPS Fidelity mode." Dragon Age: The Veilguard is releasing on October 31 across PC (Steam, EA App, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, as well as PlayStation 5. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts

BioWare's next RPG fantasy epic, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, still has a couple of months left in the oven before fans can get their hands on it, but the developer is hard at work showing off the experience. Now, BioWare has unveiled what sort of features can PC players expect to see from the game, as well as just how much performance testing it is doing. "Getting the PC experience just right was crucial to us and we created a dedicated team to focus on PC," says the company in a dedicated blog post. "The Dragon Age franchise started out on PC, and we wanted to make sure PC is a great place to play our game. Many of us at BioWare are PC players ourselves." To that end, over 200,000 performance and compatibility testing has been done on the title to make sure it's ready for the platform. It adds that during its platform testing phase, 40% of the effort was given to PC specifically. BioWare shared Dragon Age: The Veilguard's system requirements earlier this month. It showed off surprisingly low demands for the Frostbite Engine-developed RPG, giving credence to BioWare's PC optimization claims. Don't forget that the title has already claimed the Steam Deck Verified status too. It was also revealed today that the game will include native Xbox and DualSense (with haptics) controller support, in addition to keyboard-and-mouse. "There are many different ways to play our game; so, in order to allow you to find the most comfortable set-up, we’ve added the ability to customize class-specific keybinds that you can easily switch between," says BioWare. "This means that your Rogue Rook can use a different set of keybinds than your Warrior Rook, if you’d like!" Support for Ultrawide monitors, an FOV slider, real-time graphics showcasing for when changing settings, a native Steam version without EA Play, as well as ray tracing features are confirmed for the PC version too. Moreover, DLSS 3, a "heavily modified" version of FSR 2.2, and XeSS upscaling tech, as well as DLSS 3 frame generation are incoming as performance enhancing features. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming out on October 31 across PC (Steam, EA App, Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X|S, as well as PlayStation 5 platforms. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

Will Dragon Age: The Veilguard get DLC? Right now, it's somewhat unclear. What you need to know During a preview event for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, game director Corinne Busche was asked about the possibility for DLC and expansions. Busche says that the team's focus right now is just on delivering the base game as a complete experience. All three prior Dragon Age games received post-launch DLC. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to launch on Oct. 31, 2024 across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. If you're wondering whether or not BioWare's upcoming fantasy role-playing will expand past launch, the answer is currently unclear. My colleague Rebecca Spear recently played seven hours of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and she's been excited about everything she experienced. During the preview event, she asked game director Corinne Busche about whether or not Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be getting any DLC or expansions after it launches. Busche replied, "Our focus right now is to make the best single-player RPG that's out there, so we're very focused on just making this featured content as complete as we can." Every prior Dragon Age game received some DLC Dragon Age: Inquisition, which launched back in 2014, received DLC packs through the following year. (Image credit: Electronic Arts) While this answer doesn't really give us much to expect, it's still possible that we could see the game expand with paid DLC after launch. DLC and expansions are a staple of the Dragon Age franchise, with Dragon Age: Origins receiving numerous smaller packs and a full-fledged expansion called Dragon Age: Origins Awakening. While they didn't get full expansions, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition also received multiple DLC packs, which expanded the stories of the games with new questlines, including some pretty major story reveals. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to launch on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2024. It's available across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. If you're not sure which edition to grab, consult our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preorder guide. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts

It sounds like Dragon Age: The Veilguard's higher level cap will allow for plenty of creative buildcrafting. What you need to know Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an upcoming fantasy RPG from developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts, and is the first new mainline game in the Dragon Age franchise since Dragon Age: Inquisition. During a conversation Windows Central had with game director Corinne Busche, she emphasized that buildcrafting will be an important part of the game, with the level cap of 50 — much higher than the Level 27-30 limit of previous entries — hopefully enabling players to "feel like they can outsmart us." "We want players to find emergent builds ... my goodness, nothing would make me happier than somebody outsmarting our best tuners," she said. Busche also confirmed that enemies will scale with the player so that the overall experience will remain challenging and engaging throughout, and noted that balancing the expanded number of buildcrafting options required "some really insightful forethought in how we were going to handle the underlying damage calculations." From their deep, nuanced storytelling to their expansive, handcrafted worlds, there are many things to love about well-made roleplaying games (RPGs). For me, though, one of their biggest highlights has always been buildcrafting — putting together a harmonious, synergistic blend of equipment, character skills, and playstyle to conquer your foes with a high degree of efficiency. It's a huge part of why I fell in love with recent titles like Baldur's Gate 3 and Elden Ring, and it's something developer BioWare wants to emphasize in the upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard as well. Speaking with my colleague Rebecca Spear during a recent preview, game director Corinne Busche explained that the studio is hoping players will "feel like they can outsmart us" with their buildcrafting, as The Veilguard's shift from a Level 27-30 cap to a Level 50 one means you'll have more options to work with than ever before. "We want players to find emergent builds. We want them to feel like they can outsmart us. Maybe not obliterate the game," she clarified, "so when we find those, we try and roll them in. But, my goodness, nothing would make me happier than somebody outsmarting our best tuners." In other words, BioWare is rooting for you to break the RPG a bit with your ideas, though it will likely rein in any wildly overpowered setups people cook up. The increased level cap is certainly exciting, though Busche did stress that builds will still be challenged by a healthy amount of difficulty. Balancing the looser restrictions on your gameplay options "took a concerted effort" and "some really insightful forethought in how we were going to handle the underlying damage calculations," but BioWare sounds confident you won't be breezing through this long-awaited fourth mainline entry in its beloved franchise. Notably, one way the developer is keeping the experience engaging regardless of what level you're at is with foes that level up as you do. "Enemies scale alongside you," she said. "There are moments where you feel like you're maybe overpowering them, and then they leap ahead of you to keep you constantly engaged and pushing forward." Even with that scaling in place, however, I'm sure savvy buildcrafters will find ways to blow Dragon Age: The Veilguard wide open with ridiculous setups capable of flattening anything the adventure throws at them. From hack-and-slash titles like Diablo 4 to shooters like Destiny 2 and Borderlands, I've seen it happen in pretty much every type of RPG out there, and I doubt that's going to stop any time soon. Since this is a single-player game and adjustments can always be made after launch, though, I think that's totally fine. The player character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is referred to as "Rook." (Image credit: Windows Central) Above all else, I'm just glad to hear that BioWare has focused on making putting together builds a rewarding process in this new Dragon Age. I tend to bounce off of RPGs that don't have satisfying ways to level your character and craft builds, so it's reassuring to hear the studio essentially invite players to try and get the better of their balancing efforts. I do also love a good challenge, though, and hope that The Veilguard's enemy scaling can keep up with the wild setups the community will inevitably come up with. We'll find out soon enough, as Dragon Age: The Veilguard is scheduled to launch in just over a month on October 31, 2024 — a full decade after Dragon Age: Inquisition's own arrival in 2014. The Halloween release will bring the highly anticipated fantasy RPG to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5, with preorders live now across all three platforms. Normally, they're $60-70, though some nice CDKeys deals (linked below) currently allow you to snag what could be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year for less. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts