Dragon Age: The Veilguard Features Companions Ability Wheel for Strategic Combat; Romance Has No Limitations

Yesterday, BioWare revealed Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the official new title for the upcoming installment in the roleplaying game franchise. The studio decided to drop the previous title (Dreadwolf) to place a bigger emphasis on the player character and his seven companions rather than on the villain of the story.

The focus on companions appears clear everywhere in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Speaking to IGN, BioWare General Manager Gary McKay detailed the new companions' ability wheel players will encounter in combat.

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As an RPG, strategy in combat is important as you bring two companions to every fight. Each companion brings unique powers and abilities that have a direct impact on how you choose to take down the enemies at hand. To add another layer to that strategic element, we’re introducing a new ability wheel where you can pause the action and set up your next move – whether it’s your companions’ abilities or your own.

The ability wheel opens up a huge amount of strategic possibilities, giving players the ability to control the flow of combat and link powerful combinations of abilities between players and their companions that can quickly turn the tide of any battle. We think we’ve found an exciting balance between fun, fluidity, and strategy for every encounter.

There's a couple of notable tidbits here. First, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is reducing the party size from four to three, explaining why the game will have fewer available companions than Inquisition (seven instead of nine). Secondly, while not outright confirmed, the ability wheel appears to corroborate the previous rumor that players would not be able to directly control party members. It sounds like it will be very similar to Mass Effect, which also featured a party of three characters with two companions that could be issued orders.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard will also remove