Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is About Finding a Family and Saving the World with Them, Says BioWare

As part of the ongoing Game Informer monthly coverage, BioWare has discussed its focus on companions for Dragon Age: The Veilguard in greater depth. Creative Director John Epler stressed that the game's storyline will feel like finding a family of people and saving the world with them.

Dragon Age has always been about characters but to some degree, it's almost felt like we've lucked into that. Inquisition is a story that ultimately, you, the main character, have the biggest part to play. We wanted to tell a story this time where you literally cannot save the world without these characters. Beyond that, though, we also wanted to give them their own arcs that can run parallel to the main story and really give them that kind of deep storytelling our fans really enjoy.

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They [the companions] have their friendships, they have their rivalries, and lean into that concept. You're not just pulling together a bunch of people who will do whatever you say. You're assembling a family, and that becomes the core of what the Veilguard is all about. It's about taking this group, this found family, and saving the world, side by side with them.

Former franchise producer Mark Darrah, who returned as a consultant on Dragon Age: The Veilguard, clarifies:

The thing that is so amazing about Veilguard is this is the game where we finally said out loud that BioWare's greatest strength is telling stories through characters. If you go all the way back to Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2, these games are telling stories through characters, but there wasn't an intentionality behind that. And in this game, we're finally putting that intentionality first and foremost, putting the characters first, building the game around that, around those character moments, which is really the best way that BioWare knows how to tell stories.

Darrah also said that the development team is now much