After misses like Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, Dragon Age: The Veilguard creative director says BioWare decided to "look at what's worked in the past" for inspiration
Dec. 5, 2024“We wanted to make sure that this one landed in a way that was satisfying”
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BioWarehas only released four new games in the last ten years, and two of them didn’t do very well, so it drew upon its old successes forDragon Age: The Veilguard.
“I think for us, where we’ve been, the last two projects we’ve released, Andromeda andAnthem, we wanted to make sure that this one landed in a way that was satisfying, that told a good, cohesive story, could tell a good, coherent story,” creative director John Epler tells GamesRadar+.
Mass Effect: Andromedalaunched to mixed reviews from critics. “Not a disaster, but definitely not the fresh start this series needed,” is what we wrote forour reviewof the sci-fi sequel.
Anthem fared a lot worse. This wasBioWare’s attempt at making a live-service shooter, quite far out of its wheelhouse. “Empty, utterly frustrating, and genuinely makes me sad,” we said inour reviewof the short-lived game.
BioWare instead looked at its back catalog of beloved games for The Veilguard. “A lot of that came down to, okay, let’s look at what’s worked in the past,” Epler says. “Let’s look at what we’ve done before. Not copy from it, but draw inspiration.”
The strategy appears to have worked wonders. We wrote that The Veilguard is “A true return to RPG form for BioWare” inour reviewof the latest Dragon Age installment. After waiting 10 years for it, fans seem to love it, too, as it’s currently sitting on mostly positive reviews on Steam.
With a catalog comprising the original Mass Effect trilogy, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the first two Baldur’s Gate games, there’s certainly a lot of successful history to draw upon, so it’s nice to see BioWare back on form.
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Read more from our interview:“It felt like we needed to do something”: How Varric Tethras went from nearly being left out of Dragon Age: The Veilguard to becoming a foundational character.
I’m Issy, a freelancer who you’ll now occasionally see over here covering news on GamesRadar. I’ve always had a passion for playing games, but I learned how to write about them while doing my Film and TV degrees at the University of Warwick and contributing to the student paper, The Boar. After university I worked at TheGamer before heading up the news section at Dot Esports. Now you’ll find me freelancing for Rolling Stone, NME, Inverse, and many more places. I love all things horror, narrative-driven, and indie, and I mainly play on my PS5. I’m currently clearing my backlog and loving Dishonored 2.
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