Dragon Age isn't following in Inquisition's footsteps as The Veilguard won't be open world after all - instead, the devs say the new RPG is "mission-based" to offer "the best narrative experience"

Dragon Age: The Veilguard art showing the RPG's companions grouped together — (Image credit: BioWare)

Following yesterday's monumental gameplay reveal of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare is telling fans more about the series' fourth RPG and its bustling world - which will not be open.

In an interview with IGN, director Corinne Busche explains how linear players can expect The Veilguard to be - is it like Dragon Age 2, or open world like Inquisition? It's not really akin to either, but it's definitely not very similar to the latter. According to Busche, the long-awaited new Dragon Age game instead offers a "mission-based" experience where "everything is hand-touched, hand-crafted, very highly curated."

She then explains why The Veilguard is set up this way, as BioWare believes "that's how we get the best narrative experience, the best moment-to-moment experience." This doesn't mean that the game is strictly linear without any chance for fans to explore, however. "These levels that we go to do open up, some of them have more exploration than others," Busche reveals. There are also various "alternate branching paths, mysteries, secrets, optional content" for players to discover.

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Any side quests players encounter may be influenced by "the motivations and the experiences of the companions," with some missions offering more open areas to explore than others. The director concludes that the world does sort of "open up" at such times but stresses once more that The Veilguard is ultimately "a mission-based, highly curated game." Not all similarities between Inquisition and the upcoming RPG are lost, though - after all, your Inquisitor may influence the beginning of The Veilguard.

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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.