Dragon Age: The Veilguard lead celebrates seeing one of his biggest goals for the RPG come true, as he admits it was "the greatest privilege and hardest dev cycle of my career"

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Reviews are calling it a "return to form for BioWare"

Dragon Age: The Veilguard reveal trailer screenshot showing Lace Harding, a dwarven woman with long red hair and a freckled face
(Image credit: BioWare)

The reviews for Dragon Age: The Veilguard started rolling in yesterday, and creative director John Epler seems as though he couldn't be more pleased with them and what they could mean for BioWare as a whole.

It's becoming apparent that the recent Dragon Age entry could be one of the best RPGs this year. Our own Dragon Age: The Veilguard review here at GamesRadar+ marks it as "a true return to RPG form for BioWare" - a conclusion that Epler himself is ecstatic to read. As the lead writes in a recent post celebrating the new release and critics' thoughts on it, seeing such a review was actually one of his first "goals for the project."

When he initially re-joined the project as narrative director, Epler explains he was "asked my goals for the project" so he came up with a few. "One of the ones I put was 'I want to see the phrase 'a triumphant return to form for BioWare' in at least one review.'" According to the dev, he's "excited to finally mark that goal done," and while Epler wanted just one review to call the game a "return to form for BioWare," many have.

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Along with the GamesRadar+ review, others like those from GameSpot and Rolling Stone share a similar sentiment about The Veilguard - that the RPG is indeed a "return to form for BioWare." As a longtime fan of the Dragon Age series myself, it's certainly exciting to see. The game has been a decade in the making and has finally released to countless raving reviews, no doubt setting it up to be one of the most exciting new games of 2024 for many. It's a welcome sight to all, but most especially to devs like Epler.

"This project has been both the greatest privilege and the hardest dev cycle of my career," he describes. "To say I'm proud of this team would be an understatement, and to say I'm thrilled at the reviews would be similar." The director closes with a virtual sigh of relief: "Whew." I can't wait to dive into the game and see how it's a "return to form" myself, with just a couple of days left now before the global launch.

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Anna Koselke
Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

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.