Dragon Age: The Veilguard sleuths track leaks to YouTuber with distinctive Rook, prompting apology as he didn't know his RPG review footage was being passed around

A YouTuber has apologized after Dragon Age: The Veilguard leaks featuring their character were shared across social media and used in attempts to spoil the game.

Ahead of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard review embargo yesterday, fans discussing the game on Twitter received replies from a user claiming that their "friend" had access to a review copy of the game. As well as hinting at their friend's disappointment, those posts featured images captured in-game, featuring a custom version of the main player character, Rook, covered in distinctive facial tattoos.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard certainly isn't the first game to suffer from malicious social media leaks in the run-up to launch, but the story took another twist yesterday when YouTuber Matty Schroder, better known as MrMattyPlays, published his review. Schroeder expressed his overall disappointment in the game, but the video drew controversy for another reason - the Rook featured in it appeared identical to the one in the deliberate leaks.

It didn't take long for fans to put two and two together and blame Schroeder for the leaks and a handful of racist tweets posted by the leaker's account. That prompted a response from Schroeder late last night, who posted a lengthy apology and explanation on Twitter.

"First off, I would like to apologize to everyone at BioWare and EA," says Schroeder, claiming that he's reached out to explain the situation in more detail. He admits that the offending footage is "my gameplay," but says that "it was never my intention for clips of Dragon Age to get released" before BioWare granted permission to share them. Schroeder says that he shared two clips with his editor, and that "it is to my understanding that these clips were then taken, shared again, and went down the chain to someone far removed from the both of us who then posted them claiming to be associated with me."

Schroeder says in no uncertain terms that "whoever shared these clips [...] with the attached hateful comments and replies is not me," and he has "no clue who runs that account." The account appears to no longer exist, seemingly due to a substantial volume of reports. Schroeder distanced himself from the harmful comments, saying that "there's no room for that type of hate."

Closing his statement, Schroeder says, "It has always been my goal to deliver fair, honest coverage of video games and elevate the conversation, not fan the flames. I'm deeply sad that my clips have played into the detraction of a game that [...] others may enjoy more than me." He continues to say "It’s been a tough cycle for the folks at BioWare and to know I played a part in the pain of the developer who made my favorite games ever is a regret that I don’t think I will ever live down, even if people choose to forgive me."

While Schroeder was disappointed in the latest game in the series, he acknowledges that plenty of others are more likely to enjoy it, as referenced by the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Metacritic scores. At a score of 84 after 51 reviews, Veilguard is within touching distance of Origins and Inquisition, which is certainly a position BioWare seems happy with.

You've got a couple of days left before The Veilguard drops, so get up to date with our Dragon Age timeline.