Dragon Age: The Veilguard still isn't an open-world game, but new gameplay footage makes the RPG look way less linear than we feared

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"We really emphasize player autonomy"

Dragon Age: The Veilguard
(Image credit: EA)

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is ditching Inquisition's open-world structure in favor of a "mission-based" approach. That's more similar to the structure of the first two entries in the series, but our first look at gameplay earlier this year showed what amounted to a combat-filled crawl through a glorified tunnel, leaving some fans fearing The Veilguard might be far too linear. Luckily, a new extended look at gameplay is putting those fears to rest.

While the first gameplay showed the game's introductory action set piece, 22 minutes of new footage published by IGN shows a mission from much deeper in The Veilguard. The area we see here is still very combat-focused, and the structure of the mini-map makes it clear you can't go wandering off in any direction. But it's also apparent that there are numerous alternate paths to explore and things to discover. 

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"That was really one of our goals with these areas," game director Corinne Busche says while leading the gameplay. "Of course, we are a mission-based game, but we really emphasize player autonomy. You can revisit these spaces. They're full of secrets, puzzles, some pretty incredible bosses, and treasure." This location also connects with a nearby village full of NPCs that can set you on "narratively rich side quests."

This is all pretty much what you'd expect from a non-open-world RPG, but with how limited our first look at The Veilguard was you'd be forgiven for thinking that opening's linear structure applied to the entire game. Now, at least, we can rest easy knowing the game will feature plenty to see off the beaten path.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard introduces one cool feature that's guaranteed to save time for ardent BioWare people-pleasers.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.