Meet Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions in this new podcast

By Carli Velocci Published August 23, 2024

A party member in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. — EA

BioWare is continuing to hype up the upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard by introducing the companions and their voice cast in a unique way.

The studio announced that it worked with Pod People, a podcast production and marketing firm, to create Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance, an eight-part narrative audio series where you’ll experience a new story while also meeting the seven companions of your character, Rook.

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Vows & Vengeance stars Mae Whitman, Bridgette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor as original characters for the podcast. Nadia is a thief who is unknowingly working for the Dreadwolf and takes on a heist that goes wrong. Her lover, Elio, ends up banished to the Fade and she has to work with a mysterious writer named Drayden to get him back. This is all for the podcast specifically, but all your companions — Harding, Davrin, Bellara, Neve, Taash, Lucanis, Emmrich, and Emmrich’s skeletal assistant, Manfred — will make appearances starting in episode 2. The series will complete on October 17, which should give you time to catch up or relisten to the whole thing again before the game debuts on October 31.

You can check out the schedule below.

August 29 – Episode 1: Featuring Nadia, Elio, and Drayden
September 5 – Episode 2: Featuring Harding
September 12 – Episode 3: Featuring Davrin
September 19 – Episode 4: Featuring Bellara
September 26 – Episode 5: Featuring Taash
October 3 – Episode 6: Featuring Lucanis
October 10 – Episode 7: Featuring Emmrich
October 17 – Episode 8: Featuring Neve

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This is a huge addition to Companions Week, a previously announced aspect of BioWare’s prerelease celebration. BioWare describes it as a “sidequest” for Companions Week, which properly starts on August 26, so expect more ways to learn about the companions. Up next is a developer Q&A on the Discord on August 30, followed by exclusive coverage at IGN starting on September 3.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to release on October 31 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s best sidequest puts gender identity front and center

Taash looking concerned in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

When creating my Rook at the beginning of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I was happy to see options for the non-binary gender and preferred pronouns. Features like that are always a welcome addition to RPGs that are all about creating and embodying a character. I didn't expect to see those identity decisions pop up much in the actual story, and they didn't for over 10 hours. Characters would no doubt address me with the correct pronouns, but Rook is clearly a vessel and the personal growth is reserved for your companions.

The presence of inclusivity options to any extent is worth celebrating, so I wasn't holding it against the game if it didn't take the idea any further. Then I hit a mission that left my team's confidence rattled. My main objectives were to speak to three specific characters. I was on my way to talk to Lucanis when I interrupted two other characters having a conversation. Neve, a mage who had been with me from the start, was discussing fashion with Taash, a dragonslayer I had only recently recruited and hadn't even taken out on a mission since meeting. What appeared to be one of many casual conversations between companions that give the world and people a bit of flavor ended up showing just how important it was for BioWare to highlight the subject of identity. It moves a little quickly for the weight of what it is trying to convey, but still feels genuine and inspiring.

Gaming

How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

A vista in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

BioWare RPGs are known for being lengthy adventures. Whether it is one of the Mass Effect games or older Dragon Age titles, you can expect a hefty playtime full of adventure, charming companions, and side content. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first game in the series in 10 years and is far more action-heavy than previous entries, but does that mean it will lean on the shorter side? Or is this game a return to the old BioWare and something you can easily sink 40-plus hours into? There are a few ways to answer that question, and it will vary slightly from person to person, but here's about how long you can expect it to take you to beat Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

While it isn't quite an open-world game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is still huge, with expansive hubs full of side content to explore. It also features incredibly customizable difficulty settings that can vastly influence your playtime. All that being said, if you were to take a balanced approach to exploring, doing side content, and playing on a difficulty level that challenges you a bit, expect the game to last you around 40 hours. You can probably shave off around 10 hours if you mainline the story, and maybe a bit more if you set the difficulty to the lowest level to just experience the story.

Gaming

Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Knights below a giant dragon in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Before you begin your quest to save Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you need to make several important decisions. While you're making your character, you will customize your race, appearance, background, and more, but the most impactful decision is which class you pick. There are only three options: Warrior, Mage, and Rogue, but each one is highly customizable, with dozens of skills and ways to specialize them. We know that you can freely change your appearance after you've left the character creator, and there is an easy way to respec your skill points, but does the game also let you swap classes or do you need to give very careful thought when choosing?
Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Once you've made your choice between Warrior, Mage, and Rogue while creating your character, you're stuck with it. There is no way to change to a new class without restarting the entire game from scratch.

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