Dragon Age: Origins is, for me, the magnum opus of companion-centric RPGs. There’s romance and flirting, bickering and all-out fighting, all made plausible by a colorful cast of perfectly crafted fantasy characters. While Dragon Age 2 featured the excellent Fenris and Isabela, and Inquisition killed it with Solas and Josephine (although I still want Vivienne), both have since been outclassed by Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3. Given I still see Astarion’s face at least once a day on my Twitter timeline, BG3 feels like ‘the game to live up to,’ so I ask Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s creative director, John Epler, if BG3’s success scares him.
After all, Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s recent Xbox Showcase trailer puts its companions front and center, and Bioware has even changed the game’s name to better reflect our merry band of misfits. As the specter of Baldur’s Gate 3 looms over every upcoming fantasy game, I ask Epler how Bioware plans to innovate upon the formula it made so great, and whether or not Larian’s astounding success worries him.
“Absolutely not,” he replies. “Baldur’s Gate 3 is an amazing game, and they [Larian] did a great job with their companions, but we’re building a different story with different companions. Each companion has their own arc and their own story that exists parallel [to Solas’ ritual] that you can go through, make choices in, and help you find that relationship with them.
“Beyond that, though, one thing we have that I love is how our companions interact not just with Rook, our protagonist, but each other,” he continues. “They build trust, they build friendships, they build, in some cases, romantic relationships with each other.
“I feel that our game has a really good, diverse set of companions, but also companions that have content beyond anything we’ve done before in Dragon Age.”
I’d heard through the grapevine that you can romance any character in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a marked step away from its predecessors where certain characters had specific sexual preferences. Epler confirms that all of our companions are “canonically pansexual,” and that they’ll “reference previous relationships and people they’ve dated before.”
As someone who’s currently replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 and being dumped by Astarion all over again, I can certainly appreciate its charm and the depth of its characterization. But Dragon Age: Origins will always be the game that defined party-centric play for me. The Veilguard’s roster certainly has me intrigued, and I’m hopeful that we’ll grow even closer to the returning characters while also falling for the newbies.
As we avidly await the Dragon Age: The Veilguard release date, though, we have a list of all the best RPGs to keep you busy. Alternatively, if you’re replaying Baldur’s Gate 3 for the billionth time, we have a list of all the best Baldur’s Gate 3 companions – and guides on how to romance the lot.
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