Veilguard is a lot darker than you think

The Dragon Age franchise has long been established as a franchise that doesn’t shy away from sensitive topics, whether political or otherwise, and Dragon Age: The Veil Guard is no different in its foray into the grotesque. Throughout the game, players face the elven gods and their Plague, an evil force of corruption and decay that threatens all life in Thedas. Despite Guard of the VeilWith beautiful vistas and stunning visuals, there is a darkness and despair that permeates every beat of the story.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.]From the beginning of the game, players are introduced to a world in which morality is not so black and white. Solas is a man desperate to save his people from what players will learn is one of his greatest regrets, but doing so will condemn the rest of the world to suffering. Despite the cost his actions will have, Solas sees his quest as fair, with his choice being the best option available. Rook’s interference with Solas’ ritual frees Elgar’nan and Gilhan’nain, who begin to empower the Plague to accumulate more power.

It is one village among many lost to the inevitable plague

Players first encounter this empowered Plague and its abilities about an hour into the game, when they are confronted with the horrors of D’Meta’s Crossing. This is a city struck by the whim of capricious Evanurisand there are more dead citizens inhabiting the city after Rook’s arrival than there are alive. The citizens who remain “alive” are Ruined, so heavily corrupted by Gilhan’nain’s power that they retain no mind of their own.

As Rook and his team walk through the village, they speak in dismay about the true level of destruction that surrounds them. There is not a house that can be seen without corruption and the lives of hundreds of the city’s inhabitants have been wiped out. Right at the beginning of the game, D’Meta’s cross has a purpose: to present the player with the scale of destruction they must be prepared for.

The plague at D’Meta’s Crossing has mutilated and distorted the bodies and homes of the people who live there. Roads are blocked by walls of Blight that are interspersed with corpses pierced by vines and tentacles, Blighted citizens speak without thinking, and Darkspawn attack at every corner. D’Meta’s Crossing was an ordinary village before the Plague, and the true horror of the town is that it is representative of villages like this one in Thedas. The Blight isn’t just in D’Meta’s Crossing; it’s everywhere.

Not only are players confronted with the truth about what the Plague is doing to Thedas, but they are also forced to make a drastic choice when they meet the mayor of D’Meta’s Crossing. Here’s a man who sold his city to the gods in exchange for power, and it’s up to Rook to decide what to do with him. Will he be left in the Plague to be eaten alive or saved with the hope of learning to do better? No one would blame Rook if they let the mayor die, but isn’t doing anything the same as helping the Plague?

Minrathous and Treviso force players to feel helpless

Rook’s choices don’t matter when the Evanuris are everywhere

After recruiting Davrin, players will be asked to choose to help Minrathous or Treviso against attacks from the Ruined Dragons, some of the most powerful enemies in the world. Dragon Age universe. At this point in the game, players will have some attachment to both places, and Neve and Lucanis will beg for their hometowns. Arriving at this point in the game, the choice to condemn the people of either city to the same fate as the citizens of D’Meta’s Crossing is horrific.

In the end, there is no way to avoid sentencing a city to death, but as the hero of the story, even his companions will blame Rook for the choice they made. Neve or Lucanis will become “Hardened”, blocking their healing ability and increasing the damage of their offensive abilities. One of the true horrors that Guard of the Veil plays so closely with Minrathous and Treviso that In the real world, not everyone will survive and someone will have to take responsibility. Even with all the power Rook has at his fingertips, they are powerless in the face of the Plague’s devastation.

The siege of Weisshaupt shows what is at stake

Hundreds of Gray Wardens dead, all for nothing

Weisshaupt is a powerful vision of what a full-scale invasion by the Evanuris would look like, and it is a scene of devastation. Rook and his team barely managed to cross an under-siege Weisshaupt without dying, and even the Gray Wardens were overrun by the newly strengthened Blight. The Director’s entire purpose is to combat the Plague; If not even they can defend their fortress city, what chance does the rest of the world have?

At this point in the game, Weisshaupt is the only Evanuri attack that shows the scale of its power. The attacks on Treviso and Minrathous were devastating, but the cities managed to recover and continue to function. Weisshaupt, on the other hand, was completely overrun by the Plague, with citizens needing to be evacuated to nearby towns just to survive.

The experience of desperately trying to defend Weisshaupt against Darkspawn’s attack only for the dragon’s trap to fail in the end is heartbreaking. Players face, at every turn, the destruction of legions of Gray Wardens, lost in the devastating decay of the Plague. This continues until finally, in what should be a moment of triumph, the First Warden’s guts are ripped from his body before he can defeat the Archdemon, used by Ghilan’nain as fuel to create yet another beast of nightmares.

Ghilan’nain is not like a brood mother, and she shouldn’t be

Older Dragon Age games relied on themes of oppression to express terror

In the past Dragon Age In the games, there were pervasive themes of racism, classism, and sexism that provided a “grittier” feel to the world, but Veilguard moves away from these themes in a way that leaves many players unsatisfied. It’s true that the overall world of Thedas quickly moves past the themes of oppression that others FROM THE games have appeared in the past, so players looking for this will be disappointed. However, Guard of the Veil proves that there are other ways to make your world dark without relying on the oppression of social groups.

Instead of the Plague being a passive but destructive force of the Evanuris, Guard of the Veil‘s Blight is directed and controlled by a bloodthirsty goddess bent on turning the world into monsters under her control. This Plague warps and twists the bodies of those it touches, and Guard of the Veil the developers didn’t hesitate to let players see exactly what it could do. The Plague of Ghilan’nain occurs indiscriminately, with men and women, humans and Qunari alike, being corrupted beyond recognition.

Veteran FROM THE fans will remember the Broodmothers, corrupted women who used to give birth to new Darkspawn previously FROM THE games. Likewise, Ghilan’nain is the mother of the Darkspawn in Guard of the Veilalthough the creation of Darkspawn is completely voluntary. There’s an interesting comparison between Broodmothers and Ghilan’nain in this. both are responsible for some of the worst monsters Thedas has ever seen, but Ghilan’nain obtained their power voluntarily, while the Broodmothers’ “power” of creation came through violence against them.

If the player’s uneasiness about the missing darkness Guard of the Veil comes from this distinction or a different source, it is clear that this Dragon Age: The Veil Guard hasn’t gone much beyond its dark roots, despite the fresh coat of paint its look has received. Remember that darkness is in the eye of the beholder; As more and more horror games are released, it’s easy to become desensitized to the games’ grotesqueness. It’s impossible for developers to horrify every member of their player base; instead, they will create the game they want to share with the world, and it’s up to players to decide how they approach it.