Dragon Age: The Veilguard cuts the Keep and previous choices, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun

On the way to Dragon Age: The Veil Guard is a bit of a shock to longtime fans who have been following the fantasy franchise since its early days. The game doesn’t use Dragon Age Keep, an app that players can use to keep track of their past decisions in other Dragon Age games – decisions that could pay off in unexpected ways in a new title. This browser app allowed players to create a safe state by making both big and small decisions that could then influence the events of an upcoming game. But Veil Guard has abandoned the Keep altogether, reducing the world state to three major issues. This turned out better narratively than I expected, and it’s less of a loss than I feared.

The Keep followed the decisions of the Hero of Ferelden (the main character from Dragon Age: Origins) and Hawke (van Dragon Age 2), which could create some very different scenarios Dragon Age: Inquisition. In my example Inquisition game, Alistair is the king of Ferelden. In someone else’s rescue, he could be a Gray Warden that players encounter in the field – and possibly even sacrifice! I saved Connor, a possessed child mage in Redcliffe, and he came in Inquisition‘s Redcliffe, who assured me I had made the right choice. On the other hand, I supported King Bhelen to take the throne of Orzammar Dragon Age: Originsand inside Dragon Age 2 I discovered that Bhelen systematically hunted down and murdered the entire family of his competitor Harrowmont. Yes!

The fact that these decisions were carried forward and rewarded was extremely rewarding, but also exciting The Veil Guard to the canons of players’ past would have been very difficult. Instead, the three choices all come from Inquisition‘s latest DLC, Offender. They are:

1) Which companion did the Inquisitor romance?

2) Did the Inquisition disband, or merge into the Chantry?

3) Did the Inquisitor condemn Solas or decide he could be saved?

Offender explains the seriousness of the second choice very well; The Inquisition is infested with spies and prone to corruption, but has access to military power and resources. Dissolving the Inquisition leads to a much smaller group, but one less susceptible to external schemes. The other two choices are much more personal and take place while Rook interacts with the Inquisitor The Veil Guard. This small selection of choices is actually ideal.

Part of the reason I’m okay with a relatively blank slate is that The Veil Guard set in the Global North; we don’t even go to the famous countries Ferelden or Orlais. Ultimately, the choices players made in previous games about who holds the Sunburst Throne, and whether to support mages or templars, are irrelevant to this new story. That’s fine with me – after three games of debating the morality of mage circles and the authority of the Templars, I’m happy to move on to new issues.

It also frees BioWare designers from the complex quantum canon that the Keep allowed. Is the Hero of Ferelden an elf, human or dwarf? Are they alive, dead or a monarch? Who serves as the Divine: Cassandra, Leliana or Vivienne?

There are choices that I admit I wish for The Veil Guard could explain, especially the fate of the Well of Sorrows, but with a ten year break in between Inquisition And The Veil GuardI understand why BioWare chose to start over. Fortunately, there’s a lot of new territory to explore, and I didn’t find myself missing the Keep too much. Hopefully, if we get more Dragon Age games in the future, we can see BioWare find new ways to integrate previous choices.