Dragon Age: The Veilguard expands upon the Dragon Age stories, worlds and characters from previous games, where players will enter a vibrant land of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths, and glittering cities – steeped in conflict and secret magics.

Enter the world of Thedas, a vibrant land of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths, and glittering cities — all steeped in savage combat and secret magics. Now, the fate of this world teeters on a knife's edge. Thedas needs a new leader — one they'll never see coming. You'll forge a courageous fellowship to challenge the gathering storm. Friendship, drama, and romance will abound as you bring striking individuals together into an extraordinary team. Become the leader and light the beacon of hope in their darkest moments.

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ll embark on a quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the destruction they’re unleashing on the world. You are known as Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a compelling cast of companions with individual storylines and motivations. In true Dragon Age fashion, companions are central to the experience and as Rook, you must rise up, rally your crew and forge relationships to become the unexpected leader others believe in.

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the Elven Trickster god of legend Solas wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory – even at the cost of countless lives. But his ritual goes awry, and his worst fears are realized, as two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world. Rook’s journey to stop these two powerful deities will span across all of Thedas to bustling cities, lush tropics, boreal forests, fettered swamps and the deepest depths, but be wary of the evil forces along the way like the Dark Spawn, Venatori Cultists and Demons of the Fade.

BioWare shared new details providing a deep dive into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s selection of accessibility options. The team incorporated accessibility considerations into the design documentation from very early in the game’s development, making the thoughtful and deliberate implementation of accessibility a foundational component of The Veilguard’s design.

Highlights of the various accessibility options can be found below:

• Visual options, such as advanced subtitle options, user interface customization, visual effects preferences and much more.
• Audio options, including customizable output and sliders (volume, speaker type, etc.), accessibility SFX and more.
• Control options, like input remapping, ability wheel activation types, combat specific controls and more.
• Gameplay options, such as combat customization, progression assistance, exploration customization and more.

Hey everyone!

Today, we want to share many of the Accessibility features in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Regardless of skill level or ability, we want everyone to be able to enjoy the full experience and story of our game. There are several features and settings to customize the game to meet your individual needs; so let’s dig in!

First off, let’s discuss combat and the difficulty settings. During Character Creation, players can select from one of five curated difficulty levels or create a completely customized experience:

• Storyteller
  • Here for the story.
• Keeper
  • A balanced combat experience that emphasizes party composition and equipment choices over reaction times.
• Adventurer
  • A balanced experience that places equal emphasis on combat, party composition, and equipment choices.
• Underdog
  • Here to be pushed to the limit, requiring strategic planning and tactical decisions.
• Nightmare
  • Overwhelming battles that give no quarter. Requires a mastery of combat, equipment, skills, and game mechanics to survive.
  • Selecting Nightmare cannot be undone without starting a new playthrough.
• Unbound
  • Customize all settings.
  • Settings impact numerous aspects of gameplay. If this is your first time, consider a curated preset instead.

Even after selecting a difficulty, there are more combat options available in the Settings Menu if you wish to make further adjustments. For example, you can adjust elements like parry timing, aim assist strength, or even how aggressive enemies are. See below for a full list of combat settings.

UI and HUD elements are also customizable. Many elements of the HUD can be conditionally hidden or turned off entirely. For example, you can fully hide elements like Rook’s health, the objective tracker, or the Mini Map. There are also options for the text size in the UI. 

There are some accessibility aids for interface elements. For example, subtitles are fully customizable allowing you to modify things like the size, opacity, speaker names, and color. Other settings add audio aids to visual-only elements like incoming attack indicators. For anyone with vision deficiencies, there are full-screen color filters to improve visibility.  

Beyond the UI and HUD, there are a few more options regarding the game’s visual effects. For anyone who deals with motion sickness, there is a Persistent Dot Option and Motion Blur can be fully turned off. The in-game Camera Shake can also be adjusted from 0-100%. Additionally, there’s an FOV slider in the graphical settings.  

As discussed in the PC Features Blog, all inputs are remappable for gameplay in Dragon Age: The Veilguard on both controller and keyboard for all platforms. Input sensitivity and deadzones are also customizable with sliding scales. There are some UI interactions that require an input to be held for a short period of time, but this can be changed to tap instead. All of these options allow you to play the game in whatever way is most comfortable. 

These settings and more are available in Dragon Age: The Veilguard! See a full list below to check out all of our Accessibility settings and check out our Accessibility Portal. Chat soon!

- The Dragon Age Team

Audio 3D Audio Accessibility SFX Glint Ping SFX Mono Audio Speaker Type Volume Sliders

Controls Ability Wheel Controller Activation (Hold or Tap) Disable UI Hold Inputs Input Remapping Invert Axis (X & Y available) Swap Left & Right Sticks Stick Deadzones Trigger Deadzones Vertical & Horizontal Sensitivity Vibration Intensity

Gameplay Combat Aim Assist  Aim Snap  Combat Timing Enemy Aggression  Enemy Damage Enemy Health  Enemy Resistances  Enemy Vulnerability  Prevent Death Exploration Frequent Auto-Saving Library (Codex, Glossary, Missives) Object Glint Distance Object Glint Visibility Objective Marker Visibility Pause at any time Waypoint Visibility World & Local Maps available at all times

Visual / UI Camera Shake Depth of Field Full-screen Colorblind Filters Hide-able HUD Elements Abilities Damage Numbers Hints Mini Map Objective Tracker Player Health Tutorials Low Health Screen Effect Motion Blur Persist Dot Option Ranged & Melee Threat Indicators Subtitle Advanced Options Background Opacity Speaker Names Speaker Name Color Subtitle Size UI Text Size Vignette

 

Each companion in Dragon Age: The Veilguard brings their own expertise to the field of battle, summoning the grit to stand together and face impossible odds. Throughout their adventures, players can mix and match different team combinations of two of the game's seven total companions at a time, to adapt to certain challenges and link powerful combinations that can turn the tide of any battle.

• Bellara: The Veil Jumper - a creative and romantic Veil Jumper obsessed with uncovering ancient secrets
• Davrin: The Warden - a bold and charming Grey Warden who has made a name for himself as a monster hunter
• Emmrich: The Necromancer - a necromancer of Nevarra's Mourn Watch who comes complete with a skeletal assistant, Manfred
• Harding: The Scout - the dwarven scout, returns to the fray as a companion with her big heart, a positive outlook, and a ready bow – as well as unexpected magical powers
• Lucanis: The Mage Killer - a poised & pragmatic assassin who descends from the bloodline of the House of Crows, a criminal organization renowned throughout Thedas
• Neve: The Detective - a cynic fighting for a better future, both as a private detective and a member of Tevinter's rebellious Shadow Dragons
• Taash: The Dragon Hunter - a dragon hunter allied with the Lords of Fortune who lives for adventure and doesn't mind taking risks

As you play, you will be rallying a team of seven companions, each with their own rich lives and deep backstories – and each bringing their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. Your companions are characters to befriend, lead, grow and even fall in love with. You are never alone. You get to choose who to take into battle with you –  and together you will face down demons, dragons and those corrupt gods on the battlefield.

Amongst these new companions that join the fray, you will recruit allies such as the Veil Jumper Bellara, the intriguing necromancer Emmrich, and the private detective Neve –  all coming from iconic factions in Dragon Age lore, and each possessing individual skill trees and specialized gear for advanced team progression. Dragon Age fans will spot some familiar faces, too, such as the archer Lace Harding who returns to the series as a full time companion.

Key Features:

• Fellowship: Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s brand new companions come alive with some of the most compelling individual storylines in Dragon Age history. Expansive and dynamic stories navigate love, loss and complex choices that will affect your relationships and the fate of each member of the Veilguard. New companions like the Veil Jumper Bellara, the necromancer Emmrich, and the private detective Neve, come from iconic factions in Dragon Age lore, possessing individual skill trees and specialized gear for advanced team progression. You’ll see familiar faces, too, such as the archer Lace Harding who returns to the series as a full time companion.
• Choice and Consequences: Dragon Age: The Veilguard builds on the series’ deep role-playing roots, providing extraordinary storytelling and worldbuilding, deep personalities for each companion, meaningful choices and impactful cinematic moments. The bonds you create and the relationships you forge will be affected by your choices made throughout your journey. 
• A Crafted Experience: As a character-driven RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a crafted experience that pays homage to BioWare’s history of storytelling. The Lighthouse provides a central place where you can rest, learn more about the world through conversations, while the Crossroads allows you to traverse to separate explorable regions of the world with your companions. You’ll experience more of Thedas than ever before as your story unfolds across meticulously crafted biomes and beautiful regions including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, the Deep Roads and more, each inviting you to delve deeper into the narrative and uncover the mysteries of the land.
• Fluid, Customizable Combat: Immersive combat blends fluid moment-to-moment controls with tactical decision-making. Players can fully customize their experience to fit their playstyle with diverse skill trees among three different classes - Warrior, Mage and Rogue - each with unique abilities and specializations. Choose two companions to join you on your quests and unleash powerful team combos that can change the tide of any battle. Make strategic choices and direct your allies to fight, heal or stay out of the fray with the newly-added ability wheel.
• Be the Leader You Want To Be: Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a robust character creation system that allows you to be the leader you want to be with a vast range of customization. BioWare has created the most comprehensive character creator in Dragon Age yet to make this story truly your own.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on October 31, 2024.