How ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ Reviews Stack Up Against BioWare’s Other Games

Dragon Age: The Veilguard reviews are out ahead of its release this week, and while generally positive, I do think it’s probably a good idea to look at them in the context of what BioWare was, what BioWare recently has been, and what BioWare wants to be.

Forbes‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ Review: A Well-Aged DragonBy Paul Tassi

So, how do the bulk of Dragon Age: The Veilguard reviews compare to other games in the series, and the rest of BioWare’s big titles? I will take the score with the most reviews, or if they’re all close, I will average them:

• Mass Effect (2007) – 90 Metascore
• Dragon Age Origins (2009) – 88 Metascore
• Mass Effect 2 (2010) – 95 Metascore
• Dragon Age 2 (2011) – 81 Metascore
• Mass Effect 3 (2012) – 93 Metascore
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014) – 86 Metascore
• Mass Effect Andromeda (2017) – 73 Metascore
• Anthem (2019) – 59 Metascore
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024) – 84 Metascore

The first thing I’m noticing is not even about scores at all, it’s that BioWare used to be putting out a big game every 1-2 years. Now, it’s been five full years since Anthem, seven since Andromeda and ten since the last Dragon Age game. Wow.

Elsewhere, you can see that on the whole Dragon Age has reviewed less well as a series than Mass Effect as series. Though as a “fourth” entry, The Veilguard is reviewing quite a bit above Mass Effect Andromeda, largely regarded as a big miss. And god, poor Anthem, a 53? It didn’t deserve that, man. But even still, the narrative is that The Veilguard is a pretty big turn around from literally the last ten years of releases, even if that was just two games. A step in the right direction.

I think it’s also somewhat noteworthy that this is actually reviewing almost as good as Dragon Age: Inquisition which actually won Game of the Year in 2014 which was…admittedly sort of an odd year. I do not expect The Veilguard to even land a nomination this year, but it’s interesting the scores are close.

But in 2024 it’s important to keep in mind how much weight the public gives to YouTubers, often a lot more so than written outlets. In this case, big names like MattyPlays and SkillUp have given it a seal of disapproval, which is the kind of thing that may not have mattered as much a full decade ago. It does now, as a print journalist I can certainly recognize that.

Ultimately, while BioWare wants good scores, and these are pretty good, they want sales. The game isn’t even out yet but at least early indications are pretty good with Veilguard sitting atop PS5’s pre-order list, and second only to the released Call of Duty on Steam. But we don’t know what the final number will be or what EA’s expectations are. More info soon.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.