Though its incredible beauty in the environments and large game size can lead some to believe thatDragon Age: The Veilguardis open-world, the question doesn’t have that straightforward of an answer. Exploring the land of Thedas during this adventure gives players a variety of biomes to visit and factions to befriend. Some NPCs may need a little more persuading than others to even believe that the dangers are real, and players will need to be ready to handle missions for all different types of personalities on this journey through Thedas.
Whileplaying throughDragon Age: The Veilguard, exploration can be key to finding hidden secrets, new and unique quests, as well as simply clearing the fog off the local maps to better see where things are for future missions. Magical statues that can grant helpful boons can be found, and side missions tucked away in a forgotten corner. Therefore, exploring the land is not only a good idea, but can be necessary in many situations. Yet,the game still keeps things mission-focused and true exploration needs to be unlockedto be worthwhile in the areas.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Not Technically Open-World, But Also Not Linear
A Complicated Answer, But Thedas Makes It Work Well
The Veilguarddoes not follow all the requirements for a traditional open-world game, yet it also is not a linear experience of guiding players on a specific path. The game falls somewhere in between on the spectrum, with several local maps of areas open for players to wander at their leisure to uncover secrets. to access the side missions in these areas, and even get access to certain portions,players must complete a certain number of main campaign quests for the region first.
Every Dragon Age: The Veilguard Romance Option, Ranked
The emotional connections formed with NPCs in games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard can significantly enhance the immersion and depth of the game.
There is plenty of content spread over the local maps of each area to keep players busy for many hours, with an average playthrough taking anywhere from 40 to 90 hours, or even more. Part of the variance in that timeframe comes from how much players can choose to explore and find all the extra things in the zones and solve every quest from NPCs that aren’t crucial for the main story.
The World Map Sends Players To Locations That Rook Can Then Walk Around In
Travel Through Magical Eluvians
Playing as the protagonist, Rook,players can fast travel to specific cities or locations through the use of magical portals called Eluvians. These Eluvians all connect at a place called the Crossroads, which is a zone of its own with special quests and items to find. This central hub is conveniently accessed from an Eluvian in the basement of Rook’s homebase, but theoretically, it is also how players can zip to areas quickly by opening the world map and selecting a location. Once at that location, there are separate local maps for the regions which will have the “fog of war” effect until players explore the land.
Theworld map ofDragon Age: The Veilguardchanges bit by bit throughout the game, with some zones being made available for travel only at certain, temporary, points in the game and they will not have extra things to explore and find. For the majority of areas, however,after enough of the main story has been done for the zone, the game will tell players that the region has opened up for exploration and new missions are available in that location.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Mission Focused, But Many Side Missions Are Found Through Exploration
Also, Hidden Secrets Are Found Around The Zones
Any side quests that players do not complete before they reach thefinal missions of the gamewill be lost, and these missions can be very beneficial to increasing the strength of alliances with the different factions. Therefore,players would greatly benefit in the end by taking the time to explore the open areas within each zoneto see what they can find. Also, increasing the reputation with alliances will allow for new items to be purchased from the stores, including cosmetics and stronger weapons and armor.
By traditional standards,The Veilguardis not an open-world game. Yet, the open exploration that is encouraged within the regions and the number of side missions and hidden statues and chests can certainly make an argument for it being somewhat open. The game is also not one that railroads players into a specific order for quests, other than that the main campaign must be done in a specific order.Dragon Age: The Veilguardplayers can feel free to explore Arlathan Forest for Veil Jumper side missions when their main quest might be leading them to Minrathous and the NPCs in Minrathous will happily wait their turn.
