BioWare Explains Why Dragon Age: The Veilguard Won’t Give You Much Control Over Companions In Combat
The Fall 2024 launch of BioWare’s long-awaited fantasy RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, is only a few months away, and the game is bringing a number of changes to the Dragon Age formula–including a reduction in the level of control players have over companions in combat. In a recent interview with GamesRadar, BioWare explained the reasoning behind its decision to rework The Veilguard’s companion combat system.
“[The Veilguard] is a much higher actions-per-minute game,” game director Corinne Busche explained. “It is more technically demanding on the player. So when we tried allowing you full control of your companions as well, what we’ve found is it wasn’t actually adding to the experience. In fact, in some ways it was detrimental, given the demanding nature of just controlling your own character.”
But the reasons behind the decision to limit player control of companions goes deeper than technical logistics. BioWare felt that letting players have full control of companions in combat was problematic from a role-playing perspective as well.