The release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been marred by drama and controversy, as a certain contingent of particularly toxic fans has taken issue with the game.
The latest entry into BioWare's beloved series of fantasy role-playing games debuted on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 31, making its grand return after a decade.
The game received largely positive reviews from critics, who praised it for its epic fantasy story, stunningly detailed world, and fast-paced, action-heavy combat.
The Dragon Age: Veilguard Drama Explained
Toxicity has run rampant as BioWare's Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release has been surrounded by controversy.
The RPG, which, as of writing, sits at a solid 84 out of 100 on Metacritic, is just the latest game to get caught up in drama amongst fans for both legitimate and illegitimate reasons.
Veilguard has been the target of a toxic smear campaign from a particular sect of gamers known for calling out progressive games for what they deem as forced liberalism making its way into the art they enjoy.
This has caused widespread review-bombing directed at the title, dragging down its user review scores on platforms like Metacritic (at 3.8/10) and Steam.
Dragon Age's Anti-Woke Controversy
Some legitimate concerns have been expressed regarding Veilguard. Some long-time fans have taken issue with the franchise stepping away from its traditional strategy-heavy RPG roots, opting for something more akin to BioWare's action-forward Mass Effect 2.
However, most of where the controversy comes from seems to stem from a contingent of fans who do not like the game thanks to its diverse gender politics, openness to queer characters, as well as other (what some would call) 'woke' story/gameplay decisions.
The most significant point of contention amongst these detractors seems to be the game's prominent use of non-binary, transgender, and queer characters.
Without spoiling anything too specific, one major questline within the game addresses these diverse gender politics head-on, causing those who usually bristle at these kinds of things to get all up in arms.
The game also allows the player to create a hero character who can look as androgynous as they want, feature any number of pronouns, and even be openly trans (including with top surgery scars).
This, along with the player's ability to romance any of the companion characters regardless of their gender identity, has given the mob of quote/unquote anti-woke gamers several conversation points regarding the game.
Things can get confusing for fans on the outside because the loudest of these toxic gamers who have expressed their disdain for Veilguard have used some of the legitimate criticisms being levied at the game to veil their controversial opinions.
This has gone as far as to see some particularly prominent members of this 'anti-woke' gamer community circulate fake documents regarding the game's review policy (via X). It said reviewers were forced to praise the game's "DEI compliant features" and use phrasings like "return to form."
The post has been proven inauthentic and seemingly attempted to discredit those who filed a positive review for Veilguard.
Has The Dragon Age Drama Affected Sales?
Despite the drama surrounding the game, it has still managed to find success. During its first weekend on the market, Dragon Age: Veilguard set the Electronic Arts (EA) and BioWare player count record on Steam, peaking at over 89,000 concurrent players on the platform (per SteamDB).
It also maintained the top spot on the Steam sales charts in its first four days after release, beating out the recently released Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (read more about Black Ops 6).
So, while this controversy seems loud online, it does not seem to have hindered the release of Dragon Age in any way and has not bled into the mainstream quite as much as it would seem on social media.
These sorts of diversity efforts are not new to the Dragon Age franchise. While Veilguard pushes the series further than before on gender identity, queerness has always been a big part of BioWare games.
BioWare fans have long been able to pursue nonheteronormative relationships in the studio's games. Veilguard just takes it a step further to better reflect the open and more amazingly diverse world the game will be released into in 2024.
This particular controversy is just another instance of backward-thinking, closed-minded bad actors making a fuss over anything they deem unpalatable.
This year, games like Hades 2 saw similarly toxic 'anti-woke' blowback despite the game being widely heralded as a critical win.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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