Five Reasons I Love the Character Design in Dragon Age: the Veilguard

I recently played (and Platinumed) Dragon Age: the Veilguard. And while at first I could not stop comparing to Baldur’s Gate 3, to DA’s detriment, it fast won me over. Now, it’s fair to say I’m obsessed. And the number one thing that made me love this game? The character design.

I purchased The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, published by Dark Horse, almost immediately. This beautiful art book helped me articulate why I love the character design in the game, as well as giving me some behind-the-scenes glimpses into why it works so well.

Here are five reasons I love the character design in Dragon Age: the Veilguard and what we, as character illustrators, can learn from it:

Character’s are designed down to every detail, including their room

I promise I won’t compare Veilguard to Baldur’s Gate 3 the whole way through this post, but hear me out. I loved how in BG3, when you are at camp each companion has a little area that reflects who they are as a character. Each companion character has fun details to discover, including Karlach’s adorable teddy bear Clive.

But Dragon Age: the Veilguard takes that to the next level. Each character gets a room in your base of operations (The Lighthouse) that suits them, but over the course of the story they gradually make the space more and more their own. So not only do you get to discover little details about their space, and personality, early on, but it changes and grows as you learn more about them. The level of consideration to the details of rooms was outstanding and a great way to provide subtle characterization as a backdrop to conversations and cut-scenes.

This image shows how the character Harding’s room turns into a lush garden over the course of the game

Stylization was deliberate, clever and cartoony

One thing I learned from The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is that the BioWare team working on the game made deliberate stylization deviations from previous entries into the game series. They leaned into stylization, focusing on exaggeration and more cartoony proportions and features. They simplified shapes and colour palettes and used repeating shape language in settings and character’s alike. My favourite detail was what they called “the box”. The style-study of a simple, wooden box defined all the prinicples of desgn that they wanted to focus on. Check it out below.

This excerpt from the art book compares Veilguard’s stylization to the earlier game, Inquisition, as well as demonstrating exaggeration from references/life

Each faction had unique, detailed style

There are different factions that you have the opportunity to interact with throughout the game, including groups such as The Mourn Watch of Nevarra (necromancers) and The Crows of Treviso (vigilantes). Each one has unique fashion and weapon styles. Not only do characters who are part of these groups reflect the style of their faction, but you have the opportunity to acquire armour and weapons that match faction styles, too. And each one is so thoroughly considered! For example, The Mourn Watch weapons are inspired by the tools of embalming and surgery, a lovely nod to their work with the dead.

This image shows how thoughtfully considered each faction’s weapons and effects really are

The world is packed with lore and it shows in the characters

The Dragon Age series has been around since 2009, when Dragon Age: Origins was launched. Unsurprisingly, the lore of the world and characters is as deep as 16-year-old franchise deserves. Actually, maybe it’s even deeper than that, as it’s clear from the art book how much the team loves the lore and history of the world they’ve built.

For example, the companion character Bellara is an elf interested in the history of her people. She researches the magic artifacts of the fallen elven kingdom in the forest of Arthalan, the former seat of power for the same kingdom. Not only does elven history influence Bellara’s mission, but it influences her personality, motivation, and inner turmoils. It’s so woven into her design and story that we care about the lost elven empire, even if you (like me) only even knew about it through this one game!

This page from the art book details all the considerations that went into her character design, including the initial design prompt of ‘Jules Verne dork’

Character interactions are always entertaining and plentiful

Throughout the story, characters chat with you and each other through mini-interactions, cut-scenes and casual chats while you wander the world. At any given time, you can have two companion characters (out of six) with you, and depending on which two you pick they will chat about different topics as you explore the world. For example, Bellara and your necromancer, Emmrich, love to chat nerdy things and magic but Emmrich and Taash (a dragon hunter) have to try harder to overcome their differences, since Taash thinks the dead/undead are creepy. These insightful, funny, and sweet conversations seem to never end! Even with my main two companions, I never ran out of new dialogue. They react to the choices you make, the place you are in the game, and who you choose to romance.

These interactions show just how important it is to know your characters inside-and-out. Small details, casual conversations, and the quiet moments in between the dramatic ones are just as important for characterization.

This delightful sketch of Taash from the art book shows to me just how much personality meant to the development team