Dragon Age The Veilguard Reviews Controversy

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Grummz @Grummz - 10h I posted this as a rumored leak, and it turns out it was false. Sometimes rumors don't pan out to be true. I'm leaving this up because it is already Community Noted and I'm not trying to hide a mistake. Thanks to my followers who helped track this down. You guys deserve Show more Grummz @Grummz - 15h LEAK!!! BioWare and EA caught red handed? MrMattyPlays agreement supposedly leaked! It wasn't a conspiracy theory, it was TRUE! Show more Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review Guidelines Influencer Matthew Schroeder, trademark of MrMattyPlays

100 Checkpoint Gaming OCT 28, 2024 Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumphant return to form for one of gaming's most loved developers. It's an epic and grandiose RPG adventure, interwoven with intimate, powerful stories about its cast of endearing and quirky companions. It has a truly stunning world to explore, with hidden secrets, alluring side quests and a literal treasure... Read More 100 XboxEra FULL REVIEW PLAYSTATION 5 OCT 28, 2024 Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn't just in my Game of the Year rankings, it's in my Best Games of All Time. BioWare has finally matched their recent excellent third-person combat with some of, if not their best, story work to date. This game is an absolute triumph for those old and new to the series. 100 Press Start Australia OCT 28, 2024 Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumph for BioWare in practically every way. It brings together the best bits of all the games that have come before it, pairing an intricately woven narrative ripe with genuine choice and consequences with a fast, frenetic and endlessly satisfying combat system. The Veilguard is, without a doubt, Dragon Age at it's best. FULL REVIEW 90 Pure Xbox FULL REVIEW ✔ PLAYSTATION 5 XBOX SERIES X OCT 28, 2024 Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a triumphant return to form for BioWare. This is a top-class action-RPG that lives up to the Dragon-Age name whilst laying to rest the ghosts of Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem. With a roster of amazing companions to recruit, a mind-bending world full of exquisite regions to explore, and combat that raises the... Read More 95 PlayStation Universe OCT 28, 2024 FULL REVIEW Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a must-have RPG this holiday season. There is so much that Veilguard brings to the table that it's hard to find something to dislike. Veilguard is a complete package that gives you everything you could ever wish for in an action-RPG, and is without a doubt a return to form for BioWare. 80 FULL REVIEW C 90 Metro GameCentral PLAYSTATION 5 IGN Portugal XBOX SERIES X OCT 28, 2024 Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a return to form for BioWare. Assuming itself to be more of an action game, some RPG elements have been pushed into the background as a result. The history of the world of Thedas mixes with the history of Solas and our companions, in a plot that seems unappealing at first, but blossoms in the middle of the game. With... Read More OCT 28, 2024 FULL REVIEW C A triumphant return for BioWare, with a massive, action-intensive fantasy role-player, that combines a complex and intuitive fighting system with a great script and a glorious looking world to explore. 80 TheGamer FULL REVIEW 90 COGconnected Critic Review While it looks and plays differently than past Dragon Age games, Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn't abandon either its rich trove of lore or ability to tell engaging stories. Dragon Age: The Veilguard has memorable characters and action-focused combat that contains more than enough depth to see it through to the end. Polished and confident, Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like a return to form for the developer. Dragon Age: The Veilguard gives us a beautiful world to experience, interesting companions to explore it with, and action that grows increasingly more nuanced throughout. PLAYSTATION 5 Critic Review Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a Dragon Age game like no other, and that alone will put some people off. But it brings with it the traditions of excellent character writing, strong world building through narrative quests, and offers the most exciting combat the series has ever seen. There is a stronger version of The Veilguard in here, one with more Solas and companion quests that find a more natural ending, but the one we've got is still a worthy successor to Dragon Age: Inquisition, and is a much needed return to form for BioWare. PC

ISCO ST u R @Badhero4 22 hours ago There's a reason YouTube got rid of dislikes. 3.8K 62 replies Reply @RiasxGremory 22 hours ago I clicked on this video merely for the comment section. 3.2K 23 replies Reply @Funkeneh110 5 hours ago Aren't YouTube channels required to inform viewers when a video contains this much paid messaging. 501 5 replies Reply @unnero1 6 hours ago "Slick looping corridors with just enough little nooks to explore" is a nice way of saying this is linear AF lol. 423 7 replies Reply @robertoalex4245 1 day ago I only clicked on this because I was curious to see how much IGN was gonna lie to my face, not because I was curious about the game. 4.7K Reply

GamesNosh @GamesNosh Here's that medieval fantasy you asked for Taash: Non-binary. I just said. And I'm going to use "they" instead of "she" from now on. . 12:07 PM Oct 28, 2024 1.4M Views

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Overview

Dragon Age The Veilguard Reviews Controversy refers to an online controversy in which video game developer BioWare and its publisher EA allegedly restricted review code copies for some gaming journalists and content creators who were purportedly more likely to be critical than others during their hands-on time with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which releases on October 31st, 2024. The allegations became a viral topic on X / Twitter and other sites as the reviews of the RPG were largely positive from media outlets, with some praising the game as a whole, while others criticized various details of the story, writing, characters and gameplay mechanics. Additionally, some also targeted the writing and other aspects of the game they perceived as "woke" and "diversity, equity and inclusion" (DEI) content as the controversy unfolded in the days leading up to Veilguard's release.

Background

On October 25th, 2024, RPG content creator and X / Twitter user @WolfheartFPS^[1] tweeted that he and two other creators, who also had received early hands-on access to play BioWare's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, were supposedly not given "a review code with time to actually give opinions before release." The tweet (seen below) amassed more than 527,000 views and 1,700 likes in four days.

WolfheartFPS @WolfheartFPS. Follow X 3 creators myself included, were a bit more critical than others with our hands-on time with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Not a single one of us will be getting a review code with time to actually give opinions before release. Just thought I would throw that out there.... Show more 1:13 PM Oct 25, 2024

The creator also replied to a follower in the same post mentioning another gaming journalist who also purportedly didn't receive a review code, even though they had posted positive comments about the game. @WolfheartFPS wrote that "Some positive creators didn't get codes but ALL 'critical' creators (that I know of) did not." The post (seen below) received roughly 130 likes in four days.

Fantasy Files Podcast Oct 25, 2024 @FilesFantasy - Follow Replying to @WolfheartFPS X I'm totally with you, but Luke Stephens was very positive on the game and they didn't give him one either. WolfheartFPS @WolfheartFPS Follow That's not really that important to what I am saying here. SOME positive creators didn't get codes but ALL "critical" creators (that I know of) did not. 4:25 PM Oct 25, 2024

Developments

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Reviews

Reviews for Dragon Age: The Veilguard started to appear on October 28th, 2024, as IGN^[2] reviewer Leana Hafer gave it a 9/10 score, writing, "If we never get another Dragon Age, at least it got to go out on a high note with Dragon Age: The Veilguard." The review video (seen below) amassed more than 298,000 views, 6,100 likes and 6,600 comments in a day. Using the Return YouTube Dislike extension in a browser, the YouTube video notably received more than 42,000 dislikes in the same timeframe, though the number is an estimate and not exact.

Additionally, under the comment section of IGN's YouTube^[2] review for Veilguard, many of the top-voted comments from users criticized IGN and the review, as well as the game (examples seen below),

Skill Up's^[7] Dragon Age: The Veilguard's review written by gaming journalist Austin B, titled "I do not recommend: 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard' (Review)," generated notable online buzz after it was published to their YouTube channel on October 28th (seen below), amassing over 1 million views, 68,000 likes and 19,000 comments in a day.

On the same day, the YouTube^[9] channel of Fextralife posted a video justifying why they aren't doing a Dragon Age: The Veilguard review, alleging EA tried to manipulate review scores by favoring those who'd likely give a higher grade for the game. The video (seen below) also sourced other creators waiting for the review code, which amassed more than 511,000 views, 39,000 likes and 6,000 comments in a day.

As of October 29th, 2024, Dragon Age: The Veilguard holds a "Generally Favorable" 84/100 score on Metacritic^[3] based on 51 critic reviews.

Online Reactions

Following the emergence of initial reviews in late October 2024, some netizens and fans of the franchise shared their lack of trust and suspicions related to the accuracy of the game's review from gaming journalists, with some also alleging the game is too "woke" and was written by "DEI" writers among those with complaints about non-political aspects of the RPG.

For example, on October 28th, 2024, X^[4] user @BadGhostTv shared some screenshots from IGN's Dragon Age: The Veilguard's review video, writing that the game "is the most obvious virtue signal that any dei hacks could possibly force in to a game." The tweet (seen below) amassed roughly 310 likes and 20 reposts in a day.

On the same day, X^[5] user @nib95_reminded people that LGBTQ+ dialogue has been present in other games of the franchise, as the user shared a clip from the 2014 Dragon Age Inquisition. The video (seen below) amassed more than 306,000 views and 3,300 likes in a day.

There's seemingly a lot of anger or ridicule about some LGBTQ dialogue in Dragon Age The Veilguard.As a reminder, scenes like this were in the now decade-old Dragon Age Inquisition, the game some implied was DA when not "woke".Ask yourselves why you weren't as mad then. pic.twitter.com/c4uGWNEJww

— NIB (@nib95_) October 28, 2024

Redditors also commented on the reviews controversy surrounding DATV, as Redditor AboveSkies^[6] made a post about Bloomberg Reporter Jason Schreier and other gaming journalists that were policing what other publications were allowed to say in their Dragon Age: The Veilguard review articles by purportedly editing their reviews following backlash. The post (seen below) amassed more than 550 upvotes and 80 comments in a day.

The Dualshockers Review of Dragon Age: The Veilguard apparently contained a passage that said: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GbAkJJiW8AAcOtv.png It's a game that clearly has had a bit of the Sweet Baby Inc. treatment in spots when it comes to its character backgrounds and storytelling, and it's a game that is willing to offer fan service by giving old characters little cameo appearances but unwilling to truly cater to the wants and needs of long-serving Dragon Age fans. Yet despite all this, I still find myself weirdly enamored with this title because it's a very polished, satisfying, and enjoyable version of what it's trying to be. That may alienate Die-hard fans out there, but it seems that this is a new age for Dragon Age, and while it has its flaws, it's one that has started with a bang. We don't have an Original Archive of the review as far as I can tell, but we'll just take the word of Honest Schreier (Reporter at Bloomberg) here. Upon which he complained on Twitter about it, here is what he had to say: https://x.com/jasonschreier/status/1851031448993587232 https://archive.is/6Puci This, from a review on Metacritic (!), is truly unhinged - not just because of the dog-whistling, but because of the divine power that idiots keep ascribing to consultants. Hate to break it to you, folks, but the people making key decisions at game companies aren't on contract You can see various of his "colleagues" chiming in: https://xcancel.com/jasonschreier/status/1851031448993587232 Kotaku's Senior Reporter Ethan Gach pasted that bit from the review on his Twitter, stating: https://x.com/ethangach/status/1851007420971303114 https://archive.is/RLfHv This is utterly disqualifying He later added: https://x.com/ethangach/status/1851019285751267581 https://archive.is/fhuCn It's been stealth edited out This has apparently led to DualShockers changing their review, Stealth Editing and scrubbing references to "Sweet Baby Inc." and more, the entire paragraph now just reads: https://archive.is/HNBVE#selection-1865.1-1869.68 It seems that this is a new age for Dragon Age, and while it has its flaws, it's one that has started with a bang.

On October 29th, 2024, YouTuber^[8] @EndymionTv uploaded a video alleging that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a "Woke Disaster & The End of BioWare." The video (seen below) amassed roughly 38,000 views and 5,600 likes in a few hours.