Dragon Age The Veilguard has more “convincing” gore than Origins, BioWare says

Stay awhile and listen: I have a story for you. Once upon a time, a young, definitely not 18-year-old Lauren really wanted to play Dragon Age. The slick, blood-red visuals set in contrast to the iconic pure white background caught my eye, and I scampered up to my mom with it in hand. She spotted the age rating and immediately asked the clerk behind the desk if it was “really violent.” They shook their head and went “nah, there’s just some blood,” and, with a glance that said ‘you better enjoy it,’ she reluctantly handed over her bank card. Those janky blood splatters soon became a symbol for me: they represented the one violent game I ever convinced her to get me – but they’re conspicuously absent in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

I tell Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s art director Matt Rhodes and level designer director Francois Chaput this exact story in our exclusive interview. They laugh, with Chaput thanking my mother for her diligence – something I’m sure she’ll be pleased about.

But the RPG‘s lack of blood does feel somewhat at odds with the dark fantasy feel of its predecessors. I fell an ogre and, while its blood pools beneath it in the ensuing cutscene, my merry band of misfits are completely clean. I ask the duo if this is an intentional choice, and why the team has chosen to make the adjustment coming into The Veilguard.

“It is [an intentional choice],” Rhodes tells me. “There were a few elements that went into it turning out that way. Ending a fight not just covered in blood, but [looking like] someone had taken a toothpaste [tube] of blood and evenly across you – people are like ‘yeah I’m covered in blood!’ but it’s not the most convincing; it was always a little goofy when you’re having conversations and the likes.

“[Dragon Age’s original blood design] was a way to portray that the combat was visceral when your animation is limited and the technology of the day had its own limitations; it was like a shorthand to say ‘okay, this was a really intense combat sequence.’ Now we’ve got this incredible team of animators and combat designers, and we don’t need to come up with a shorthand to convince you – it was [intense], you saw it, you played it, you felt it.”

Instead, the team focused on adding features that connect you with the world around you; “dust build up, or mud, or rain splatters” on your character “connect you with the environment even more and help you feel like you’re immersed in the world. So in terms of trading off, when we have even more visceral [combat] that’s even more convincing, we don’t have to use those shorthands any more.”

You can see some of that in the image of my character below – if you look closely at her right eyebrow, there’s some ash from the burning remains of D’Meta’s Crossing – a detail I only noticed while editing the image. Honestly, it’s pretty damn cool.

“We don’t not have blood in the game, though” Rhodes clarifies. “In fact, actually, in some cases, there’s more than in previous games. It’s just that it serves really beautiful, punctuated narrative points and is used in spectacular effects. So instead of ‘applied by sprinkler’ to everything across the board, it’s used to great effect at key moments to make a big impact.”

“I don’t think I can use names here, but there’s a high-ranking person within Bioware who’s always asking for more blood,” Chaput says with a laugh – cue the investigative journalism; I will find you, bloodthirsty Bioware developer.

The approach to gore in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an interesting one, and while D’Meta’s Crossing did satisfy my need for something a little grittier, I do think I’ll miss that sprinkler blood – as I say, it’s got an odd little place in my heart. The environmental effects, however, are absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t wait to see how they look when we head into snowy areas, or barren, dusty wastelands.

If you’re hyped for the next chapter of the Dragon Age saga, why not check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preview, which dives into the combat, story, and much more. Or, alternatively, we have a list of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard companions so that you can get to know who you’ll be travelling with (and realistically romancing) when the Dragon Age: The Veilguard release date rolls around.

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