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Dragon Age: The Veilguard director says chasing industry trends with Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem 'starts to dilute your focus,' so he wanted to get back to BioWare's 'very real strength'

BioWare's Dragon Age: The Veilguard prioritizes character-driven storytelling, marking a return to the studio's roots after its focus was diluted by live-service and open-world trends in previous titles like Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda. The game received near-perfect reviews for its successful return to classic RPG form.

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BioWare creative director John Epler says it was important for Dragon Age: The Veilguard to return to the studio's "very real strength" of character-building and storytelling as other recent projects "didn't center that strength as well as they could have."

Speaking on the My Perfect Console podcast alongside fellow The Veilguard director Corinne Busche, Epler says BioWare was able to return to its roots with publisher EA's blessing after seeing its focus diluted by chasing industry trends.

"You know, I love Mass Effect: Andromeda, but there was also - we had open-world that was a big thing in the industry at the time, and that starts to dilute your focus," Epler says (thanks, Eurogamer). "We had Anthem - live service dilutes your focus.

"So for us, it was really understanding what it is that people come to the studio to do - they work here for a reason, they want to make big stories that allow you to be a big hero of your own creation, but also a focus on characters, a focus on that experience of living in a different world."

Epler goes on to say that the studio wanted Dragon Age: The Veilguard to get back to those very things, as that's what made the studio what it was during the "golden age" of BioWare where we saw hit after hit. "The Veilguard was a very conscious return to that with a focus on characters, storytelling, and being just this really bombastic single-player RPG," he adds.

As our Dragon Age: The Veilguard review declares, the team has certainly been successful in getting back to its roots. We gave the game a near-perfect score, calling it "a true return to RPG form for BioWare."

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is out now.

For more games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard, be sure to check out our roundup of the best RPGS.