The name change of Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf to The Veilguard was a bit surprising, but BioWare did not do this just for this purpose.
Look, no matter how you slice it, the subtitle for Keepers of the Veil isn’t as cool as Dread Wolves. Keepers of the Veil sounds like a DLC at best, but the decision has been made, so there’s nothing we can do about it now. But the decision wasn’t just due to some marketing reasons, or worse, an unjustified hatred of wolves (literal or otherwise). Game Informer recently spoke to several of Keepers of the Veil’s team leads and asked each of them the reasoning behind the name change.
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Speaking about how the Dragon Age games “reflect the creativity of the team that makes them,” game director Corinne Busche explained that BioWare “realized very quickly that the absolute core of this game was these authentic and diverse companions. When we stepped back, we always examined our decisions to make sure they were still representative of the game we were trying to build. We just felt that we needed a game that represented what this game was really about.”
Creative director John Epler also noted that the series has “always been about character, not just the villains, but your team, your companions, the other characters in the world,” though he did say that “Solas is still the central character in it. He’s still an important character. But really, the focus shifts to the team. The focus is on the people that you recruit. The focus is on stopping the apocalypse with this group of specialists, these really interesting and diverse characters that you recruit into your team.” [We] Realize that Dreadwolf suggests a title focused on a specific individual, whereas The Veilguard, much like Inquisition, is more focused on a team.”
Essentially, the team wants to put the focus on your team of heroes, which is a reasonable reason to change the name of the game (even if there could be something less boring again).
Alex got to play The Veilguard during the Summer Game Fest and was very excited to play it. The game doesn’t have a release date yet, but is expected to be released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC this fall.
