Has Dragon Age: The Veilguard got you excited to jump into the series ahead of its launch this fall? Have you been waiting for the perfect opportunity to snag the entirety of the Dragon Age saga? Now might be the perfect chance.
As of this writing, Steam has a frankly insane deal going on the whole franchise. For about ten bucks, you can cop Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition and all of the major DLCs and expansions for each title. I repeat, ten bucks will get you everything you need to get caught up before The Veilguard.
Before jumping into the series, you should know that the Dragon Age games are…an unwieldy bunch to say the least. Though some have been released to critical acclaim, like Inquisition, others have not, and time has been equally gracious and cruel to the wider series. One of the larger problems that seems to have held the games back in the past is that it felt like Dragon Age lacked a cohesive vision underpinning the whole thing. For example, Origins is a harcore CRPG and you should never play it on console like I did (twice), whereas its immediate sequel was a much more intimate and downsized action-RPG with light CRPG elements.
However, experiencing the series firsthand, as opposed to via some lore recap, will be handy. The first game deals heavily with the Grey Wardens, a faction that has remained a large part of the Dragon Age series. One of the companions in The Veilguard belongs to this faction, and so you may as well learn all about them firsthand. The second game introduces Varric, who has become a major (not to mention beloved) character over the course of Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, and he seems to be play a big part in The Veilguard, too. Inquisition is the most important game of the bunch to play, if only because it and its Trespasser DLC explicitly establish the main conflict and antagonist of the forthcoming game.
While each of the games is stylistically distinct from the others, they have largely tried to tell the same ongoing story of the mage-templar conflict that has ripped Thedas several new ones over the course of three games and several DLCS. The latter two dive into this matter in more depth, and considering we’ll be heading to the Tevinter Imperium—an oft-mentioned corner of Dragon Age’s world—for the first time with The Veilguard, you’re going to want to know the role it has played in the ongoing political tensions of the world.
This incredible sale on the Dragon Age games ends on June 24 at 1 PM ET, so you’ve got the weekend to consider what else in your life really needs those ten dollars. I already own the games and even I’m biting the bullet again to have them on a better platform. What’s your excuse?
