But if there's one piece of lore I'm dying to know, it's the origins of the Qunari, and it feels like Taash is at the heart of that mystery. I spent roughly 6-7 hours playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard at a recent preview event, and it felt like I was back ...

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare’s long-awaited sequel to 2014’s Inquisition, finally arrives in October, and one drastic change has already been ridiculed by fans.

BioWare's Derek Wiles has explained that a photo criticizing Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Qunari design features a player character and not an NPC.

The Veilguard. In IGN's latest preview of the character creator and combat, you can see the breadth of customisation available

Bellara can be found relatively early in Dragon Age: The Veilguard when you first return to the Arlathan Forrest after stopping Solas’ ritual. You’ll first meet her Veil Jumper companions Strife and Irelin who are looking for her after she wandered off.

Back in June, during Summer Games Fest, I was able to sit down for a behind-closed-doors preview. However, that session was strictly hands-off; we were only able to watch the presenter go through the character creator and play the game's opening prologue. My hands-on at publisher EA was significantly more eye-opening -- and exciting.

It’s a bold move to hand out a title like Game of the Year before a game’s even released. But after getting a preview and marathoning Dragon Age: The Veilguard for seven hours straight, I can confidently say that if you like action RPGs, this is the best in the genre for 2024. Sorry, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but it’s not even close.

BioWare was suspiciously coy when asked whether it was considering releasing a standalone character creator for Dragon

The Veilguard is not currently available to pre-order in some countries. Dragon Age: Inquisition faced similar non-availability issues, worrying some fans. EA and BioWare have yet to comment on the topic.

The Veilguard' director Corinne Busche has teased the game will include some "fan-favourite features" from older instalments in the series.

Dragon Age fans are worried the World State tab in The Veilguard's character creator won't account for some major story decisions from Inquisition.