As BioWare prepared to show me the character creator for Dragon Age: The Veilguard at its Edmonton, Canada, offices, I expected something stronger — it’s 2024, character creators have come a long way. , and Bioware has a rich history of good customization. Despite my expectations, I wasn’t prepared for how strong it actually is in Veilguard. Strong enough, in fact, that BioWare used it to create most of the NPCs in the game, save for mainline characters like companions. Hyperbole aside, it’s a surprisingly rich creation system, and I’m looking forward to seeing near-replicas of player-created celebrity and horror creations that would be more at home in a horror game.
But I’m also looking forward to the community’s reaction to the best character creator in the Dragon Age series. At its core is inclusion, Veilguard game director Corinne Busche tells me before guiding her through creating her character.
As usual, there are four races to choose from: elves, canaries, humans, and dwarves. After selecting the Qunari, Busche pages through various presets, explaining the game allows each to be viewed in more detail along with the ability to select pronouns, they, them, and them/them. Separate by gender, choose different body types, and more. You can see your character in four different lighting scenes at any time, called Rook in-game, including the key purple of The Veilguard, a bright and sunny tropical day, and a gothic night.
I joke with the team that after spending over an hour building my Dragon Age: Inquisition character in 2014, I immediately restarted the game after seeing him in the first cutscene. The lighting in the game made my hair color look horrible among other issues I had with my Inquisitor. Wellguard creative director John Eppler says the team is aware of countless such stories with Inquisition and its green character creator, BioWare worked hard to address this concern in Wellguard.
Head and body presets can be individually selected and customized with 40 different colors to match smooth, uneven, youthful and wrinkled skin tones, from cool to cool skin tones. From neutral to warm, from undertones to skin tones, and even melanin. Slider Busche told me that BioWare relies on the consultation to authentically represent all people. There’s a vitiligo slider (where you can adjust its intensity and amount) and sliders for your forehead, forehead, cheeks, jaw, chin, larynx and scalp. You can also choose your underwear with nudity because “it’s a mature RPG,” Busche added, and use the “Body Morpher” to select three presets for each corner of a triangle and then Move a cursor inside your body to shape it. Or switch to a mix of these presets. It’s an impressive technology that I’d like to see adopted in other games.
I could go on: your height, shoulder width, chest size, glute and bulge size, hip width, how much blood pulses in your eyes, how visible the cataracts are, the color of the sclera, your How crooked the nose is, how big the bridge is can be adjusted. , there are just as many sliders, if not more, for things like the size of the nostrils and the tip of the nose, and the mouth and ears of the rook. On the ears alone, I see you can adjust asymmetry, depth, rotation, earlobe size, and even add a cabbage ear to your stop. Bouche says the makeup blends modern styles with Dragon Age fantasy with more than 30 options, including eyeliner intensity, color, shimmer, eyeshadow, lip and blush.
Tattoos are also customizable with markings and paint options. Tattoos, markings, and paint are culturally specific to certain lineages, BioWare tells me, with tattoos unique to elves, for example. You can add tattoos to Rook’s face, body, arms, and legs, and you can also adjust things like intensity.
I’m most impressed, however, with the hair options on display; There are a ton, and as someone with long hair, I’m especially excited about the fun choices I can make. You can finally dye your hair unconventional colors, and it’s so beautiful. EA’s Frostbite engine uses the Strand system to render each style complete with physics. “Technology has finally caught up with us,” says Matt Rhodes, art director of the Dragon Age series.
After customizing them all and choosing the type and material of our Qunari’s horns (there are over 40 options to choose from), it’s time to choose between Rogue, Mage, and Warrior. Choose a Class – Read more about Veilguard’s classes here. Since we built a Qunari, we went with Warrior. For the final step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, we choose a faction. Of the six options, we choose the pirate-themed Lords of Fortune.
“Rok ascends because of merit, not because of a magical MacGuffin,” BioWare core lead and Mass Effect executive producer Michael Gamble told me of Inquisition’s fate-versus-your-characteristics.
“Roque is here because he chooses to be and that speaks to the kind of character we’ve built,” added Bushey. “Someone needs to stop him, and Rook says, ‘I think it’s me.’
Ready to start your Rook’s journey, we choose a first and last name and one of four sounds from English Masculine, English Feminine, American Masculine, or American Feminine options. There’s also a pitch shifter for each voice, allowing you to further tweak it to your liking.
Don’t stress too much about locking your character’s creations before starting the game – the Mirror of Change, found in The Lighthouse, Valgard’s main hub, allows you to change your physical appearance at any time. Gives. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked and cannot be changed once selected in the game’s character creator.
From here, we’re off to Manrathos, and you can read more about the famous city in our cover story, available here.
For more information about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below.