My first steps in Treviso, the Antivan port city, leave me in awe. Shimmering canals wind through Mediterranean-style streets. Merchants peddle everything from colorful fruit and vegetables to bulky gear for the modern adventurer. I’ve been waiting for years to see Antiva, and it doesn’t disappoint. But, like every OG Dragon Age player, I had a vision of it in my mind, as I do with the likes of Rivain. While Treviso matched my high expectations, I ask Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s art director Matt Rhodes and level design director Francois Chaput about the pressure of creating cityscapes that we’ve been dreaming of for decades.
“Turning geeking out up to the maximum is an important ingredient in it,” Rhodes tells me during our exclusive Dragon Age: The Veilguard interview. “There’s places that people are excited to go to, probably no one more than us. You’ve been hearing about [these places] for years and years since Origins.
“There’s realistically no way to ever match anyone’s expectations – we can’t match my expectations for it. But what we can do is we can shoot as hard and as high as we possibly can to go for maximum spectacle; to try and do the most possible and go all out.” Trust me when I say, graphically, the RPG does go all out.
“We go back and say ‘what have we seen of Tevinter before?'” he continues. “We’ve seen hints of architecture in Inquisition and in Dragon Age 2 – a lot of Hightown was old Tevinter. We’ve seen Dorian’s costumes and some of the Venatori, so it’s been really fun to reverse-engineer and codify this. Dorian was the rockstar rebel, so how do you take that and reverse it – what would be the conservative version of this that he customized and tried to add his flair to?
“It’s been a really fun game of trying to pay homage to what’s come before, and then building upon that to try and exceed expectations.”
“We’ve tried to make this a world you want to see,” Chaput notes. “These people in this arena – what could be their problem that you relate to? What could be interesting? What could they be facing?” That sentiment specifically influenced Minrathous’ design, because despite its reputation as a notorious slaver state, Rhodes really wants to ensure that it feels like it’s “worth saving. You have to have hope that the city can be redeemed.”
In my Dragon Age: The Veilguard preview, I go into quite a bit of detail on the game’s environments, noting that Bioware “brings Thedas to life in ways its predecessors could only dream of.” The Veilguard is easily one of the best-looking games I’ve ever played (perhaps even the best-looking), and it’s a testament to the team’s combined skills. I can’t wait to fully explore every little nook and cranny, read every lore snippet, and truly immerse myself in this sparkly new iteration of Thedas.
If you’re also sitting on the edge of your chair, eagerly awaiting the Dragon Age The Veilguard release date, check out our list of all the Dragon Age: The Veilguard companions to help you pick out your party (and, of course, choose your new beau).
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