'Dragon Age: The Veilguard Star Devastated by Backlash, Claims BioWare Critics Wanted Failure'

Dragon Age star Alix Wilton Regan has shared her personal disappointment regarding the backlash against last year's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, attributing the "mixed reactions" to individuals who "wanted to see the game fail, or wanted to see [BioWare] fail."

In a recent interview with IGN, Wilton Regan, who portrays the Female Inquisitor in both Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, expressed her devastation over BioWare's latest game not resonating with a larger audience, despite receiving mostly positive reviews from critics. The conversation also touched on her other iconic video game roles and her involvement in Microsoft's upcoming Perfect Dark reboot. Wilton Regan fondly reflected on her time as BioWare's Inquisitor but expressed doubt about reprising the role in the future.

"I feel absolutely devastated for BioWare as a studio that they got such mixed reactions to the game," Wilton Regan stated about The Veilguard. "I personally thought it was a really strong game. I thought it was just BioWare being more BioWare."

She also pointed out that some of the negativity stemmed from a desire to see the game or BioWare fail, often fueled by malicious intent from internet users. "I also think a lot of people kind of wanted to see it fail, or wanted to see [BioWare] fail, either because they're just really bad people on the internet — of which there are unfortunately many, as we have discovered."

Upon its release, The Veilguard faced significant review bombing, with much of the criticism revolving around the game's "woke" elements, including a non-binary companion character and the option for players to choose a transgender protagonist. On Steam, the game currently holds a 'Mixed' user rating, with tags such as "LGBTQ+" and "politics" reflecting some of the community's sentiments.

"People were attacking the game before it was released," Wilton Regan added. "It's ridiculous. How can you judge a game, a book, a film, a TV show before it's actually released? You can't. It's an idiotic stance to take."

In January, EA acknowledged that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had underperformed by approximately 50% compared to their expectations, shortly after the game's director, Corrine Busche, announced her departure from the company. Additionally, several BioWare employees who contributed to the game were laid off.

BioWare also announced in January that they had released the final update for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with no further content planned or announced.

Expressing her support for the BioWare team, Wilton Regan concluded, "I only ever want to see the folks from BioWare thrive, because I adore them. And whatever they go on to do next I have no doubt their talents will be richly rewarded. We're really lucky we'll get more gold from them in the future."

Currently, a smaller BioWare team is working on Mass Effect 5, though a release date has yet to be announced.