Summary
There is nothing more terrifying inDragon Agethan the Darkspawn (unless you’re arachnophobic). These infected creatures follow the call of a corrupted Old God, and destroy anything unfortunate enough to stand in their way.
DespiteDragon Age: Originssuffering from a severe case of 2009 graphics, several of the Darkspawn variants still managed to be terrifying, like the shadowy Shrieks who stalk the party while invisible, waiting for the perfect backstab moment. That’s not to mention more grotesque creatures like Broodmothers or The Children.
We got a brief glimpse of what the Darkspawn looks like in the upcomingDragon Age: The Veilguardin ablog postfromBioWareand a couple of in-game screenshots. There’s certainly been a shift in the visual style in The Veilguard, as we saw from the altered appearance of the demons present in the20-minute snippetreleased by BioWare during Summer Game Fest.
‘Goofy’ New Darkspawn
The Darkspawn aren’t exempt, with the new Genlocks lookingmore stylisedthan we’ve seen them in the past. The fandom is taking issue with the new look of the Ogre, one of Dragon Age’s most iconic enemies. The new Ogre isn’t quite the hulking colossus we’re used to, and its glowing red eyes take away from the sort of monstrous effect typically associated with the behemoth Darkspawn.
This has annoyed a section of the fandom so much that aReddit threadwas created to ask BioWare to change the design of the Ogre, with a reference by the original poster to the original Sonic look from Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) that was changed as a result of fan pressure.
“Most of the enemies they have shown are so cartoonish to me, they look like Kingdom Hearts enemies and I hate it,” one comment reads. “Hard to believe how bad the design is compared to the previous games,” another agrees.
Though Dragon Age: The Veilguard was initially criticised for being ‘cartoonish’ after itsdebut trailer, fans generally relented on this point after seeing the gameplay snippet, and because ofcomments from BioWare developersthat Dragon Age is as dark as ever.
The Dragon Age anthology novel ‘Tevinter Nights’ contains a short story, ‘The Horror of Hormak’, that features horrifically mutated Darkspawn hybrids, such as Hurlocks with spider bodies, and a giant centipede. There is some speculation that these creatures may appear in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
We have only seen one screenshot of the Ogre, so we’re missing additional context. Still, people are fans of the original design, and for good reason.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t have a firm release date yet, butis expected in Q3 of Electronic Arts' financial year, which would place the release date sometime between October and December of this calendar year.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
