BioWare renames Dragon Age: Dreadwolf to focus on its heroes, not its villain

BioWare’s Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is no more. The next entry in the role-playing game franchise is now known as Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the developer announced Thursday, ahead of a planned first look at gameplay on June 11.

Gary McKay, executive producer on Dragon Age and general manager of BioWare, says the name change for the fourth mainline Dragon Age game reflects the developer’s focus not on the game’s antagonist, but on the heroes you’ll play as in The Veilguard.

“Each of the seven unique characters that make up your companions will have deep and compelling storylines where the decisions you make will impact your relationships with them — as well as their lives,” McKay said in a blog post. “You’ll unite this team of unforgettable heroes as you take on a terrifying new threat unleashed on the world. Naturally, the Dread Wolf still has an important part in this tale, but you and your companions — not your enemies — are the heart of this new experience.

“So, to capture what this game is all about, we changed the name as the original title didn’t show just how strongly we feel about our new heroes, their stories and how you’ll need to bring them together to save all of Thedas.” Hence, Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts have been using the name Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for their follow-up to 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition for the past two years. So there are still plenty of product listings and watermarked screenshots that currently carry the old name for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. EA and BioWare will have no small amount of work for themselves to condition players to forget the old Dreadwolf name, but hopefully the gameplay they show next week will impress to the point where those memories are wiped away. No pressure, folks!

If you want to see 15 minutes of gameplay from Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ll need to tune in to the Dragon Age YouTube channel on June 11 at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT. BioWare’s new role-playing game promises to be an “incredible single-player game, with all the choices, characters and world building you’d expect from us,” McKay said.

The fourth Dragon Age game was first teased back in 2018. McKay said that over the course of the game’s lengthy development, BioWare experimented with multiple concepts, including a multiplayer take on Dragon Age. Ultimately, however, they settled on a classic, single-player adventure, with the blessing of EA.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is bound for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, but does not have an announced release date.