There’s a lot riding on Dragon Age: The Veilguard for BioWare, and it sounds like the upcoming fantasy RPG has a colossal script to match the pressure.
In a recent interview with GamesRadar, creative director John Epler and creative performance director Ashley Barlow explained why it’s taken so long to get the fourth Dragon Age game, as it’s been ten years since Dragon Age: Inquisition. Barlow revealed that casting on The Veilguard started five years ago, and there’s been a lot of work done since then.
“It takes a long time to record 700 characters, you know – 80,000 lines or 140,000 lines with all the Rooks,” Barlow said. “It just takes time to make good.”
It’s worth highlighting the caveat that Barlow makes within that figure, specifying that it’s the Rooks that push it up to 140,000. Rook is the name for the playable protagonist in The Veilguard, and there are four voice actors to choose from (BioWare revealed the voice casting for the Rooks and the companions last week). So, that could mean it’s just at 80,000 lines without taking into account the four Rook voices.
Taken at face value, however, that 140,000 number puts it above Inquisition, which previously had the most lines of dialogue of any Dragon Age game with 88,000 lines. It’s probably still not as much as Baldur’s Gate 3 which, according to Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke, contains triple the word count of Lord of the Rings, and it’s also under Starfield, which apparently contains an absolutely massive 250,000 lines of dialogue. Still, it’s nothing to sneeze at.
More Dragon Age: The Veilguard information has been revealed in recent days, especially as some of the developers and voice cast hit San Diego Comic-Con last week (a special SDCC exception was made for the SAG-AFTRA video game strike that was called last week). For more, check out our SDCC interview with Epler, Barlow, and Harding voice actress Ali Hillis. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to release sometime this fall.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
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