The character creator of Dragon Age: The Veilguard touched me deeply

Dragon Age: The Veil Guardian has many rewards for fans of Dragon Age: Inquisition who have survived the decades-long wait between the two games. And the first thing that appears is the ability to recreate your version of inquisition's player character for their appearance in Veil Guardian.

As one of those patient fans, I've spent 10 years being warmed by memories of my adventures in Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's no surprise that building my Inquisitor triggered a wave of emotion for this character and the story I created for him a decade ago – that's, after all, the traditional emotional hook that defines the best BioWare games.

But it wasn't just nostalgia that gripped my emotions as I tweaked my Inquisitor's hair, face, and background details: it was the idea that while the main character would no longer be the main character, her story would still continue. I was almost 30 when I played inquisitionand now I'm almost 40. But my Inquisitor is also 10 years older, depending on the date Veil Guardian is certain – and damn it, Inquisitor Haleth Lavellan, Herald of Andraste and Comtesse of Kirkwall, is still in the game. In the truest sense of the word, yes – but more importantly: metaphorically.

The classic hero story is the domain of young and inexperienced adventurers, especially in the RPG style with high fantasy yarns that occupy many games. And the epic hero's story tries to end with “Happily Ever After”, usually at the moment when the quest objective is achieved, because that is where all the tension and catharsis of the narrative lies. It makes sense! (There are many exceptions to this, but they are just exceptions.)

But role-playing games can also be a great place to explore lifelong adventures, not just “That Strange Summer I Had a Tadpole in My Mind.” And in a way, as I booted up, I was preparing myself to have a lot of feelings for older heroes and legacies Veil Guardian by playing a game that is explicit around that just before. I have bridged the gap between my pre-Veil Guardian Repeat of inquisition and actually play Veil Guardian (courtesy of BioWare's early code) by diving into Worldwalker Games' Wilder myth.

Wilder myth is a tactical role-playing game in which you play a series of procedurally generated adventures with procedurally generated (and highly customizable) teams of heroes. You follow each hero from a brave and inexperienced adventurer through the ups and downs of a unique story that is intended to have the atmosphere of a long-running fantasy tabletop campaign. You watch as your characters experience victory, loss, transformation, and for some even love, children, and retirement as they age. Then, once your story is complete, you can begin a new arc with a new threat and build a party made up of a mix of new adventurers, veteran characters from your last game, and even the children of your old team.

I was still thinking about how much those old mechanics had endeared me Wilder mythWhen booting up, the characters were comparatively thin Dragon Age: The Veil Guardian and started making my inquisitor. It's not the first time Dragon Age has let you build your old PC to appear in a new game – inquisition surprises you with a mid-game trip to the character creator to create your own Hawke, the player character Dragon Age 2. But you don't start playing Hawke again until about a year after her game's uncertain end. There is no gap, no invitation to reflect on how it has been ten years since the Inquisitor left the Breach and brought the shattered nations of southern Thedas back together… and yet their story is not yet over.

When I and the other players in my decade-long tabletop campaign put our heads together about our characters, a common theme of daydreaming is imagining the lives they will lead after We're closing the book on the campaign (psst, don't tell our GM, the story isn't over yet). Part of it is that we're desperate to show our age: we're all in our 40s, and we've been playing characters in the classic fantasy protagonist age range of 20-something to 30-something all this time. We know there is much more life on the other side of this divide, and we want it for them too.

But while I respect and support my friends who are determined to see their character settle down and settle down, I long for something different. I want to know that there are more adventures in her future. With the Inquisitor, Dragon Age: The Veil Guardian gives me this. The story of the Inquisition was over, but the Inquisitor is still here and making moves. (What moves? I had to play the game to find out.)

In the character creator, I did my best to recreate my Inquisitor's face (or at least how she could have been designed). Veil Guardian(the smoother art style), but I also made a number of thoughtful changes. More weathered skin, grayer hair and a different cut – no more braids, she's now working with a prosthetic hand and although she could find someone to do that for her, I can see she wants more independence. I captured her crucial decisions about the Inquisition and her romantic partner (the man every snooty human noble at the snooty human ball wanted to fuck) and picked out her voice, the deep British tones of actress Alix Wilton Regan.

After all the hours I've spent on it, I'm very familiar with Regan's voice inquisitionbut just for fun I press the voice test button anyway. “It’s nice to see you again,” my inquisitor said.

It was a cheap shot, BioWare, but it hit the mark. It Is Nice to see my Inquisitor again, and it's good news for everyone on the other side of the age of untested fantasy heroes to see that she's still involved (no pun intended) in the state of Thedas.