According to BioWare, the highly anticipated new Dragon Age will feature more complex, fully fleshed out companions than previous Dragon Age installments.

Game Informer has published a new interview with Corinne Busche, the game’s director, who says that BioWare is raising the stakes with the characters to an unprecedented level. Considering the studio’s track record with Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect, that’s a bold statement!

“They’re complicated, they have complicated problems, and that’s what’s interesting. As much as I love the companions and the journeys I’ve been on with them in previous Dragon Age games, it feels like the companions are going on an adventure with me, the main character, whether it’s the Hero of Ferelden or Hawke, whatever. But in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, in many ways the companions are so fleshed out that it feels like I’m going on a journey with them. I’m exploring how they think and feel; I’m helping them through their problems. We work through their unique character arcs. They feel like my dear friends, and I absolutely adore them.

We’ve really moved into a place where you can have the highest of highs, and it can be colorful, it can be optimistic, but you can also have the lowest of lows where it gets dark, it gets painful, it gets pretty dark. But through it all there is a sense of optimism. And that creates this wonderful throughline throughout the game. […] In our base of operations this time, our player hub, the Lighthouse, each of the companions has their own room. And what I love about that is that it becomes a reflection of who they are. The more time you spend with them, as the game progresses, as you work through their arc, their room and their personality will evolve and blossom and become more complete as they trust you more and you understand them more. […]

The companions also develop romantically, and I’m not just talking about the main character, Rook; I’m talking about each other. There are moments in the game where two of our companions fall in love with each other and I had to make some pretty difficult choices because of the quest we’re on. And it broke my heart, it really did. I would say that as you adventure with them, as you return to the Lighthouse and get to know them – all of these decisions and conversations and things that you learn about them – it makes you care for them in a way that I honestly haven’t experienced before. And sometimes that fills me with joy and sometimes it breaks my heart,” Busche said.

We’ll have at least seven companions. Bellara Lutara, Davrin, Emmrich Volkarin, Lace Harding, Lucanis Dellamorte, Neve Gallus, and Taash. We can have romantic relationships with all of them, regardless of race or gender. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC this fall.

Source: WCCFTech, Game Informer