The final conversation with Solas

After four games, pretty much everything Dragon Age has ever been leads to one final conversation with Solas. The Veil is coming down, the rest of Thedas will be burned to ash in the aftermath, and the only way to stop it is for the trickster god himself to bind himself to it. No matter what you do, Solas will end up using his immortal life force to keep Thedas and the Fade separate. But the tenor of your decision still matters. You can knock him senseless and forcibly cast the blood magic spell to hold him there, you can trick him so his magic backfires and leave him helpless as you bind him to the Veil, or you can take the third option. Bringing Mythal’s essence out allows her to release him from her service, letting him lay down a lifetime of regret. It’s the culmination of learning all the secrets left in this world, and once you have all that understanding, it feels like the most appropriate way to cap off a cliffhanger whose resolution we’ve been awaiting for ten years.

After everything that’s happened to BioWare in the months following The Veilguard’s launch, what sticks out to me most is how much the game leans into finality. Closure is a key pillar of its storytelling, even if there are hints toward a sequel we may never get. And if this is the note we leave off on, I won’t be upset. I hope most of the team that was at BioWare at any point during the series’ development won’t be either.