I have recently written an article for Tales from the Tavern issue two wherein I explain the need to remove the ‘poison of politics’ from genre fantasy. Without wanting to re-write such an article I must, at the least, express my feelings on the new Dragon Age: The Veilguard here.

For in this game all of my many pet peeves regarding ideological hijacking of fantasy seem to have been realised. Now, I am not going to be playing DA:VG, as I haven’t the time nor the willpower. I did, however, play Dragon Age: Origins, now a far flung memory. The difference in approach to these two titles in the same universe is stark.

Origins was a dark, gritty, and yet hopeful adventure through a war torn land with a horde of evil nipping at your heels the whole of the way. After your ‘Origin’ you took part in the grand battle of Ostagar and witnessed the death of the King at the hands of the evil Darkspawn, his father’s most loyal friend betraying him at the last and leaving him to die. What follows is possibly one of the greatest video game experiences I have ever had. The characters were incredibly well written, well voiced, and well designed. They felt real. Believable.

The fantasy was that of saving the world. Of writing wrongs, of defeating evil (at least in my playthrough) and of romancing the lovely Leliana. It was the return of the King, his sacrifice to the Archdemon, the end of his dry humour in a blaze of glory. It was playing the noble knight, denying Morrigan her wish to bed me for magical purposes, and failing to slay the high dragon no matter how hard I tried.

And then… then there is Veilguard. A game that boasts ‘top surgery scars’, ugly characters, and whose chief fantasy appears to be winning an argument with your parents about pronouns around the dinner table. A game wherein you can encourage your party members to be proud of their ‘multicultural’ background. Wherein the very modern language of pronouns, of gender identity, and other various left wing talking points continually appear to rear their sparkly heads.

And this, they will tell you, is easily ignored. It is a belaboured point by now but it bears repeating;

The suspension of disbelief is paramount to the experience of a fantasy world. The forced inclusion of political and social ideology serves no purpose other than to drag the vast majority of people out of that fantasy world in order to beat them over the head with the writer’s worldview.

The greatest fantasy for these people is not slaying the high dragon, nor is it bedding the bard, nor saving the world; it is forcing their philosophy on the people around them. That is why these snippets exist. They are attempting a subversion of the genre in order to affect the real world to better suit them and theirs.

No, I say. The genre of Fantasy at its best is one of escape. Lessons may be learned, inspiration may be taken, yet these things are done as the reader allows. The approach of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not one of seeking to tell a grand tale.

It appears instead to be just another skin-suit for the ideologically possessed to try and force their worldview down our throats.