2024 may almost be over, but what could be one of the year's best games is still on the way. The title I'm referring to is none other than Dragon Age: The Veilguard — the fourth mainline entry in BioWare and Electronic Arts' legendary RPG series, and the first in it since 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition released a decade ago. The wait for "Dragon Age 4" has been an incredibly long one, but now that it's finally almost here, excitement for the game is rapidly ramping up.
With the RPG now just a few weeks away, players interested in the prospect of a new fantasy adventure are wondering when specifically they'll be able to embark on this new Dragon Age journey. Luckily, the developers have announced the game's official release date, along with precise launch time information. You'll find all of that in the sections below, as well as everything we know about things like preloads and storage requirements.
What is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a single player action RPG set in the fantasy world of Thedas, and it takes place after the events of the series' previous game Dragon Age: Inquisition. Players will create and take control of a custom character called "Rook" (you'll be able to give them an actual name in the character creator) and adventure through the game as one of three classes — Warrior, Rogue, or Mage — with each class allowing you to customize and finely tune your playstyle with specialization subclasses. Like many other action RPGs, combat involves utilizing weapons, magic, and skills to take the fight to foes while avoiding their strikes with well-timed defensive maneuvers like dodges, blocks, and parries.
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Naturally, most of The Veilguard's choice-driven story has been kept under wraps by EA and BioWare, though there are some things we know about the overarching plot of the game. Solas, a companion character that returns from Inquisition, threatens all of Thedas with a ritual that is said to restore lost elven immortality, but also rip open the Veil — the barrier between the world and the metaphysical "Fade" realm where demons reside. You and The Veilguard companions stop him, however, with the ensuing skirmish resulting in the arrival of a pair of elven gods that plan to destroy the world. In the aftermath, you and your allies are tasked with banding together to slay the two deadly deities.
The game will have seven different companions you can recruit, travel, and fight alongside, with deep backstories and romances to engage with if you're so inclined. Also, several characters from previous Dragon Age games will appear throughout the story. For example, Varric Tethras and Lace Harding will both be in The Veilguard, with the former originating from Dragon Age 2 and the latter first introduced in Inquisition.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC (via Steam, the EA app, and GeForce NOW), and PS5, and costs $59.99 to preorder (notably, it's also Steam Deck verified). In addition to the standard version of the game, there's also a $79.99 Deluxe Edition with a suite of exclusive cosmetic goodies for Rook and their companions (see our Dragon Age: The Veilguard preorder guide for more information).
Dragon Age: The Veilguard — Release date and times
Fans hoping to play the new RPG soon will be happy to know that it's not at all far off, and is only a few short weeks away. Specifically, Dragon Age: The Veilguard's scheduled release date is October 31, 2024, officially making it 2024's spookiest game launch.
In terms of exact launch time, BioWare has confirmed that The Veilguard will become available at the same time worldwide at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET. As a result of this global launch, though, it actually won't release until early on November 1 in a few eastern regions. If you're planning to stay up late on Halloween to play the game as soon as it comes out, keep that in mind!
Thanks to a launch times map from EA and BioWare, we know exactly when The Veilguard will release in major time zones across the world. Each of these times is visible in the image of the map above, though I've also put them in the table below:
Can I play Dragon Age: The Veilguard with Early Access?
These days, lots of big games — especially single player RPGs like this one — have special Early Access periods where people who purchase Deluxe or Ultimate Editions can play several days. However, Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn't have one of these, meaning that regardless of the edition you buy, you'll have to wait until October 31 at 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET to jump into the game.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard countdown clock
This clock counts down to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's global release date and launch time, making it a useful tool if you want to track how much longer you'll have to wait before it's out.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard download size
New games have gotten quite large in recent years, and I'm not just referring to things like map sizes and quest counts. These days, it's not uncommon to see a massive and highly detailed single player RPG like this one require 100GB of file space or more, and unfortunately, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is in-line with that trend. As revealed by the official Dragon Age: The Veilguard system requirements, you'll need 100GB of storage on a solid-state drive (SSD) to play the game.
If you don't have enough space on an SSD you already own, you can try to free up hard drive space by deleting old files (especially large ones like videos), compressing others, or uninstalling other games you don't often play (these are just a few suggestions). If you want to add more space to your rig or need to get an SSD, consider picking up one of the best SSDs available right now.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard preload date and time
One of the best features of modern gaming is preloading, or downloading and installing a game before it actually becomes available to play. Preloading has become increasingly prevalent ever since file sizes started ballooning into the triple digits, as it helps everyone — especially players with poor or slow internet connections — start playing at launch right away.
Preloads are available for both the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with Xbox preloads live now and PlayStation ones coming a few days before the game's release date. You'll find its exact preload dates and times listed below.
- Xbox Series X|S: Oct. 14, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET
- PlayStation 5: Oct. 29, 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET
Can I preload Dragon Age: The Veilguard on PC?
Sadly, preloads are not available for the PC version of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, meaning you'll have to wait until 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET on October 31 to download and install it. The developers say they weren't able to offer preloads for PC players since The Veilguard doesn't have any form of third-party digital rights management (DRM) like Denuvo in it.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to release on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5 on October 31, 2024. It looks to be one of the top new single player RPGs, and could very well be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year, too.
