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Dragon Age: The Veilguard is finally available — and eager fans have one big question on their minds. How long is the latest adventure in the Dragon Age universe? These games run the gamut from extremely long, fully-fledged RPGs to relatively short cinematic experiences. The trailers for Veilguard didn’t exactly give us a clear picture of what kind of game we were getting — there’s a lot more action this time around, with an almost Mass Effect style gameplay loop. Are we getting classic Dragon Age or something a little more focused? If you’re curious how this game works, here’s a quick rundown of the length, how many chapters you’ll encounter, and what the endgame is like.
For more Veilguard secrets, check out our Dragon Age: Veilguard post-credits cutscene guide, or learn how to save everyone in the finale.
How Long Does It Take To Beat?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a meaty game that doesn’t take quite as long to complete as some previous games in the series — but it is about the same general length as some of the longer predecessors like the first game.
- There are 14 Chapters in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
- It takes about 40~ hours to complete the main game. Completing all side-quests and earning the best ending can take a little longer — about 50~ hours.
If you’re aiming for 100% completion, you could be looking at 80~ hours, but only if you need to replay the game to get the best and worst endings.
Progressing through chapters, you’ll eventually be able to freely travel the map and explore more open sections of the map. These areas have side-quests you can complete to upgrade your different friendly factions. There are multiple major factions you’ll need to level up to three stars and seven companions with their own companion quests to complete.
The length makes Veilguard roughly equivalent to Dragon Age: Origins (about 49~ hours) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (about 51~ hours). That’s good news for fans worrying we were about to get another Dragon Age 2, which was much shorter, only clocking in at about 32~ hours. There’s a lot you can do in this game.
What Is The Endgame?
Like Mass Effect 2, there is a long endgame / finale sequence. In Chapter 11 you’ll face a special menu screen that warns you of a Point of No Return. Once you initiate the quest from this screen, there’s no turning back and all your choices are locked in for Chapters 12, 13 and 14. If you want to be fully prepared for the endgame, you’ll need to prepare in Chapter 11.
- Chapter 12, 13 and 14 are the Suicide Mission of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. During this final set of confrontations, multiple characters can die even if you’ve completed all their companion quests.
- Companion quests MUST be completed if you want to save everyone.
- You must be at a Three Star Rating with all NPC Factions to save them all.
In the endgame, you’ll also be asked to assign your companions to different tasks. Certain companions are better at tasks than others — if you choose the wrong companions, even if you’ve leveled them up fully by completing Companion Quests, they will die before the end.
- WARNING: One choice in Chapter 12 is GUARANTEED to kill one of your characters. Whoever you pick, one of the characters will die. There’s no getting around this. It’s like the choice on Virmire in Mass Effect 1.
The endgame is a full three chapters long, and there are multiple ways your choices will play out.
How Many Endings Are There?
There are many endings, but they’re almost all determined by who dies in Chapter 12, 13 and 14. If everyone survives, you’ll get the best possible ending. If everyone dies — things won’t be as good. This is especially true if you don’t fully upgrade your factions.
- Best Ending: Save as many party member companions and NPC factions as possible in Chapter 12, 13 and 14. If you save 6 companions and all factions, you’ll get the best ending possible.
- Worst Ending: Everyone dies. If you make the wrong choices in the finale, don’t complete companion quests and don’t rank up NPC factions, everyone can die.
- Post-Credits Ending: There is one final secret post-credits ending. To earn it, collect all three Mysterious Circles. These are found in the open-world environments and by completing specific side-quests.
There are more endings — different things will happen depending on who dies and when. If you’re really unlucky, you can lose everyone. If you work at it, you can save them all.
