You can be explicitly trans in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
As one fan said, "The joy I'm feeling in my heart right now can't be put into words"
By Alim Kheraj
The Dragon Age series has long been one of the most inclusive video game franchises around. From allowing players to embark in gay romances to introducing LGBTQ+ characters, the fantasy RPG has always embraced queer people.
However, for the upcoming fourth entry in the series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it seems that developer BioWare is taking this to the next level, especially when it comes to the trans and gender non-conforming community.
As Kotaku reported, players will be able to customise their hero, known in the game as Rook, in a robust character creator, including choosing things like pronouns, gender identity and even whether to include top surgery scars.
While Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not the first game to allow such customisation – games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield also provided such options – players will also be able to explicitly declare through various dialogue options that they are transgender.
According to screenshots from the game shared by Kotaku, this decision will affect further conversations with your companions in the game, making your gender identity canon in that specific play through through unique dialogue choices.
Of course, Dragon Age has featured trans character. For example, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, the previous entry in the series, the character of Krem was referred to as ‘Aqun–Athlok‘, which according to the Dragon Age Wiki means one “born as one gender but lives like another”.
Still, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first time that a BioWare game has allowed a player to explicitly state their trans identity.
Naturally, LGBTQ+ fans of the series have shared their delight at the inclusive options.
Given it’s been 10 years since the last entry into the series, and the fact that it seems like a return to form for BioWare, we can’t wait to dive into Dragon Age: The Veilguard when it releases for PC, Xbox and Playstation on 31 October.