Ex-Dragon Age lead gives The Veilguard's first gameplay a thumbs up - "I'm just eager to see where this goes"

After everyone got their first look at some gameplay from Dragon Age: The Veilguard the other day, former series lead David Gaider's now had a chance to give that reveal a watch. His thoughts? Overall, pretty positive.

While we did get a trailer for the game this past weekend's Xbox showcase - not long after it was renamed from Dreadwolf to Veilguard, a lot of fans were left a bit unsatisfied by that first glimpse of what Bioware's been working on. Some mixed reaction has also greeted the gameplay, but it does seem to be earning generally more positive reviews than its couterpart.

In what turned into a pretty lengthy Twitter thread, Gaider, who was a really key creative figure for the series from its inception all the way up until Inquisition was out of the door, offered his take on the 20 minute-ish long sequence.

"Overall, I'd say this made for a better introduction than the reveal trailer," he began, "We see some story, and tone-wise it feels a lot darker and more DA." Though, he did go on to pick out some things that fans have taken issue with, saying: "The stylized characters will take some getting used to, but the Dragon Age art style has changed every game so that's nothing new. Combat is more action-y, without any tactical elements, but it seems fine. Style is not much different than, say, Dragon Age 2's combat."

One thing that Gaider was blown away by - in a positive fashion - was the enviromental work on display. "To see the sprawl of Minrathous - wow," he mused, "I wish we could have done this for Kirkwall or even Val Royeaux. Utterly gorgeous, sells the breadth and tone, such great work." He also said that he "had to laugh" upon seeing that Dragon Age 2's dialogue icons were in there.

In terms of story, the developer added: "It was lovely to see Solas and get a hint of the story to come. Could probably chatter about the implications for days, and how this aligns (or doesn't) with where I thought the story would go... but I won't." Gaider then finished up what was a nice thread by saying he's "eager to see where this goes" and congratulating Bioware's developers on a job well done, which is also nice.

So, do you agree with Gaider's thoughts on what we've seen of Dragon Age: The Veilguard's gameplay? Let us know below, and make sure to check out our hands-on preview of the game.