Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming out and, being one of the big RPG releases this year, quite a few of us have been sinking our teeth into it—we’ve got a wide smattering of opinions, ranging from withering to, well, our Dragon Age: The Veilguard review score of 79, which isn’t half-bad for a game with so much expectation riding it. If you’ve been following the wider response and hubbub, though, you might’ve noticed a few disjointed screenshots discussing the trans and non-binary options available to you in the game.
I’m here to shed some light and clear up some confusion, given I’ve played 41 hours of the thing while leaning into these options—and, hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you that they aren’t a big deal if you don’t want to engage with them. Here’s the skinny on exactly how they work:
First up, in a move that I think is actually pretty neat for roleplay purposes, your identity and pronouns are completely separate on character creation. I say “neat for roleplay purposes” because half of the reason I’ve been going for these in the first place is that, due to the qunari’s binary perception of gender in the Qun, I thought it’d be interesting to see how the game reacts to my character using a single set of pronouns, but having a non-binary view of himself.
The major thing I’d like to clear up here is that—contrary to some rumours about these pronoun options, or the “top scar” customisation option irreversibly making your character transgender—these things don’t impact your character’s identity at all beyond, naturally, the words that characters use to refer to them.
Instead, it’s all handled in a very early-game cutscene. When Rook’s getting set up in their digs for the first time, they’ll interact with a mirror. During this dialogue, you’ll get one of several options, some of which lock in your character’s trans or non-binary identity, regardless of the options you picked at character creation. These are clearly and coherently sign-posted on the wheel, so there’s no danger of selecting one by accident.
(Image credit: Bioware / EA)
I’ll say that, while I have little quibbles and issues with how this game handles gender as a fantasy story, this is, as a concept, a solid system. It swerves the awkward problem of tying gender identity to a big “trans or no trans” switch on character creation, lets players get granular with exactly how their characters view themselves, and—in what I think is a first for this sort of thing—allows a player to make a character who’s trans or non-binary and, if they so choose, decide that it’s only a minor footnote. Good stuff.
In terms of what to expect if you choose to go for this option? Not a huge amount. Playing a non-binary Rook, I’ve had opportunities to have my character talk about his gender when gender comes up—which it does. I’ll keep things as spoiler-free as I can, but there are plot points and character moments that handle the topic in much the same ways Inquisition did. But I can say that, in the span of 40+ hours, I’ve been given the option twice. It’s also similarly signposted.
So, to summarise—yes, you can be trans in The Veilguard. No, it’s not decided by options in character creation. Yes, it does come up. No, the game doesn’t ambush you with it or even necessarily make a big deal out of it, and there’s no way you can accidentally make your character trans, unless you’re not reading text in an RPG for some reason. Even leaning as hard into the options as I have, the game hasn’t made a meal out of it unless I’ve sat down, unfolded a menu, and specifically asked.
