When a game is in the works as long as Dragon Age: The Veilguard was, it’s bound to have a ton of unused assets and concept art. Developers like BioWare go through so many artistic iterations of a game within normal development cycles, so you can imagine how many more a game like The Veilguard had when it was rebooted twice and in development for a decade. The cool thing is that when we do get a concept art drop, we get an in-depth look at what could have been, or in this case, we get some pretty rad art of characters we already know and love, which we can use as phone wallpapers or possibly print out to display as decoration.
Volta Studio, a company that makes concept art for games and movies, recently updated its ArtStation account with several pieces from its work on The Veilguard. If you’ve played the game or read its art book, a fair bit of this will be familiar to you. However, there’s one set I want to draw attention to, and it’s the character posters Volta worked on for each party member, as well as for Varric, the player’s dwarven peepaw, and the elven trickster god Solas.
A lot of The Veilguard’s marketing campaign focused on the party above all else. The characters you befriend and woo are typically the draw of BioWare’s games, so it makes sense that the studio would want to spotlight them as much as possible in trailers, podcasts, and promotional art. At some point, this included some incredible character art for the team that is maybe some of the best art we’ve ever had of the group. Each piece captures a particular character’s personality, aesthetics, and story in one clean shot.
To call out a few favorites, I really love the Solas, Davrin, and Emmrich pieces. The cool blue tones on Solas give him an air of god-like power, and his dread wolf namesakes appear alongside him as loyal pets. He wasn’t intimidating when he debuted in 2014’s Inquisition, but he sure is here. Davrin is my Veilguard boo, but I promise I’m not being biased giving him a shoutout here. He and our griffon son Assan look fucking sick here, with the beast perched on the Warden’s back and defending him with his wing. That being said, I think the Emmrich piece is my favorite. Seeing the mage surrounded by adoring skeletons, including one that lovingly caresses his face, captures both his love of necromancy and his gentle romantic side. Click through to see all nine.
All this concept art is cool to look back on, but it does bring to mind the sad state of BioWare after publisher EA gutted the studio following The Veilguard’s disappointing sales. Those that remain are currently working on the fifth Mass Effect game.