A Dragon Age actress is blaming fans for the backlash against the Veilguard.
In the wake of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s disastrous reception, one of the franchise’s most recognizable voices is pointing fingers—not at the game’s direction, story, or development team—but at the very fans who once held BioWare in high regard.
Alix Wilton Regan, best known for voicing the Female Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition and returning in Veilguard, has weighed in on the fallout surrounding the title’s lukewarm performance. Speaking to IGN, Regan said she was “absolutely devastated” by the reception and claimed the Dragon Age: The Veilguard backlash was driven by people who just wanted to see BioWare fail.
A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare
“I feel absolutely devastated for BioWare as a studio that they got such mixed reactions to the game,” she told IGN. “I personally thought it was a really strong game. I thought it was just BioWare being more BioWare.”
According to Regan, the backlash wasn’t due to questionable creative choices or the tonal departure from past Dragon Age titles, but rather due to “really bad people on the internet.”
“I also think a lot of people kind of wanted to see it fail, or wanted to see [BioWare] fail, either because they’re just really bad people on the internet — of which there are unfortunately many, as we have discovered,” she said.
A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare
That characterization of the criticism, however, runs counter to the actual feedback players have provided since launch. While critics largely gave the game favorable reviews, fans rejected Veilguard’s shift in tone, inconsistent character design, and the overt prioritization of ideological messaging over meaningful worldbuilding or storytelling.
Steam currently lists the game with a ‘Mixed’ user rating, with tags highlighting orientation and politics as recurring themes in the reviews.
A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare
Regan went on to denounce early criticism of the game, labeling it as premature and baseless.
“People were attacking the game before it was released,” she said. “It’s ridiculous. How can you judge a game, a book, a film, a TV show before it’s actually released? You can’t. It’s an idiotic stance to take.”
But many fans argue that they were reacting to marketing material and developer interviews that telegraphed the game’s priorities from the outset—including the now-infamous announcement of a genderless party member and a player option to choose a new gender identity mid-game. Not to mention the ability to add surgical scars on the chest in the character creator.
A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare
These announcements weren’t made quietly, but were front and center in pre-release press cycles, inviting scrutiny from longtime BioWare followers who felt the game was prioritizing modern identity themes at the expense of narrative depth.
The Dragon Age: The Veilguard backlash reached its peak in January when EA admitted the game had underperformed by 50%, falling drastically short of expectations. Days later, game director Corrine Busche departed the company, and BioWare began laying off key staff. No future updates or expansions for Veilguard are planned.
Despite the fallout, Regan closed the interview by expressing continued support for the studio:
“I only ever want to see the folks from BioWare thrive, because I adore them,” she said. “And whatever they go on to do next I have no doubt their talents will be richly rewarded. We’re really lucky we’ll get more gold from them in the future.”
A screenshot from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024), BioWare
That future currently rests with Mass Effect 5, a project still in development with no announced release window. As for Veilguard, it’s likely to be remembered as the game that broke from BioWare tradition—and paid the price.
How do you feel about this actress’s take on Dragon Age: The Veilguard backlash? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
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