Are you stressed out while waiting for Dragon Age: Veilguard download? Enjoy some Dragon Age ASMR.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released today. If you find yourself feeling stressed out because it's taking so long to download (no preload for PC!) and it's running so slowly, and your friends will be hours ahead by the time you start playing, I've got just the thing that can help you relax and take the edge away: Dragon Age ASMR.

James Davenport was the first person to introduce me to ASMR. He encouraged PC Gamer readers, among other things, to "watch people remove plastic film from new PC parts for you deserve it." The acronym stands autonomous sensory meridian reaction, and it is essentially a physical response to audio stimuli. Most commonly, this is produced by Twitch streams whispering or rubbing objects on their microphones.

Gaming ASMR may be rare, but it has been around for some time. In 2018, we delved into the thriving Dark Souls ASMR community. A few years later, we discovered Sims ASMR, and then Stardew Valley ASMR. GSC Game World recently shared some Stalker 2 ASMR featuring sounds from the Zone. As someone who has spent a lot of time in that haunted location being hunted, I found it to be anything but relaxing.

BioWare has jumped on the bandwagon, releasing not one but two ASRM loops that are set in Thedas. The "soothing atmosphere of Arlathan forest" is quite nice. A gentle breeze with plenty of animal and bird sounds in the background. Pleasant.

If you're in a darker mood there are the "spooky vibrations of The Necropolis," an aural experience that is deeper and more haunting, where you may or not hear the souls moaning away in the distance. It's not my cup of tea but I won't say that it's not enjoyable because at least one guy seems to enjoy it: "Imma meditation the fuckoutta myself with the background," AtaraxicOne said in the YouTube comments. Hey, you do you.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the game and not ASMR, is out now. It seems to be doing very well. Steam has received some complaints about crashes and performance problems. The user rating is also mixed. However, this is based on reviews that are only an hour or so into a full RPG and should not be taken as the final word. Steam's concurrent user count is steadily increasing and is currently at just over 70,000. This is a good start, especially considering that it's Thursday afternoon in North America.

If you want to make a strong start, we've got some tips to help you. We've got seven tips you might have missed, some ideas on how to approach one of the major story choices and, of course, everything you need to know about potential romantic partners.