Dragon Age: The Veilguard has released a 10-minute video on combat. It might have convinced me to give BioWare's newest RPG a try.

I'm not convinced by what EA or BioWare has shown so far of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The game's first trailer made me invest in characters I didn't know anything about. Although the more recent story trailer is an improvement, I still find that it's aesthetic is at odds with the dark fantasy setting.

EA and BioWare, however, have now provided a more in-depth look at the game, or at least part of it. This 10-minute combat deep dive really gets to the heart of its fantasy fisticuffs. Although I still have some reservations about the game, I was convinced to at least give it a try.

The deep-dive begins with a quick look at The Veilguard character-building features, which appear to be quite involved. The video focuses on the warrior build in order to show off the combat. However, a blog post that accompanies the video notes that players can play the game as either a Rogue or Mage. Each of these classes also has three different specialisations. Some of them sound pretty outlandish. Warriors, for instance, can specialize as reapers, allowing them to "steal lives and risk death in order to gain incredible unnatural powers." The rogue, on the other hand, can specialize as a saboteur. This allows them to "deploy explosives, turrets, and devastate enemy, then pick them up with arrows."

You can refine each specialisation through its skill tree. You can choose three special abilities, and one Ultimate Ability to bring into battle. Your choice of weaponry and equipment will also influence how your Rook performs. Swords, armour and other items can have a variety of effects on your character.

The video then moves on to the combat basics. This quickly reveals that The Veilguard is the most hack-and-slash game in the series, even more so than Dragon Age 2. A dodge-roll is a sure sign that Souls DNA has been infused into the combat. You also get a kick ability that looks like it can be used to knock enemies off ledges. The Veilguard doesn't forget the tactical heritage of the series. You can pause combat at any time to select abilities and give orders to your two companions.

The third part of this video focuses on crowd management. Rook is shown scurrying between several Darkspawn groups in a large, open area. He uses abilities like a Shield Bash and a powerful AoE attack named 'Titan Stomp,' to pound whole clusters of enemies around the map. At this point, I thought "Oh, that looks really tasty". The way Rook moves between fights is fluid and stylish. However, the addition of explosive barrels in the combat area seems a little naff.

The video ends with what BioWare calls 'Primers', 'Detonators', and 'Ultimates'. The first two are set-up/knockdown abilities that you can perform with Companions. Rook, for example, uses a freezing ability to keep a group Darkspawn in place while Lucanis, Rook's Companion, conjures up an "Eviscerate", spell to deal massive damages to the group. Ultimates are, of course big, flashy abilities. The example shows Rook calling a barrage spectral arrows followed by an exploding'meteorite'.

I was unsure about what I had seen by the end of the video. The Veilguard looks like it has a very impressive combat system. The basic combat feels purposeful and weighty, and I am curious to see how nuanced the individual builds will be. The screen can get a bit garish with all the abilities that pop off. I'm also not sure if the UI design is helping. It felt at times like I was watching Diablo 3 in third-person. Diablo 3 was an excellent game, so it's not necessarily a negative thing. It's also the game that players have the most issues with because of its aesthetic choices. I fear that the same will happen here, no matter how good The Veilguard’s story and characters are.

You can watch the entire video above. I'm not convinced that Dragon Age The Veilguard can bring back the BioWare glory days, but I'm more interested in giving Darkspawn a good beating now than I was before. I'm hoping that the Companions Week character deep dives will convince me to try The Veilguard on the other side.