Dragon Age: The Veilguard is, regardless of what you think, bound to be one of the most interesting games this year when it comes to how it's received—starting with a trailer few liked, a gameplay demo folks were sort of okay with, and a second, cooler trailer people have liked a bit more. "Divisive" seems to be the word of the hour.
It's continuing in that mixed-feeling fashion by offering a $150 edition that doesn't include the actual game—as well as an art book (with three separate sub-editions) that doesn't include the actual game, plus a seemingly unpriced "Vyrantium Pack" which—you guessed it, doesn't include the actual game. It's got a case for it, though.
As outlined in this blog on the EA website, there is, currently, an absolute downpour of packs and bundles for The Veilguard—two of which actually give you the key to play it. There's the standard and deluxe editions ($60 and $80 respectively) which both get you keys, but everything else detailed here has to, repeatedly, stress to buyers that they're just cosmetic supplements.
First up is Rook's Coffer, or, as the copy confusingly calls it, the "'Rook's Coffer' Edition (Does NOT include Game)" which gives you a 22-inch glowing dagger, a map, a deck of cards, a potion flask, and a die for $150.
Then there's the currently unpriced Vyrantium Pack, which has—hilariously—a steelbook case for Dragon Age: The Veilguard that specifically doesn't have the game inside it, a metallic print, a notebook, and a "collector's rigid outerbox" There's also an art book that has its own standard ($50), Deluxe ($100), and Bioware ($55) editions, the most expensive of which gives you some extra prints, an exclusive slipcase, and a different cover.
Meaning it's possible to spend—taking the most expensive version of the art book into account—$250 on Dragon Age: The Veilguard before actually buying the dang thing. And that's without taking into account the mystery Vyrantium Pack, which will (for an undisclosed amount) let you feel like someone who has purchased Dragon Age: The Veilguard, staring lovingly at the shiny yet empty case of a game you don't own.
This whole thing is just sort of baffling, though I don't know if it's scummier than usual—I mean, look. EA is, just inherently, trying to sell you on a glut of fantasy tat that's targeted at players with disposable income and space on their shelves. In terms of decoupling the game from these editions, though, I'm not actually sure I care too much.
Slam the digital deluxe edition and the Rook's Coffer together and you get $230 and, yeah, that's absurdly expensive, but that's mostly the point of collector's editions. For a point of comparison, the collector's edition for World of Warcraft: The War Within costs about $180 and gives you the expansion, some digital goodies, a statue, a pin, a neat box, and an art book.
All this to say, this is mostly business as usual—with the only eye roll-worthy note being the deluxe edition and its cash-gated cosmetic guff. It's just divided up in a novel, kinda-confusing way that makes me wonder if EA would've been better off selling all this stuff separately in a merch store.
