Mass Effect 5 Game Director Michael Gamble appeared to already be doing some damage control in the wake of Dragon Age: The Veilguard being roundly lampooned by gamers for its art style.

A screenshot from Mass Effect Legendary Edition (2021), BioWare

Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been lampooned for months for its art style and it all started in June when BioWare shared its first full trailer for the game, which currently has 2.3 million but a massive like to dislike ratio with just over 47,000 likes and over 288,000 dislikes.

Screenshot of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Official Reveal Trailer showing like to dislike ratio.

The game was roasted in the comments for its art style. One of the top comments states, “I didn’t know disney bought bioware.

Another wrote, “Are you sure this is Dark Fantasy?”

Still another wrote, “Who bait-and-switched my gory, mature, dark-fantasy RPG for.. Guardians of the Galaxy meets Clash of Clans?”

Comments on the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Official Reveal Trailer

It wasn’t just in the comments. Popular streamer Asmongold also trashed the game’s art style comparing it to the mobile game, RAID: Shadow Legends. He said, “I feel like Raid: Shadow Legends has like better like graphical style than this game. … I do. I really think so.”

Moments later he added, “I mean this really just looks like a mobile game.”

YouTuber WolfheartFPS also stated, “The art direction in this game is a bit of a mixed bag for me, but unfortunately weighing a bit heavier on the negative side. I’m personally not a big fan of the extra smooth, plastic, Play-Dohey like looking character models. Everybody seems to describe it differently. I really do think you could put some of these characters in Pixar films and they would seriously fit right in in many of these films.

He then added, “Things just look rather G-rated.” Furthermore, he described the creature designs as “goofy.”

Gamble shared on X, “Lots of people asking me about Mass Effect now that Veilguard reviews are out, and Oct 31 is close. Both are from the studio, but Mass Effect is Mass Effect. How you bring a Sci Fi RPG to life is different than other genres or IPs…and has to have different kinds of love.”

In a subsequent post, he added, “Regarding tone questions: Mass Effect will maintain the mature tone of the original Trilogy. This is all I’m gonna say for now.”

Michael Gamble on X

In response to a user noting that Mass Effect had its “fair share of humor and silliness,” Gamble replied, “serious characters put in some humorous situations.”

Michael Gamble on X

He then addressed the game’s art style. One user implored, “Please don’t Pixar ME like you guys did with DA.”

Gamble responded, “I’m not sure I agree with the Pixar thing, but Mass Effect is photorealistic and will be as long as I’m running it.”

Michael Gamble on X

What do you make of Gamble’s comments in the wake of this backlash against Dragon Age: The Veilguard?