Dragon Age:
Origins

Dragon Age: Origins (2009) is an action role-play game with an emphasis on combat and player choices. You play the hero in the medieval fantasy world of Thedas, exploring the world and using your power to stop the impending darkness spread across the land. It stands out for the scale and scope of the world, the amount of choice and character development offered to the player and the depth of its lore and world-building.

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You play a Grey Warden of the country of Ferelden in Thedas, and must defend the land from an evil uprising of savage Darkspawn creatures. You explore the land and fight monsters, meeting and recruiting characters along the way and making choices about what to say and do.

You choose from different classes of characters and level up your skills by interacting with characters you meet to take on combat and missions which offer upgrades to your character. When you are in conversation with other citizens of Thedas, you can choose from a variety of responses. Get this right and characters you meet can join your party. Get this wrong and you can find yourself with a new enemy. Each person's opinion of you is affected by your dialogue choices and actions, meaning no two play-throughs are the same. Depending on your choices, some characters may be allies or obstacles. Combat is tactical, and you must direct your companions to attack in a cohesive strategy against your enemies.

The result is a game that gives you the freedom to live out a medieval adventure in whatever way you want. In many ways inspired by Middle Ages Europe and its folklore, it offers a chance to inhabit a fantastical world and play through challenging combat scenarios, all while making meaningful in-game decisions that shape the course of your story, interactions and even the ending.

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Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Dragon Age: Origins 3 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 11 weeks ago.