A war against monstrous creatures called the darkspawn climaxes in a great battle which only the player character and his one friend survive. The hero must gather allies to take on the enemy and save everything. A very well written set of scenarios and characters in a fantasy setting with nobility plotting against each other while a bigger threat looms.

Classic RPG combat based on dice rolls and chance, it can feel a bit clunky but it’s so epic when things go right. A fantasy setting with warriors, mages and rogues where team composition and strategy matters as much as stats in a game that gives the player more control over AI than almost any other that I’ve played. If and When commands can be given to teammates to ensure they act as desired or the preset commands can be used to make it a bit simpler.

The protagonist is voiceless which means conversation choices are written out and clear which is good for role play. Everything in this game supports role play, from the many different tutorials/prologues that give a different perspective on events to the various dialogue options or mission resolution choices found in the game.

The role play wouldn’t be anything without the strong cast of well written allies that accompany the player through the game, bonding with the player character as the game goes on. They can love you or leave you or even turn on you as a battle starts depending on your choices.

As for issues that I have with the game, the menus aren’t great in their layout but they are easy to adjust to and there are really random difficulty spikes that can unexpectedly destroy any idea of a strategy plus the randomness of the dice roll combat can mean a difficult fight is insanely easy the second time around. The game did start to break on me at one point with menus not opening and load screens displaying white squares.

Although some of the mechanics and features in the game can make it feel a bit dated the cleverness of the world building, characters and story mean that although the combat can be a pain Dragon Age: Origins still stands up as one of the best games I’ve ever played.