Dragon Age: Origins

 PC
Dragon Age: Origins Image
Metascore
91

Universal acclaim - based on 67 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4813 Ratings

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  • Summary: As the spiritual successor to BioWare's "Baldur's Gate", one of the most successful role-playing games in the industry, Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare's return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-drivenAs the spiritual successor to BioWare's "Baldur's Gate", one of the most successful role-playing games in the industry, Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare's return to its roots, delivering a fusion of the best elements of existing fantasy works with stunning visuals, emotionally-driven narrative, heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors. The spirit of classic RPGs comes of age, as Dragon Age: Origins features a dark and mature story and gameplay. Epic Party-Based Combat – Dragon Age: Origins introduces an innovative, scalable combat system, as players face large-scale battles and use their party’s special abilities to destroy hoardes of enemies and massive creatures. Powerful Magic – Raining down awesome destruction on enemies is even more compelling as players apply "spell combos," a way of combining together different spells to create emergent unique effects. Players develop their characters and gain powerful special abilities (spells, talents and skills) and discover ever-increasing weapons of destruction. With its emotionally compelling story, players choose with whom they wish to forge alliances or crush under their mighty fist, redefining the world with the choices they make and how they wield their power. Players select and play a unique prelude that provides the lens through which the player sees the world and how the world sees the player. The player's choice of Origin determines who they are and where they begin the adventure, as they play through a customized story opening that profoundly impacts the course of every adventure. [BioWare]… Expand
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Dragon Age: Origins - Golems of Amgarrak - Official Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 67
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 67
  3. Negative: 0 out of 67
  1. Gameplayer Sweden
    100
    If you're into rpgs, or rather if you love roleplaying in general, there's really no need to waste time reading any reviews of this game. The same goes if you regard games like Planescape: Torment, Fallout 2 and the Baldurs Gate-series among the best computer games ever made. Because this game is everything a person like you look for in a game, and so much more. Be aware though, Dragon Age: Origins is not a revolution of the genre, rather it is an evolution, where Bioware has refined everything that made them into a formula as close to perfection as possible. Without a doubt one of the strongest Game of the year-candidates so far this year and a game we will remember with warm feelings many years to come.
  2. GameZone
    99
    But for the true RPG gamer, this game is of a level that has never been seen before. It is the new benchmark. The story is rich and engaging, the characters are memorable, and the journey is one that pulls you in, captivates you and compels you to move forward toward the conclusion.
  3. ZTGD
    95
    Writing this review has been hell for me, never have I had to write so much about something I wanted to do so badly. I've had to stop myself at least 4 times from tucking this away and jumping on Dragon Age. It's the best recommendation I can give the game, its beyond addictive, and the story is so good that I never want it to end.
  4. Gaming Age
    91
    Overall Dragon Age: Origins is fantastic, and is a must play for any fan of the genre. Doubly so since it readily promotes multiple play throughs. It's the player that controls the game more than the story , so everyone can look forward to spending endless hours in a wonderfully fleshed out fantasy realm.
  5. Computer Games Online RO
    90
    Through the effort put at all levels of the game, BioWare has proven that it’s trying to transform Dragon Age into a new cult, but also into a new, rich imaginary culture.
  6. GamesRadar+
    90
    High fantasy role-playing at its finest. Its detailed world, memorable characters, meaningful choices, and engrossing combat system makes Dragon Age the sort of game you’ll want to replay from start to finish several times. RPG fans won’t be disappointed by this truly epic adventure.
  7. Metro GameCentral
    70
    The best and worst of BioWare's excesses combine in this competent but unprogressive RPG.

See all 67 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 617 out of 783
  2. Mixed: 100 out of 783
  3. Negative: 66 out of 783
  1. Mark
    Dec 10, 2009
    10
    Dragon Age Origins is not a perfect game, but I can't rate it at an even 9. The game takes you into a fantasy world that you don't Dragon Age Origins is not a perfect game, but I can't rate it at an even 9. The game takes you into a fantasy world that you don't want to leave. It is a single player experience that I haven't had since I played Oblivion. While the gameplay is not exactly like that of the Elder Scrolls series, it is close in its theme. I had never played an RPG like this before, because I found the whole concept rather tedious. After my friend saying that he was pretty jazzed about getting this game, I vowed to give it an honest try. By the time I'd finished the origin portion of the game, I was completely hooked. The voice acting is excellent for the most part, and the graphics are pretty good, although the PC version requirements seem to be considerably high for the graphics quality. My son has no trouble with playing it with his dual core AMD CPU, but he has a pretty good graphics card. I guess the best thing I could say about the game, is that I don't want it to end. After playing for more than 50 hours I still have a way to go before finishing my first play through. I will play it through again after giving it a break for a couple of months, and try my hand at a different class of character. That must tell you something.… Expand
  2. DrVarsims
    Dec 25, 2014
    10
    Best game of the series, 9.5 / 10. Good story, good characters, good gameplay. The tactical camera is a very nice feature, it allows you toBest game of the series, 9.5 / 10. Good story, good characters, good gameplay. The tactical camera is a very nice feature, it allows you to pause time and assign specific orders to each character.… Expand
  4. SorinM
    Nov 2, 2014
    10
    Its a perfect example how those small details make a good game into a perfect one. Story is great, most characters are fun and the world isIts a perfect example how those small details make a good game into a perfect one. Story is great, most characters are fun and the world is atmospheric. In additions there's multiple tactics to build your party and different ways to do battle, even if head on charge is also a fine approach. If you liked Baldur's Gate then you are gonna love this. Only problem with this game is that I've had some unsolved crashing issues after some patching. Even still I can say I love it. And I can say its the best game I've ever played.… Expand
  5. Sander1989
    Jun 9, 2022
    9
    Dragon Age: Origins is of the best games ever. I just did a playthrough again.
  6. Macca
    Jan 24, 2010
    9
    I tend to review games I play once I've played about 50% the way through. I reserved my judgement on DAO until I completed it. The first I tend to review games I play once I've played about 50% the way through. I reserved my judgement on DAO until I completed it. The first thing i'd say is that this game is definately the best RPG on release at this moment. With a few more games coming out here in 2010, fans of this genre are in for some good times, and if you haven't yet played this game then you really should. Graphically, if you have a high end card and a halfway decent CPU then you are in for a visual treat. I played 50% of this game on an 8800gtx and the last 50% on an ATI 5870. The difference between the two allowed me to max out my screen at 1920x1200 and also max out all the settings in-game and whack on some AA. The game looked amazing. Not to say the ageing 8800 couldn't handle it, because it could, but I had to play it in 1680x1050 and lower some of the settings. The game has a main storyline which is a bit Lord of the Rings, but without the rings, and the mass of orcs replaced by Darkspawn, which in essence are the same kind of thing, basically marauding humanoids hellbent on wiping out humanity, which is kind of ironic. To achieve your goals you will have to take part in a series of subplots, which in themselves are rather epic in scale. Tie this in with a large dose of sidequests and you will soon find yourself overwhelmed with quests in your log. So, where does DAO drop from a 10 to a 9? Well, as i'm sure others have mentioned, sometimes the sidequests are very "chorelike" and you can find yourself quickly being taken away from the main objectives you want to achieve for large chunks of time. If you become addicted to the game and play for 5-6 hours solid per session, you could end up sporadically feeling that you haven't achieved much in the session. I myself, played some days like that, and other days I would play for an hour or two, and some days I'd leave it alone completely. When coming back to it, I would feel refreshed and ready to plough on. As for difficulty, playing the game on it's default level is a real challenge for many players i'm sure. Being an old timer myself, and having played too many RPG's to list, I found the challenge on the default setting just right. I died in places I expected to once stepping into a fight I knew were going to require a learning curve to beat, and once beat, I felt a real sense of achievement. Fortunately the combat mechanics in DAO are very well implemented. The tactics you can give to your team are in depth, and the game provides easy to use setups should you not want to spend time mastering your own tactics for each character. The game comes with DLC that you can purchase for a reasonable cost, and if you didn't get the deluxe version that comes with most of it, then buying it is definately something you want to do, especially Soldier's Peak which provides you with a chest for storage. From start to finish, Dragon Age Origins is a masterpiece on the PC. It has very few technical issues (at least on my machine), and plays smoothly. A definate recommendation.… Expand
  7. DGGlez
    Nov 14, 2022
    8
    Gran juego. inicialmente me ha costado acostumbrarme al sistema del juego, pero la historia, ambientación y sobre todo las conversacionesGran juego. inicialmente me ha costado acostumbrarme al sistema del juego, pero la historia, ambientación y sobre todo las conversaciones hacen que sea un juego muy disfrutable y recomendado.… Expand
  8. Boonie2000
    Jan 14, 2023
    0
    Good story, high quality RPG, these kind of games encourage to play and discover new perls of gaming world

See all 783 User Reviews

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Awards & Rankings

3
#3 Best PC Game of 2009
4
#4 Most Discussed PC Game of 2009
4
#4 Most Shared PC Game of 2009

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