Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

 Xbox 360
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 113 Ratings

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  • Summary: Designed and written by the same team that brought you Dragon Age: Origins, the Awakening expansion pack offers a brand new area of the world to explore known as Amaranthine, featuring an epic story that will allow players to unravel the secrets of the darkspawn - and their true motivations!Designed and written by the same team that brought you Dragon Age: Origins, the Awakening expansion pack offers a brand new area of the world to explore known as Amaranthine, featuring an epic story that will allow players to unravel the secrets of the darkspawn - and their true motivations! Players face a range of horrific and terrifying creatures including an evolved, intelligent breed of darkspawn and other menacing creatures such as the Inferno Golem and Spectral Dragon. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening provides exciting new ways for players to customize their heroes and party, including the ability to re-spec their character attributes, allowing even greater customization and replayability. Featuring an increased level cap, new spells, abilities, specializations and items, plus five all-new party members, players can continue their adventures from Dragon Age: Origins, or begin with a brand new character. [BioWare]… Expand
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Dragon Age: Origins - Golems of Amgarrak - Official Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. ZTGD
    90
    There is plenty here to keep you occupied for at least 20 hours if you want to max everything out. Some may be a bit disappointed in the size by comparison, but for $40 this game is twice as long as most full-priced titles.
  2. AceGamez
    88
    Well worth the pricetag and, frankly, essential for fans of the original.
    All this publication's reviews
  3. Meristation
    85
    For those who want more content and new missions, Awakening will offer much more than desired. Everything has been treated as if it were a new title with an epic story where our choices do matter, with spectacular combats and terrifying enemies, deep and complex characters with brilliant dialogues. It's a rebirth for the franchise, which invites us to get involved into the exciting world of Dragon Age again. And this is just the beginning.
  4. GameFocus
    80
    In the end, for those like myself who absolutely adored what Dragon Age: Origins had to offer, you have no reason not to pick up Awakenings and continue your Grey Warden’s epic adventure.
  5. XGN
    80
    Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is mandatory for anyone who has played the original game with a smile on his or her face.
  6. games(TM)
    80
    Most will be happy with the 20-plus hours of entertainment they get from the expansion - it's more of the same and, for that, we're happy. [Issue#95, p.126]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Xbox Achievements
    50
    This is truly for hardcore Dragon Age fans only and even they may well feel that the whole game has been dumbed down way too much to be recognizable any more.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. doggystyle
    Aug 15, 2013
    10
    This is better than the original game. Very damn good. It almost made me believe that this is not a Bioware game at all. It's that good. IfThis is better than the original game. Very damn good. It almost made me believe that this is not a Bioware game at all. It's that good. If you bought DAO and liked it you should definitely buy this expansion pack. Also, don't buy Dragon Age 2. They screwed it up big time. It's like they listened to the people who liked DAO and then did everything just the opposite way.… Expand
  2. SpunkyMonkey
    Aug 28, 2012
    9
    From reading user comments on the net I was only expecting a bit-part expansion, but there's really quite a lot to get your teeth into hereFrom reading user comments on the net I was only expecting a bit-part expansion, but there's really quite a lot to get your teeth into here with 5 new companions to get to grips with and a quest which is roughly around the 20 hours mark. Awakening has some really cool environments to adventure in too - most are twists on the familiar, but definitely significantly different enough to feel very fresh and fun. There is a slight over-reliance on codex entries and there's also the odd flash of what's to come in Dragon Age 2 as on the odd, very rare, occasion things feel very streamlined and soulless. But thankfully those occasions are few and far between and the overall package is a great little addition to DA:O. If you liked DA:O buy without haste, there's far more to be fun to be had in the 20 odd hours here than there is in all of DA 2.… Expand
  4. Rox22
    Dec 12, 2012
    9
    This is really a fantastic expansion pack that almost qualifies as a game on it's own. This is the kind of expansion that any gamer would wantThis is really a fantastic expansion pack that almost qualifies as a game on it's own. This is the kind of expansion that any gamer would want for any game. It's stays true the original formula it adds plenty of new ideas, character and locations. Really terrific new party members, a real shame they weren't given as much depth as the in DA: Origins, but that's only a minor quirk as they still did a great job all things considered. Overall: A MUST BUY for anyone who loved DA: Origins.… Expand
  5. Vicissitude
    Jan 14, 2011
    8
    I was happy with this purchase. It was well worth the $20. You can expect close to 20 hours of new gameplay. You get a new cast ofI was happy with this purchase. It was well worth the $20. You can expect close to 20 hours of new gameplay. You get a new cast of characters (and one old). There's lots of loot, experience, and new locales to be had. This is the best of the bunch as far as DA DLC goes.… Expand
  6. Trucidar
    Apr 6, 2011
    8
    Thoroughly enjoyable. Higher ratio of fighting to story than in origins but it was a a great addition to the original. Took me about 23hoursThoroughly enjoyable. Higher ratio of fighting to story than in origins but it was a a great addition to the original. Took me about 23hours to beat which isn't bad for the $15 I paid for it.… Expand
  7. Broyax
    Apr 15, 2017
    7
    Un bon gros DLC certes mais disponible aussi en version boîte et vu sa durée de vie, on est pas volé du tout (ça me fait penser au bon vieuxUn bon gros DLC certes mais disponible aussi en version boîte et vu sa durée de vie, on est pas volé du tout (ça me fait penser au bon vieux temps des "data disk" des années 90, on en avait pour son argent). Une intrigue plutôt satisfaisante même si elle s'appuie sur des mécaniques connues et reprises du jeu principal, Dragon age Origins, avec forcément une sensation de déjà vu mais c'est bien mené et bien narré.

    Je regrette qu'Awakening ne fasse pas le lien (malgré le personnage importé) au moins avec l'une des fins possibles de DAO, fin que j'avais choisie mais qui n'est pas prise en compte hélas. Rien à voir avec le "suivi" des Mass Effect ici...

    C'est pas bien beau, ça rame parfois (tout comme le jeu original) et j'ai noté quelques bugs (surtout lors du combat final). Le système de combat pausé reste agréable à gérer, de même que l'inventaire (l'un des meilleurs parmi les jeux de rôle passés ou à venir).

    Evidemment nettement plus court que DAO, Awakening ne développe pas autant les relations avec les compagnons, ce qui est un peu dommage. Reste une aventure -une aventurette de plus d'une 20aine d'heures plutôt, comparée à la durée 3 fois plus longue de DAO au bas mot- avec encore quelques choix cruciaux et qui se laisse parcourir avec un certain entrain mais pas un entrain certain.    … Expand
  8. TheQuietGamer
    Dec 31, 2013
    6
    I found this to be a disappointing expansion to one of my favorite games of all time. It's not bad by any means, it jus fails to impress theI found this to be a disappointing expansion to one of my favorite games of all time. It's not bad by any means, it jus fails to impress the way the main game did." Awakening" adds lots of new content, abilities, loot, an increased level cap, and features new characters and a story that takes place after the events of the main game, but I just feel that it lacks the things that makes the main game so excellent.

    What disappoints me with this expansion are the new characters and new story. They just fail to live up to the original in any way. I didn't find any of the new character to be anywhere near as likable as the original cast, and the story lacks punch. I wasn't emotionally invested here like I was in Origins. To me all of the story content just feels like a vehicle to deliver gameplay. The is expansion is much more combat oriented than the main game was. It's not really a bad thing, but it wasn't the combat that made me fall in love with Origins. It was the story and characters.

    As far as the combat encounters go I found them to be suitably entertaining, even if they weren't really challenging. The introduction of new enemy types is cool, and using the new abilities on them is cool, but the real treat here for me was the new boss battles. I found them to be insanely cool and well designed. The boss battles provided some of my favorite moments with "Awakening".

    Overall it's kind of hard to find myself complaining about more Dragon Age, the new content is nice, but I can't help but feel the sting of how much it fails to live up to the excellence I've come to expect from the series. Still, if you're a Dragon Age fan I still believe this expansion is worth a playthrough. Getting to continue your story from the main game with new content is pretty sweet, and you can pick this up for pretty cheap nowadays. Just don't expect the same level of quality that went into the main game. I found "Awakening" to be disappointing, but still worth a look.    … Expand

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Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2010