Dragon Age: Origins (2009)
Dragon Age: Origins is a 2009 role-playing (rpg) video game made by BioWare Edmonton and Electronic Arts.
Before you fight anything in Dragon Age: Origins, the game asks who you are. You pick one of six origins, a Dalish elf, a dwarf from the criminal underclass, a mage raised in a locked tower, and that choice decides who trusts you and who wants you dead. A corruption called the Blight is spreading, its darkspawn horde pouring out of the ground, and only the order of Grey Wardens can end it, so you become one. BioWare fills Ferelden with grubby politics, and you spend as much time brokering peace between elves, mages and dwarves who hate each other as you do swinging a sword. The battles pause on command so you can think a few moves ahead.
Quick answers
What is Dragon Age: Origins about?
Before you fight anything in Dragon Age: Origins, the game asks who you are. You pick one of six origins, a Dalish elf, a dwarf from the criminal underclass, a mage raised in a locked tower, and that choice decides who trusts you and who wants you dead. A corruption called the Blight is spreading, its darkspawn horde pouring out of the ground, and only the order of Grey Wardens can end it, so you become one. BioWare fills Ferelden with grubby politics, and you spend as much time brokering peace between elves, mages and dwarves who hate each other as you do swinging a sword. The battles pause on command so you can think a few moves ahead.
When was Dragon Age: Origins released?
Dragon Age: Origins was released on 3 November 2009.
Who made Dragon Age: Origins?
Dragon Age: Origins was made by BioWare Edmonton and Electronic Arts.
Similar games
Explore Dragon Age: Origins guides
Dragon Age: Origins in our writing
- Companion guide: BioWare: Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect and the Art of the Choice
- Companion guide: Dark Fantasy
- Companion guide: Dragons
- Companion guide: Epic Fantasy
A few thoughts on Dragon Age: Origins
Origins makes you live with your choices instead of rewarding you for them. Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself carries the same worn-down fantasy, full of soldiers and torturers who know what they are. Game of Thrones shares its taste for politics where nobody keeps their hands clean.
Expand the world of Thedas, plus a fantasy epic to play next
Dragon Age: Origins builds Ferelden out of grubby politics and deep lore, and the story does not stop at the game. These Dragon Age novels fill in the history around the Blight and the Grey Wardens, and The Witcher 3 offers a neighbouring fantasy world just as thick with reading and intrigue. More Thedas to explore, plus a world to fall into next.
RPGs where your choices decide who lives and who turns on you
In Origins your background and decisions change who trusts you, who dies, and how the Blight ends. These games put the same weight on choice: companions who judge you, branching outcomes, and endings you have to own. For players who replay just to see how differently the story bends when they do.
Grim dark-fantasy worlds full of monsters and hard fights
Origins pours darkspawn out of the ground and asks you to hold the line, its fantasy closer to horror than fairy tale. These games share that harsh, monster-haunted tone and demand real commitment from the player, trading comfort for atmosphere and difficulty. Bleak, beautiful worlds where survival is never guaranteed.
Big Western RPGs to lose a hundred hours in
Between battles, Origins hands you a sprawling world of factions, side quests, and camp conversations to work through at your own pace. These open RPGs offer the same long, absorbing sink: maps to comb, systems to master, and stories that stretch across dozens of sessions. Games built for players who never want the campaign to end.