Dragon Age: Origins

Overview

Dragon Age: Origins is a 2009 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts. It is the first game in the Dragon Age franchise. Set in the fictional kingdom of Ferelden during a period of civil strife, the game puts the player in the role of a warrior, mage, or rogue coming from an elven, human, or dwarven background. The player character is recruited into the Grey Wardens, an ancient order that stands against monstrous forces known as "Darkspawn", and is tasked with defeating the Archdemon that commands them and ending their invasion. The game is played from a third-person perspective that can be shifted to a top-down perspective. Throughout the game, players encounter various companions, who play major roles in the game's plot and gameplay.

BioWare described Dragon Age: Origins as a "dark heroic fantasy" set in a unique world, and a spiritual successor to their previous Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights franchises. Development of the game began in 2002 and BioWare employed more than 144 voice-actors, and hired Inon Zur to compose the game's music. While BioWare decided early that it will be a fantasy game, dragons were added late in the game's development after the team used a name generator to create the game's title. The development of the game's console versions was outsourced to Edge of Reality. Origins was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in November 2009, and for Mac OS X in December 2009.

Origins received critical acclaim upon release, with praise mostly directed at its story, setting, characters, music and combat system. It sold more than 3.2 million copies and 1 million pieces of downloadable content. It won multiple year-end accolades including Game of the Year and Best Role-playing awards from several gaming publications, and has widely been considered to be one of the greatest video games ever made. BioWare released several instances of downloadable content after the game's initial launch, an expansion pack for the game titled Awakening in March 2010, and three sequels, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard, were released in 2011, 2014 and 2024 respectively.

Official trailer

Trailer. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Role-playing (RPG)

Developer

BioWare Edmonton

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Series

Dragon Age

Engine

Eclipse Engine (BioWare)

Platforms

PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360

Age rating

ESRB M

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Co op

No

Age ratings

ESRB

M

CLASS IND

16

PEGI

18

GRAC

19+

ACB

MA 15+

CERO

D

USK

18

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Subscription history

Trophies

Trophies77

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

4

Silver

6

Bronze

66

Total

77

Points

1830

Platinum time

40 to 120 hours

Difficulty

6 out of 10

DLC has trophies

Yes

Platinum includes DLC

No

DLC note

Awakening and the DLC trophies are not needed for the platinum, only for 100%.

Missable trophies

• Many story and companion trophies, including Traveler, Mercenary, Heavy Hitter, Diabolist, Enthralling, Provocateur, Vendetta, Grim Reaper and Stone's Lament (PlayStationTrophies.org list)
• Romance and recruitment trophies tied to choices in each run

Grind

• Recruiter, Hopelessly Romantic and Perfectionist: every party member, romance and ending across runs

• The Ultimate Reward
• Last of Your Line Completed the Human Noble origin story
• Corrupted Completed the Dalish Elf origin story
• Conscripted Completed the City Elf origin story
• Harrowed Completed the Magi origin story
• Casteless Completed the Dwarf Commoner origin story
• Kinslayer Completed the Dwarf Noble origin story
• Last of the Wardens Completed Ostagar
• Standard-Bearer Used the Grey Warden treaties to recruit all possible allies
• Hero of Redcliffe Completed "The Arl of Redcliffe"
• Rabble-Rouser Completed "The Landsmeet"
• Mercenary Complete 15 job-board quests
• Recruiter Across all playthroughs, recruited all party members
• Hopelessly Romantic Across all playthroughs, experienced all possible romances
• Perfectionist Across all playthroughs, discovered all possible endings
• Educated Used a tome to improve the main character's attributes, talents, spells, or skills
• The Ultimate Sacrifice
• A Dark Promise
• Magic Sympathizer Sided with the mages in "Broken Circle"
• Annulment Invoker Sided with the templars in "Broken Circle"
• Slayer Sided with the werewolves in "Nature of the Beast"
• Poacher Sided with the elves in "Nature of the Beast"
• Sacrilegious Sided with the Cult of Andraste in "The Urn Of Sacred Ashes"
• Ceremonialist Defied the Cult of Andraste in "The Urn of Sacred Ashes"
• Bhelen's Ally Sided with Bhelen in "A Paragon of Her Kind"
• Harrowmont's Ally Sided with Harrowmont in "A Paragon of Her Kind"
• Liberator Destroyed the Anvil of the Void
• Pragmatist Preserved the Anvil of the Void
• Heavy Hitter Main character inflicted 250 damage with a single hit
• Bloodied Completed an origin story without the main character ever falling in battle
• Traveler Set foot in every area in the game
• Master of Arms
• Shadow
• Archmage
• Dragonslayer
• Pilgrim Completed a Chanter's Board quest
• Grey Warden Killed 100 darkspawn
• Master Warden
• Blight-Queller
• Defender
• Tinkerer Crafted an item
• Persuasive Succeeded at five difficult Persuasion attempts
• Silver Tongued Succeeded at 25 difficult Persuasion attempts
• Bully Succeeded at five difficult Intimidate attempts
• Menacing Succeeded at 10 difficult Intimidate attempts
• First Knight Experienced the thrill of romance with Alistair
• Witch Gone Wild Experienced the thrill of romance with Morrigan
• Easy Lover Experienced the thrill of romance with Zevran
• Wine, Woman, and Song Experienced the thrill of romance with Leliana
• Veteran Main character learned a specialization
• Elite Main character learned two specializations
• Master of the Peak Completed "Soldier's Peak" ("Warden’s Keep" downloadable content)
• Diabolist Took advantage of Avernus's research ("Warden’s Keep" downloadable content)
• Rock and a Hard Place Completed "The Golem in Honnleath" ("The Stone Prisoner" downloadable content)
• Stone's Lament Completed "A Golem's Memories" ("The Stone Prisoner" downloadable content)
• In War, Victory
• The Enduring Vigil Acquired all upgrades for Vigil's Keep ("Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening" expansion)
• Savior of Kal'Hirol
• Blind Vengeance
• Pride Before The Fall
• Amaranthine's Last Hope
• Keeper of the Vigil
• Awakening
• Commander of the Grey Reached level 30 ("Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening" expansion)
• Bane of Thedas Handed victory to the archdemon by killing Ferelden's last Grey Warden. ("Darkspawn Chronicles" downloadable content)
• Enthralling
• Ogre's Keeper
• Provocateur Collected and assembled the Battledress of the Provocateur. ("Leliana's Song" downloadable content)
• Turning Point Heard Leliana's version of her betrayal. ("Leliana's Song" downloadable content)
• Vendetta Destroyed the career of Guard Captain Eams. ("Leliana's Song" downloadable content)
• Reaper Defeated the Harvester ("The Golems of Amgarrak" downloadable content)
• Grim Reaper Defeated the Harvester on Hard or Nightmare difficulty ("The Golems of Amgarrak" downloadable content)
• A Secret Stitched Together Gathered all of the research notes in Amgarrak ("The Golems of Amgarrak" downloadable content)
• Varterral's Fall Defeated the varterral on Hard or Nightmare difficulty ("Witch Hunt" downloadable content)
• Witch Hunter Completed "Witch Hunt" ("Witch Hunt" downloadable content)
• A Time of Wood and Stone Gathered the lost lore of Cadash Thaig ("Witch Hunt" downloadable content)
• Through the Looking Glass Completed the scrying ritual ("Witch Hunt" downloadable content)

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 11.3 GB

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Credits

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Developer

BioWare Edmonton

Released

2009-11-03

Age rating

ESRB M

Region

US

Time to beat

about 39.6 hours