Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition

Intense overall intensity
Highest flag: Dark themes — graphic
AdventureFantasyRPG

What's in it

Dark themes graphic
High

The plot dwells on genocide, betrayal, demonic possession of a child, oppression of elves and mages, and grotesque 'Broodmothers' bred from captured, tortured women.

Occult & ritual player performs occult ritual
High

Antagonist mages summon and bind demons and blood-magic rituals using spilled blood are shown, with an optional blood-mage path the player can take.

Prostitution / sex work player can engage
High

A city brothel, the Pearl, lets the player solicit prostitutes, with a fade-to-black encounter.

Mutilation / body horror player performs it
High

The player's finishing blows decapitate and bisect enemies on screen.

Sexual content strong
High

Companion romances culminate in bedroom scenes that show the characters embracing in their underwear before fading out; the act is implied rather than shown.

Violence realistic
Moderate

The player fights human, undead and monstrous enemies in melee and spell combat that drenches characters in blood and leaves corpses on the field.

Substances depicted
Moderate

Ale and wine are drunk and sold in taverns, a companion is written as a heavy drinker, and the fictional drug lyrium drives a depicted addiction storyline.

Crime & lawlessness player commits crime
Moderate

Rogue characters the player controls can pick locks, pickpocket and steal items from other characters.

Torture depicted
Moderate

Torture is shown in the world, including a dungeon torturer and a captured protagonist being interrogated in a prison.

Sexual violence depicted
Moderate

An early origin path strongly implies that kidnapped elven women, including a named character, are sexually assaulted by a human noble and his men.

Language moderate
Moderate

Dialogue includes moderate profanity such as 'shit', 'bastard' and 'ass'.

Nudity revealing/suggestive attire
Low

Romance scenes and a brothel show characters stripped to underwear; no full nudity or genitals are shown.

Horror & psychological spooky
Low

Undead, demons, giant spiders and grim underground ruins create unsettling imagery, but nothing hunts the player or is timed to startle.

Animal combat combat mechanic
Low

The player fights and kills wolves, bears and giant spiders as routine combat encounters.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

Dragon Age: Origins is a dark heroic fantasy role-playing game in which you create a hero recruited into the Grey Wardens, an order fighting to stop an invasion of monstrous darkspawn. Play is party-based, mixing sword-and-spell combat with long branching dialogue and moral choices that shape the story. Combat is bloody: characters end fights soaked in blood, and the player's killing blows can behead or cut enemies in half. The mature story deals with genocide, betrayal, demonic possession and other grim subject matter, and optional companion romances lead to sex scenes shown with the characters in their undergarments. Alcohol and an addictive magical drug appear, a brothel can be visited and solicited, and rogue characters can steal and pickpocket. This Ultimate Edition bundles the base game, the Awakening expansion and all nine content packs. It is single-player only with no online interaction or in-app purchases.

How it's framed

The game frames itself as morally grey dark fantasy where most decisions have costs and no clearly clean answer, from sacrificing allies to sparing or killing a possessed child. Violence is heroic but graphic and matter-of-fact, and heavy subjects such as oppression, corruption and abuse are presented as serious parts of the world rather than played for shock or comedy.

Details

Developer
BioWare
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Released
Oct 26, 2010
Metacritic 91critic score (third-party) · out of 100

Similar games

We built this because we needed it

Balanced Play pools your kids' game time into one budget across Steam, Switch, PlayStation, Xbox and more. We're taking 100 founding families — free for life.

Claim a founding spot →

Free for life for the first 100. No card, no spam.