Dragon Age
What It Is: Bioware’s other big action-RPG franchise they started back in 2009. Each game has you play as a different protagonist; in Origins, you play a Grey Warden tasked with killing the Archdemon before it destroys the world. Dragon Age II puts you in the shoes of Hawke, a refugee who rises to power over ten years and gets tangled up in mage rebellions and Qunari uprisings. The more recent Inquisition paints you as the survivor of a massacre that kills religious and military leaders while also leaving you with the ability to close rifts in the Fade.
Why You Should Play It: As this list is showing, there’s plenty of room for more than one dark fantasy series. Like The Witcher, Dragon Age has a fun, well-rounded cast of characters and epic lore that keeps players coming back for more. The combat may alter between each game, but the core mechanics are still the same between each of them, and all the games have a great spread of characters and skills for you to play around with. If nothing else, you’ll enjoy the various banter between your allies and each game, plus the romance in each allows you to find love no matter your orientation.
Which One You Should Play First: This one is tricky. PC players love Origins to death while having not so kind thoughts about Dragon Age II. But the console version of Origins is very much not good, while II is pretty great, if flawed. If you primarily play keyboard and mouse, go right on ahead with playing Origins and ignoring II’s existence to barrel straight on to play Inquisition. For the console players, start with II and don’t look back. Seriously, Origins on console is pretty crap, the combat’s like waving a wet paper towel around. But taking gameplay out of it, II needs to be played because Inquisition’s story is very reliant on you having played II.
