It's time to head back to Thedas.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is on its way, and if you need to prep or replay the older Dragon Age games to get ready on Windows PC, the perfect opportunity has presented itself. Right now, you can snag the entire Dragon Age trilogy for just $10 on Steam. That's Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Dragon Age: Inquisition (as well as all DLC packs for all three games), which would usually cost you $100. That's a massive sale to take advantage of before it ends in a week!
A legendary trilogy showing its age
Dragon Age: Origins first launched in 2009 across Xbox 360, PC, and PS3. The setting is simple enough on the surface: In the dark fantasy world of Thedas, an ancient evil known as the Blight begins, bringing hordes of foul Darkspawn into the country of Ferelden. Players customize their character and join a legendary order of warriors known as the Grey Wardens, who fight the Darkspawn.
With a number of DLC packs and an expansion called Awakening in the following year, Dragon Age: Origins was a huge success for role-playing game developer BioWare, and it spawned two sequels, Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, which launched in 2011 and 2024 respectively.
Dragon Age 2 stars a human protagonist named Hawke, who flees the Blight's threat and arrives in the city of Kirkwall before being unwillingly drawn into a tangled web of plots. Dragon Age: Inquisition again stars a completely custom character, this time an individual wielding a mysterious power to close of rifts into the Veil from which demons are pouring out into the world.
All of the games (as well as the accompanying novels and comics) expanded the scope of the fantasy series with new characters, stories, and mysteries all around its world. From there, it's been a near-decade wait for the fourth entry in the franchise.
While all three games are lauded as excellent RPGs (with increasing action-RPG elements as time has gone on) the games are showing their age, especially Dragon Age: Origins. Many things we take that are considered standard these days, like accessibility options or UI customization features, simply aren't included, and a large number of bugs essentially went unpatched, especially on the PC versions of all three games.
Fortunately, the modding community has solved many of these problems, and you can easily mod the games (especially Dragon Age: Origins) to overcome technical issues. I've personally begun playing Dragon Age: Origins again for the 20th time, and I'm modding it so I don't deal with any weird bugs or oddly cut content.
I've previously argued that BioWare should remaster these games, similar to the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, which united all three chapters of Command Shepard's story in one nifty package with remastered visuals and even included a 120 FPS mode on Xbox Series X. There's been no sign of anything happening yet though, so unless something changes, this discount is easily the best way to grab the Dragon Age franchise on Windows PC. The deal is good through June 27, so hurry up!
If you're a console user, your options are a bit rougher, but Xbox players are in luck. All three Dragon Age games are playable on Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility, and they benefit from faster loading times while playing at 60 FPS thanks to being included in the Xbox FPS Boost program. If you have an Xbox Series X, you can grab physical copies, but no matter what, they're available to purchase digitally, as well as being included in EA Play and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Catch up before Dragon Age: The Veilguard arrives
If you've never played any Dragon Age games before, this is the time to jump into the franchise. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is slated to arrive at some point in Fall 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. It's been a long wait, but I was impressed with almost an hour of gameplay footage from Dragon Age: The Veilguard that I saw back when I was in L.A. for Summer Game Fest 2024. I've also begun tracking our list of companions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, so catch up on who you want to befriend and romance.
In my preview, I wrote that "Overall, I'm very happy — and bluntly, more than a little relieved — with what I saw of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Combat looks snappy, the art direction is off the charts, and the dire stakes here immediately have me invested. "
