THE PLOT:
It's been six months since The Blight, and Ferelden is rebuilding. The Arl of Amaranthine, once the domain of the treacherous Arl Rendon Howe, has been given to the Grey Wardens, under the direct control of your Warden (the one who stopped the Blight if your character survived and you import a Dragon Age: Origins save; an Orlesian Warden if you didn't).
The Warden Commander arrives at Vigil's Keep, only to find it under attack by Darkspawn. The attack is disturbing for several reasons. The Darkspawn came from within, meaning they broke through from the underground Deep Roads. Their actions were organized and directed, in a way that should be impossible. After battling through the enemy, the Warden Commander discovers their leader: a talking Darkspawn, who is working for a being called "The Architect."
The Warden Commander still must find a way to successfully rule the Arldom, which remains vital for the Grey Wardens' still-fragile reputation. But now this must be balanced against the new threat, particularly as it becomes clear that there are two factions of Darkspawn. It is nothing less than a Darkspawn civil war - with Amaranthine caught in the middle!
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| The Architect: Savior or Monster? |
CHARACTERS:
With one exception, Awakening presents you with an entirely new set of companions. That sole exception would be Oghren, my least favorite Origins companion. Ah, well. He's just as obnoxious in this game, but this time a few of his bits manage to be funny; after being captured, he sees a Darkspawn wearing his armor and carrying his weapons, and throws a tantrum that might be the single best comic moment of the entire series.
Awakening's new companions are often criticized, and I don't fully understand why. Despite the game clocking in at a lean 15 hours, all of them have surprising depth.
I suppose one issue is that much of that depth is so easily missed. Take the two most notable new characters: Anders, a runaway Circle mage, and Justice, a Fade Spirit given physical form. Both will go on to play a major role in Dragon Age 2, one that's brilliantly foreshadowed here... but only if you have both Justice and Anders in your party at the right points. Their exchanges, both through cutscenes and banter, reveal that while Anders is hyper-aware of the mistreatment of mages, he is mostly happy enough with escaping that situation himself; he even labels the notion of mages breaking away from the Chantry "disastrous." Justice, true to his name, bristles at any hint of iniquity, and feels that Anders has an obligation to help his people. Sadly, these exchanges - and the characterization and future setup contained within - will be missed if you fail to notice certain interact options, or if you just fail to have them in your party in the right times and settings.
Other original characters are less important to the series, but they are still layered individuals. Nathaniel Howe, the son of the unlamented Arl Howe, is initially convinced that his father is being smeared for having sided with Loghain. Use him in your party and speak with him regularly, and Nathaniel will gradually come to accept that Arl Howe was every bit the monster he's made out to be, and will become determined to redeem his family's once-proud name. Sigrun, the Dwarf rogue, is a survivor of a Legion of the Dead unit wiped out by Darkspawn; her sunny personality masks a hefty dose of survivor's guilt. The elf mage Velanna is the least likeable of the new batch, with an anger against humans that has translated into violence; still, if you use her enough, guilt at her actions will start to shine through. Put her in a group with Justice, and he will berate her for her past crimes in a way that hints at the darker turn he will take in the next game.
In short: I cannot find it in myself to agree with the consensus that the Awakening companions are less interesting than the Origins ones. If anything, I think they have more depth - though I suspect the perception is not helped by making the best character moments so easy to miss during a given playthrough.
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| Anders, a comedy relief wisecracker who loves cats. He certainly won't leave an indelible mark on history... |
GAMEPLAY:
Pretty much identical to Origins, which is hardly a surprise given that it is an expansion released mere months after the main game. One thing to note is the difficulty.,, Namely, that there isn't any. Assuming you import your main character, you're going to start Awakening massively overleveled, allowing you to more or less plow through enemy encounters. I usually play games on "Normal" difficulty, because I like to be engaged by gameplay but I don't enjoy being frustrated. Awakening represents a rare occasion when I would recommend playing on "Hard."
THOUGHTS:
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening is an expansion that sometimes feels more like a full game. The story is ambitious and the scale, while much smaller than in Origins is still fairly large. However, this is also the source of the game's problems, as it often feels as if the ambition ran into the harsh realities of deadlines and budget. It is notable that Bioware would never attempt such a large-scale expansion to any of their games after this.
The maps are a mixed lot. The haunted Blackmarsh is nicely atmospheric, and leads to a Fade section that's far better-designed and more engaging than the original game's Fade sequence. The Wending Wood, where the player will first encounter Velanna, is large, but also poorly organized; I had to resort to online guides to make sure I actually found all the important and hidden bits there, something I did not have to do with any other setting. Other major maps include the cramped Knotwood Hills, a Deep Roads section that is overlong and uninspired, and the City of Amaranthine - which is nothing but a big circular road, a Chantry, and a handful of buildings.
The effect ends up being one of an epic played out across three rooms and a yard. The ambition is large, but the actual world seems suddenly very small.
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| A Darkspawn receives orders from "The Mother." |
GLITCHES:
Awakening is glitchy. Yes, glitchier than Anthem or Mass Effect: Andromeda, at least in their current states (I was spared the launch day experience). In the Blackmarsh, I had a boss battle randomly assert itself, even though I hadn't unlocked it yet. I defeated the boss, only to find that I'd been magically transported to where the battle was supposed to happen. With the barrier still up and no way out. Since the game auto-saved after the fight, wiping out my previous auto-save, I was left with no choice but to reload my last manual save. From an hour earlier.
My Warden Commander apparently became a nudist between games. He spawned naked at the start of the game, then stripped and destroyed both his armor and weapons after I used an upgrade potion (good armor and weapons, so I reloaded a save to recover them). Perhaps The Calling is affecting him early?
Sigrun's companion quest has a bizarre glitch. Basically, don't explore Amaranthine before you've recruited her. If you do, you'll very likely start a mission involving the Carta that will lock you out of her quest. Speaking of dealing with Amarathine's Carta problem: Even after wiping out the entire Carta, the city guards refused to speak to me thereafter, sneering at me for selling out. To the criminals I just killed. Um... You're welcome?
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| The most consequential moment of the game: A simple conversation between Anders and Justice. |
THE ENDING - A FAILURE TO DELIVER:
I've praised the ambition of the game's story, and I stand by that - but the storytelling sometimes feels rushed or even incomplete. The Architect's reasoning behind the opening attack isn't just weak; it actively contradicts what we witnessed during the opening. The ending is also jarringly abrupt, cutting straight from the game's final boss to the title card epilogue, with no tag scene to give emotional closure in between.
It seems clear that the developers' ambition exceeded the time and resources they had available to achieve it. The result is a game that either should have been given more time to be made into a full sequel, or that should have been scaled back so that it could have done fewer things more successfully. It remains well worth playing, an enjoyable experience as well as a vital part of the overall franchise. But in the end, too much ends up feeling too rushed for it to be fully satisfying.
Overall Rating: 5/10.
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