Darkspawn Chronicles Review - Download Dragon Age Origins PC Game Expansion
Darkspawn Chronicles
The Darkspawn Chronicles is an add-on module for the Dragon Age: Origins PC game and is also available for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If you bought the original game, you can download this for $4.99. It is included in the Ultimate Edition of Dragon Age: Origins, too. The premise of this module is sort of a gimmick in that you get to play as the Darkspawn. That’s right, you can play as the bad guys and do evil stuff with this add-on. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer much in terms of gameplay time (1-2 hours) and is never quite as fun as anything you encountered in the rest of the game.
Features (3 out of 5)
With the Darkspawn Chronicles add-on, you get to play as a Hurlock fighter who gets some other Darkspawn together to take down a bunch of the same people you’ve been trying to save throughout the rest of the game. There are some missions to perform, but the Darkspawn themselves don’t gain levels and there is no real story here. Basically, you just smash your way through a couple of hours of combat-intensive encounters and get to play as the main Darkspawn that appear throughout the game, and then it’s over.
The main reason to play this is to take control of the super powered creatures like the Ogre so you can toss rocks and stomp around near the humans and elves. If you complete this add-on, you will gain access to a sword called Brightblood that has some pretty decent stats including a poison effect. Otherwise, this doesn’t really add anything to the game itself, other than letting gamers play through a ‘what if’ type scenario that is never really that satisfying.
Value (2 out of 5)
Is the Darkspawn Chronicles add-on worth buying for Dragon Age: Origins? I don’t think so. Even if you take your time to do every last little thing, you can still finish all it has to offer in about two hours. If you burn through it, you can complete the module in less than an hour. The price vs. content ratio just isn’t there. Add that to the fact that it doesn’t advance any storylines and you get a module that seems like not much effort was put into it compared to some of the others. I guess the developer’s weren’t counting on many people even wanting to play as the Darkspawn.
Final Rating (3 out of 5)
While it is cool to play as the bad guys, it’s a novelty add-on that gets old pretty quick. After spending dozens of hours playing through the game as the hero characters and vanquishing hordes of Darkspawn, why would you want to play as the same enemy you just slaughtered? If you’ve got the Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition package that includes all the add-ons, then by all means load up this module and give it a shot. Otherwise, save your money for the upcoming Dragon Age II.
This post is part of the series: Dragon Age Origins Mods & Addons
Your guide to additional modifications, addons and downloadable content for Dragon Age Origins.
