I'm playing through what is technically the final fight in Dragon Age: Origins, but I've never experienced it like this before. It's like I've stepped into a horrifying parallel universe where my Warden never existed, and I'm actively helping the Archdemon win. Nothing else matters in this world but death and destruction. So much innocent blood is on my hands. Maker's breath, I'm in a waking nightmare, and worse still, it's entirely my doing. For almost 14 years, I've been avoiding the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC that came to BioWare's RPG in 2010. As someone who adored Origins for its storytelling, characters, and romance, nothing about the villainous expansion appealed to me. I can still remember finding out what it would actually require me to do, and I promptly recoiled at the idea and shelved it for over a decade.
But as a huge fan of the series, it's one omission that's always been at the back of my mind. So, in the lead up to Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I found myself putting my apprehensions to one side at long last, and now I'm in the thick of it. And sweet blood of Andraste, the things this DLC has me doing is wracking me with guilt. It's a true horror show.
