There will be a TL;DR at the end.

~

I have fond memories of this game.
During a very dark time in my life, I found this game for sale on the Xbox store.
Booting up my 360 back in 2013 when I first happened upon this title.
I binged it for months.

Bed ridden, in the hospital, between 2013 and 2018 I managed to play through Dragon Age: Origins a total of 5 times!

While the sequels did what they could to put their own unique spin on this lightning-in-a-bottle product, it's clear to see when viewed from the lens of a consumer in 2024 that this title simply can never be replicated.

I could prattle on and on about this game.
It has a great character creator.
Lots of different options for who you can romance.
Lots of ways to start the game with different runs.
Tons of different options!
The world is expansive with actually well written and thought out lore!
You could honestly play this game for well over 60 hours if you take your time with it.
The DLCs are all-included and make accessing the game a lot more fun and interesting.
There's a perfect balance between dark fantasy and human levity.
The story is gripping and GOOD!
The combat varies between simplistic and highly tactical.

There's a reason I've spent well over 320 hours playing this game on my XBOX.

The only reason I stopped after 29 hours is because, honestly, even after so many years having not played it - everything was so familiar that I felt like I was just padding my own time.
I don't need to add another 40 hours of enjoyment to remember Dragon Age; Origins - I already have around 360 cumulative hours in this game and love it to death.

The only shame is knowing that it could never be made again today:
- The world is massive, which is a feat that was accomplished by lowering graphical fidelity.
- The combat style of mixing TBS style movesets with MMORPG style isometric combat is both daring and demanding.
- Lots of sensitive matters are brought up succinctly and humanely (Never gonna happen)
- The game knows when to be visceral, bleak, and dark ; it knows when to be powerful, courageous, and human.

Oh, and P.S.
Boys fall for Morrigan - because she's pretty and interesting.
Men fall for Leliana - because devotion and love is more important than looks and thrills.
Chad's don't fall for either - because you can either be a broken person's first love, or a desperate soul's last hope, but neither will bring you peace.

~

9/10.
Dragon Age: Origins is an Amazing game!
Like a precious pearl found in a treacherous sea, the unique marbling and blemishes on its face do little to devalue it in the face of others, but instead plead for greater exultation for its bespoke majesty and intrinsic beauty.
It is the luster of gold that never tarnishes, the rusted sword that never tires, and the shattered hand-mirror that you can't help but remember with a broken heart and ruminate of days lost to time.

There will be a TL;DR at the end

~

There is a place between the lucid confines of deep sleep and the twilight shallows of a waking mind. Imprisoned between is that lurid realm where thoughts coalesce into elements both theoretical and physical, metaphorical and literal. An inescapable tempest of pure representation and pandemonium where all aspects derive a deeper meaning, yet oblivion seizes truth from its otherwise lambent display.
Beneath the heights of joy were your electrochemical source dazzles your memory in a display of beauty beyond human comprehension - and above the mire of doubt and loathing that wreaks a toll of destruction by conjuring the deepest and most unpalatable horrors and discomforts to be tested.

It is here where the surreal thrives.
Beneath the weight of an unburdened moon and bubbling up from the bile of a restless soul.

Lost in the shifting tide of sleep and thought.

This is where INSIDE resides.

I played this game three times. Twice on console and once here. And it has never failed to impress me.

This is more than a simple puzzle game. It is more than a fragment of entertainment. This is art.
It captures the fire from beyond the veil of forgotten experiences and brings it to the forefront like Prometheus to humankind.

It transcends the prospects of adventure, it is more than political commentary, it is above a simple tumble through a new dystopian world, it is beyond horror.

INSIDE is art.

It evokes a powerful emotion, a recollection of things that were and yet never will be.
It is a portal to those itinerant visions that taunted your lucid tumbles through the catacombs of your own mind - yet so easily forgot after the sun washed away those perilous journeys in waking.

What does it mean to be alive?
What does it mean to be a slave?
What is my purpose?
Is there such a thing as free will?

There is no way of telling how you will walk away from the experience, but it will evoke an emotion out of your hardened heart regardless of direction. Frustration, curiosity, despondence, hopelessness, empathy, joy, envy, pride, doubt, and anywhere in between. It is a potent and powerful experience that concisely delivers a digital display of didactic poetry.

It is a moving masterpiece, it is a picture of a thousand dreams, and it is an insular whisper held in the back of your mind begging to be remembered.

I enjoyed having the existential dread teased to the forefront of my mind. Seeing things surreal and abstract yet so real and clear moved me back into lost memories spanning decades of dreams and ambitions long buried. Demanding and commanding emotions in addition to curiosity make for a potent experience.

~

8.5/10.
INSIDE is an Excellent experience.
It leaves you with more questions than answers, but the questions alone are the unique gift that only a piece like this is capable of delivering.