Anti-Alistair: Darkspawn Chronicles Is Out

The next big chunk of Dragon Age DLC is now out, and (as John mentioned a couple of weeks back) it's a devious little concept. It's only a module rather than another Awakenings-size mega-chunk, but it's a chance to step inside the festering skin of a Darkspawn hurlock and lay vicious siege to the puny human city of Denerim. The idea is 'your' Dragon Age hero didn't survive the opening fight in the original DA, so it's Darkspawn vs Alistair instead. Won't end well for our boisterous, blonde-haired holy warrior, I suspect. If you complete it, you unlock a new item in the main DA/Awakenings campaign, which will presumably just pop magically into your inventory like so many of the other DLC items. Honestly, why must latter-day RPGs do that? It removes the striving and the triumph from finding or buying cool loot. Especially when the story is "your character was born an orphan and a pauper. Oh, apart from that impossibly priceless high-level Blood Dragon armour he happens to have in his bag."

Yours for $5, anyway. Or '400 Bioware points', if you're into the whole made-up proprietary currency thing.