New Dragon Age DLC: Darkspawn Chronicles

There's new Dragon Age DLC on the way. Which so far hasn't really been much of a cause for celebration, but this one, Darkspawn Chronicles, sounds interesting. Very interesting. It's an alternative history, where your character is killed during the Grey Warden's Joining ceremony. This leaves the lovely Alistair in charge of the elite group, but oh no, you don't play as him. You play as a darkspawn.

Which asks an awful lot of questions.

It's described as "A standalone adventure in which you command genlocks, hurlocks, shrieks, and even the mighty ogres." It's hard to know from this whether this means you'll have more than four in your party, or perhaps there will be the army-deploying system that appears toward the end of the first game. Or maybe something even more strategic? BioWare detailed the DLC with this description:

"You now fight as the Darkspawn! The city of Denerim, jewel of Ferelden, girds itself for war. As a hurlock vanguard, you alone hold the power to make thralls of your fellow darkspawn and drive them into the heat of battle. Heed the archdemon's call--Denerim must burn!"

I like the alto-timeline thing. It's an excellent answer to the question, "How do you add in new content to a game people have finished, but without needing people to have finished to enjoy?" Although I'm not sure quite how differently Alistair would have run things - perhaps more allegiance to the Chantry, and less tolerance of Mages.

Oh, and when you complete this standalone story you can unlock some Darkspawn item or other. Which is probably a bit late for most people playing. It's out on the 18th May, and will cost 400 Monopoly Monies, or about £3.40. Here's a trailer: