We Loved… The Balance of Personal and Worldly Stakes

Dragon Age II is the secret best Dragon Age game. But beyond its technical faults, it’s often derided for the fact that, after the nation-spanning existential threat of the Blight in Dragon Age Origins, its narrow focus on a small-time group of unlikely heroes largely gathered around the growing political and religious discord of a single city felt too small for what people expected out of a big, blockbuster fantasy RPG series. Absolution thankfully believes that’s a load of old hokum, and while there are certainly big stakes in its story—diving deep into the mage-driven theocracy of long-time-looming threat in the Dragon Age law, the Tevinter Imperium, and a magical cursed artifact capable of allegedly resurrecting the dead beyond necromancy called the Circulum Infinitus—they’re not really the series’ dramatic focus.

Instead, the time is given to the myriad personal relationships among the heroes and antagonists alike—like Miriam’s surprising connection to the villainous Tevinter Magister seeking to control the Circulum’s power, Rezaren, the fallout of her romantic past with Hira, and the messy interplay between Rezaren and his Tevinter Chantry guard, Templar Commander Tessia. Sure, the Circulum is presented as a magical doohickey with massive ramifications for the world, but of much more interest to Absolution is trying to grasp the power it has over our characters, and the emotional fallout vying for that kind of magic can have on people.