If nothing else, this add-on is worth experiencing once purely for the concept. "What if the MC had never existed or died during the prologue, and it was up to the second-in-command to take up arms for the plot's events" is a rather uncommon structure the gaming medium has subjected participants onto, and it takes full advantage of that. Seeing Denerim on the side of Darkspawn is pretty entertaining, controlling each of the units as the Vanguard and playing around with their kits for a change, with the ability to mow down all the (un)named NPCs and party members when you reach them - Oghren at the bar, Wynne with the Circle and Templars, Zevran with the Elves, etc etc, all with their own altered codices for comedic effects. Not to mention, seeing the choices Alistair, or perhaps Morrigan being the puppeteer (makes more sense and is reinforced to be the former though), had made to get this far makes things super funny. Sure, I can see them being able to round up Wynne with Greagoir thanks to Alistair's Templar ties, but Cauthrien being here must meant some next level diplomacy was involved to convince her to drop Loghain's side, and I feel like they should know better than to trust Howe the weasel. Plus, golems? Werewolves?! Seems like someone's just a bit too gung-ho about ends justifying the means...
Unfortunately, this has a fatal flaw: the combat. I'm saving all my critiques and complaints for the raw meat and mechanics for the main game, but suffice to say that as someone who finds it overall adequate, this unfortunately doubles down on troublesome AI, dull encounter designs, awkward and obnoxious pathfinding, and all the meticulous micromanagement of the base game, so if you didn't like that - ESPECIALLY on console where it was more tedious with all the controller hotswaps - you're definitely not gonna like this. In fact, I'd say the friendly AI here is even worse, cause I've had more instances of them standing there doing nothing despite my tactics lineup giving them optimal commands and there being no obstructions for the pathfinding part, therefore forcing me to stop what I was doing and direct them myself. Also, if you're gonna play this on a higher difficulty, turn off the Ogre's Hurl ability and control it yourself, or else you'll have them use it often in a huddle and take friendly fire from it, which sucks - actually, you're better off putting it on Easy and cruising through it, this has a bit of a rep for being a ballbuster even with all the prep time you have, and it's well earned! I only ever beat it on Hard because I'm a stubborn bastard. This tries to spice it up by having a sort of "if x, then y" puzzle gimmick; Shrieks are your stealthy Rogues to sneak past ballista barrages and disrupt them, Genlocks and Hurlocks are your standard Warriors/Archers, Ogres are your tough Berserker Tanks to destroy obstacles, Emissaries are your Mages, and Blight Wolves are the Mabari. Thing is though, there isn't enough to spice up the monotony of what is, essentially, a 2-hour combat gauntlet round, without any of the positives and brief respites the base campaign offers.
Also, it just feels... cheap. Like yea it's expected as such cause it's a short DLC, and of course there'd be reused assets since we're in the Denerim battle, but there isn't even a proper ending here - once you kill Alistair, Leliana, Morrigan, and Barkspawn (more cases of Bioware acknowledging online communities), the Archdemon swoops by and then... kicked back to the main menu. Stuff like that just permeates the feeling of a quick buck, which is likely the case since it came out about two months after the Awakening expansion. As stated, it's worth playing once for the quasi-unique experience and the weapon unlock Blightblood, itself a pretty good sword for one-handed users, for the two full-sized stories. Beyond that? Not worth it.
Unfortunately, this has a fatal flaw: the combat. I'm saving all my critiques and complaints for the raw meat and mechanics for the main game, but suffice to say that as someone who finds it overall adequate, this unfortunately doubles down on troublesome AI, dull encounter designs, awkward and obnoxious pathfinding, and all the meticulous micromanagement of the base game, so if you didn't like that - ESPECIALLY on console where it was more tedious with all the controller hotswaps - you're definitely not gonna like this. In fact, I'd say the friendly AI here is even worse, cause I've had more instances of them standing there doing nothing despite my tactics lineup giving them optimal commands and there being no obstructions for the pathfinding part, therefore forcing me to stop what I was doing and direct them myself. Also, if you're gonna play this on a higher difficulty, turn off the Ogre's Hurl ability and control it yourself, or else you'll have them use it often in a huddle and take friendly fire from it, which sucks - actually, you're better off putting it on Easy and cruising through it, this has a bit of a rep for being a ballbuster even with all the prep time you have, and it's well earned! I only ever beat it on Hard because I'm a stubborn bastard. This tries to spice it up by having a sort of "if x, then y" puzzle gimmick; Shrieks are your stealthy Rogues to sneak past ballista barrages and disrupt them, Genlocks and Hurlocks are your standard Warriors/Archers, Ogres are your tough Berserker Tanks to destroy obstacles, Emissaries are your Mages, and Blight Wolves are the Mabari. Thing is though, there isn't enough to spice up the monotony of what is, essentially, a 2-hour combat gauntlet round, without any of the positives and brief respites the base campaign offers.
Also, it just feels... cheap. Like yea it's expected as such cause it's a short DLC, and of course there'd be reused assets since we're in the Denerim battle, but there isn't even a proper ending here - once you kill Alistair, Leliana, Morrigan, and Barkspawn (more cases of Bioware acknowledging online communities), the Archdemon swoops by and then... kicked back to the main menu. Stuff like that just permeates the feeling of a quick buck, which is likely the case since it came out about two months after the Awakening expansion. As stated, it's worth playing once for the quasi-unique experience and the weapon unlock Blightblood, itself a pretty good sword for one-handed users, for the two full-sized stories. Beyond that? Not worth it.