Dragon Age: Origins

Witch Hunt is the final finale of the seemingly never ending stream of Dragon Age: Origins Downloadable Content and is based around the premise to dust up a lot of the cobwebbed plot holes concerning Morrigan and just what her grand scheme of things is really about. And while it does, somewhat, deliver on this promise, the hour or so it takes to reach this conclusion is both boring, tedious and a highly iterative endeavour that has you go through the same environments facing the same enemies all over again.

Witch Hunt allows you to import your Warden character from any number of save files, should it be the end of Origins or somewhere amidst the Dragon Age expansion, Awakening. Importing a Warden from Awakening only really affects what level and gear your Warden character bring along with him/her.

Witch Hunt even allows you to create a new high level Hero/Heroine of Ferelden solely for this DLC pack, though since Witch Hunt is centred with learning the secrets of Morrigan depending on your choices you made concerning her in Origins, it's a waste to simply start a new this late in the weaving story arc.

No matter what sort of Warden you begin Witch's Hunt with, the story will open to your Warden with your faithful Mabari Hound, who will give the opportunity to name him again, outside Flemeth's, Morrigan's '''mother'' and mysterious Witch of the Wilds, hut. Upon investigation of the hut, your Warden will encounter Ariane; a Dalish Elven warrior who is also on the search for Morrigan as she believes finding Morrigan will help find her one of these magical Mirrors that were used as portals long ago during the Tevinter Imperium. From here on they then go on a short search across Ferelden collecting a couple of mystical doodads to help them learn of the location of one of these mirrors.

The actual search for Morrigan is fairly dull, in most aspects. Your new party members, Ariane and the well spoken, lightly comedic mage (Yes, another one) Finn don't bring much to the proceedings besides as a couple of generic personalities to fill up the blank spots of your party. It's a nice touch to have your trusty hound join you again, but he's also only there for his skills alone. As is common with Dragon Age content post Origins, you can't chat with your party members, including your dog. They'll all talk aplenty with each other during your travels, but it doesn't really build much character development and only acts as an excuse for the odd comic relief conversations with the mabari.

If anything actually, what this over-trodden path you'll take to Morrigan has going for it is its humour. There are cheeky little references to many characters and previous happenings - with one such dwarf with a knack for enchantments even makes an unexpected cameo.

Without the many hidden gags, though, you're still left with a rather generic 60 or so minute trek to what you bought this damn pack for in the first place. You will least have the World Map once more at your disposal, though of course the places you can go are very limited, littered with locations you've been to many times before, and all filled with insidiously easy and monotonous combat more than anything else. Your Warden will have the chance to say his/her mind, but don't expect much in the way of character defining decisions to make. Well, until you least reach Morrigan herself.

And again this is what really makes it all such a drag to play through. You bought this just to be able to carry on your tale with Morrigan, yet you'll still have to head through an hours worth of the same environments, fighting the same enemies that you've more than likely gotten sick of by this point in the games age.

But I digress: once you do finally make it to Morrigan, there will be a decent pay off, if a very abrupt one. Morrigan will speak to you differently depending on events during Origins, which may motivate some replay value with different characters, but in every scenario it leaves you with a cliff hanger that will no doubt be addressed in Dragon Age 2. It's a predictable one, but not an ending you'll feel cheapened by, and if anything it may increase your potential excitement for the upcoming sequel.

Whether or not this is worth the price is tricky to decide. It's enjoyable during the final moments you'll share with Morrigan, but those said moments will easily have been predicted long before this pack was even announced by most. To hear what you already know from Claudia Black's lips may still be enough for the more devoted searchers of Morrigan, while otherwise, like most of the more recent Dragon Age DLC, this is one hunt you're better off having a rain check on.