Leaves not with a bang but with a "huh?"
Warning: potential spoilers for Dragon Age: Origins
There was a certain moment in Dragon Age: Origins where the characters actually started to endear to me more so than I thought and I didn't even notice. First, I was in a relationship with the supremely sarcastic and cynical Morrigan, only to leave her for Leliana. But over the course of the game, Morrigan started to change and actually start growing affections for my Warden and I noticed a tinge of sadness that she was not the one I was with anymore. Which made giving her a gift which re-ignited her desire for a relationship all the more surprising: the reliable Leliana or the wild but enticing Morrigan? After agreeing to Morrigan's proposal at the end of the main game and her subsequent disappearance, I always wondered how Bioware would handle that whole thing in "Witch Hunt", their final DLC for the game before the sequel's out. Does it satisfy my curiousity? No. As a DLC is it a fine entry? No....and partially.
Taking place 2 years after the ending of the first game, your Warden (or one you can create from scratch) is found reaching Flemeth's Hut after rumors of a woman matching Morrigan's description was spotted nearby. Turns out it's actually a Dalish elf named Ariane, who's also seeking her out. Seems a book was stolen by Morrigan contained details on something on "Eluvian" and searching through history and with the help of a mage named Finn, you set out to hopefully track down Morrigan and uncover why she disappeared and what her plans were.
In one of my reviews, I remarked that Bioware seems to love giving their fans as much DLC as they can, which of course explains why there's 7 separate pieces for Dragon Age in addition to its expansion, Awakening. However the quality has been slightly hit-or-miss as they tend to not be that substantial and feel more like an excuse to having something called a DLC rather than anything worthwhile. Witch Hunt feels similar in that it only goes so far in adding on to your Warden yet at times they don't carry it far enough. It feels like cut content from Dragon Age and had you've been told this was DLC launched separately in the main menu, you would've thought it was part of the actual game (other than the time jump). The combat is straightforward, the quests are pretty much the "gather something" type and it's over pretty quickly since I took roughly an hour and 20 minutes to complete the entire thing.
But it's the handling of the Morrigan situation that left a bad taste in my mouth with this release. What she takes about is vague, almost ridiculously so, the encounter is not even that long, and the DLC seems to just...end. I don't want to spoil it but it's almost like they actually forgot to put an ending after...something happens then the credits roll. I have no idea about Morrigan's role in Dragon Age II and it's pretty much confirmed Flemeth will be in it as well but it feels like you wouldn't really need this DLC to find out either.
