For the clearest Dragon Age story, play Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, then Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Add Origins: Awakening immediately after Origins if you want the Grey Warden’s post-Blight story, and play Inquisition: Trespasser after the main Inquisition campaign and before The Veilguard. This is a whole-game order, not a mission-by-mission timeline: the first two games overlap in their fictional dates, but repeatedly switching campaigns makes the narrative harder to follow.
You can begin with The Veilguard because BioWare describes every Dragon Age game as a standalone story. Starting with Origins, however, gives you the strongest context for the setting, recurring factions and the decisions that shape later games.
What order should I play the Dragon Age games in?
Use this order for a complete, readable first playthrough:
| Order | Game | What it contributes | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragon Age: Origins | The Grey Warden’s fight against the Fifth Blight | Start here |
| 2 | Dragon Age: Origins — Awakening | A post-Blight Grey Warden Commander story | Optional expansion; play after Origins |
| 3 | Dragon Age II | Hawke’s rise from refugee to Champion of Kirkwall | Play the complete campaign after Origins (and Awakening, if included) |
| 4 | Dragon Age: Inquisition | The Inquisitor’s campaign and the rebuilding of a major political and military power | Play after Dragon Age II |
| 5 | Inquisition — Trespasser | The decisive epilogue that points toward Tevinter and Solas | Play after Inquisition’s main story, immediately before The Veilguard |
| 6 | Dragon Age: The Veilguard | Rook’s story and the next major chapter of Thedas | Finish the route here |
BioWare’s strategy-guide material places Awakening after Origins, while the same broad timeline explains why Dragon Age II should still be played as one complete campaign rather than interleaved with the first game. The guide is available as a BioWare-hosted PDF at BioWare’s Dragon Age II strategy guide.
Why is this a whole-game order instead of a strict fictional chronology?
Origins and Dragon Age II overlap in the world’s timeline. BioWare’s Dragon Age II recap says the first two games occur broadly during and after the Fifth Blight, but their narrative scales differ: Origins and Awakening cover a shorter period, while Dragon Age II spans ten years of Hawke’s life.
That overlap does not create a useful “optimal” sequence of individual quests. Starting, pausing and restarting campaigns to match every in-world month would interrupt each game’s pacing and can create confusion about which protagonist’s perspective is currently framing events. Complete one campaign before moving to the next.
Your Origins ending is also not a single required canon outcome. BioWare’s recap treats the game as allowing different conclusions rather than declaring one proper ending that every player must reproduce. That flexibility is part of the series’ design: later games acknowledge a world shaped by your choices without requiring one universal version of the past.
Where does Dragon Age: Origins — Awakening fit?
Play Awakening after Origins. It continues the Grey Warden’s story after the Fifth Blight and shifts your role toward that of a Warden Commander. It is worthwhile for a fuller history, but it is not required to understand the main plot of Dragon Age II or to begin Inquisition.
What should I expect from Awakening?
Awakening is an expansion-sized continuation, not a separate numbered game. It assumes that you have finished Origins and can therefore draw on the outcome of that campaign. If you are trying to reach The Veilguard quickly, you can skip it; if you want the most complete Grey Warden route, include it before moving to Hawke’s story.
Is the March 16, 2010 date still relevant?
March 16, 2010 is the historical announced release date for Awakening. It identifies when the expansion arrived, not a current store offer or a guarantee that every modern edition exposes it in the same way. Check the contents of the edition and platform you intend to use.
What is the practical note for Origins on PC?
EA documents an Origins Ultimate Edition on physical PC media that requires a DVD drive. Older boxed copies may also involve serial codes or account requirements, so verify the specific listing, included code and platform before buying. The edition name does not change where the game belongs in the order.
When should I play Dragon Age II?
Play the entire Dragon Age II campaign after Origins and, if you are including it, Awakening. You play Hawke, a refugee who eventually becomes the Champion of Kirkwall. The story is structured around major periods of Hawke’s life, which is why the game’s ten-year span matters more than trying to align individual scenes with events in Origins.
Why not start Dragon Age II before finishing Origins?
You can technically do so, but it weakens the intended progression. Origins establishes the Fifth Blight, the Grey Wardens and the political tensions that give Hawke’s early years their context. Completing it first also lets you treat Dragon Age II as a deliberate shift from a world-saving Warden narrative to a more personal account of one city and one family.
How should I move from Dragon Age II to Inquisition?
Start Inquisition after finishing Dragon Age II. The game changes protagonists again: you become the Inquisitor, whose decisions are made against the consequences of the earlier games rather than from Hawke’s viewpoint.
How do I carry earlier choices into Inquisition?
Use Dragon Age Keep to construct the world state you want before beginning a new Inquisition game. BioWare designed Keep to let players configure major events from Origins and Dragon Age II, including situations where the original save files are no longer available. A 2014 BioWare account described Keep as a free web application and said it could represent more than 300 decisions at that time; that figure describes the feature set then, not a fresh audit of its operation in 2026.
Keep’s current availability and sign-in behavior can change, so confirm that the service is reachable before relying on it. Keep is a way to build the earlier world state for Inquisition; it is not a guarantee that every detail from a previous playthrough will carry into every later game.
What should I finish before starting an Inquisition expansion?
Complete the main Inquisition campaign and any side content you care about before launching Trespasser. An EA forum reply cautions that beginning Trespasser closes off unfinished side quests, so treat it as the final major stop in your Inquisition playthrough rather than an early add-on.
Should I play Trespasser before The Veilguard?
Yes. For a story-focused route, play Trespasser immediately before The Veilguard, after the main Inquisition story. It is the clearest publisher-documented bridge between the two games.
Why is Trespasser the important bridge?
In BioWare’s launch letter for The Veilguard, creative director John Epler recalled, “When we stabbed that map at the end of Trespasser, we knew we were going to Tevinter.” The expansion’s ending also centers the future of Solas, making it the most direct setup for the political and character threads that continue later.
Is Trespasser required to understand The Veilguard?
No. The Veilguard is designed as a standalone story, so you can follow its central plot without completing every earlier expansion. Trespasser supplies context and emotional history that a first-time player will otherwise encounter through summaries, dialogue and recreated choices rather than through the original scenes.
Can I start with The Veilguard?
Yes. BioWare said, “every Dragon Age game has delivered a new standalone story,” and EA released The Veilguard on October 31, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Starting there is reasonable if you only want the newest game or do not have access to the older releases.
What do I lose by starting with Veilguard?
You will miss the original presentation of the Fifth Blight, Kirkwall’s decade-long crisis, the Inquisition’s formation and the full lead-in to Solas’s role. The game can explain the information needed for its own plot, but the older route lets you recognize more references and understand why certain characters and institutions matter.
What does Veilguard ask me to recreate?
The Veilguard does not directly import earlier saves and does not integrate with Dragon Age Keep. Its character-creation process instead lets you recreate the Inquisitor and specify selected Inquisition decisions. Keep therefore remains an Inquisition world-state tool, not a four-game save-transfer system. Do not assume that creating a Keep world state automatically transfers all four games’ decisions into the newest game.
How do platforms and editions affect the order?
The narrative sequence is the same on every platform, but the games are not all available through one identical hardware route. EA’s current product pages list different store and edition options for the older games, while the launch announcement for The Veilguard specifies PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
- Check compatibility first: do not assume that a console running The Veilguard also runs every version of Origins, Dragon Age II or Inquisition.
- Check edition contents: EA lists an Inquisition Game of the Year Edition, but the exact expansions and platform packaging should be confirmed on the store page for your system.
- Do not treat Deluxe extras as story content: The Veilguard Deluxe extras are cosmetic items, not another campaign required for the sequence.
- Verify older physical copies: boxed PC releases can require a working disc drive, serial code and account activation, depending on the specific edition.
Are there current prices or costs to plan around?
There is no single reliable series-wide price: older games, expansions, editions and platforms are sold through different routes, and listings can change. Check the current store page for the platform you plan to use and confirm whether an expansion is included before purchase. Historical release dates or edition-listing dates do not establish today’s price, stock or included content.
If you are considering a physical Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition for PC, EA documents a DVD-drive requirement for packaged media. A used copy may also depend on a serial code or account requirement, so confirm that the specific copy is usable before paying rather than assuming the disc alone is sufficient.
Is the Rook’s Coffer part of the game order?
No. EA described a physical The Veilguard Rook’s Coffer with keepsakes including a light-up Lyrium Dagger and cards, and explicitly said the game was not included. It is optional merchandise, not an edition or story chapter needed to play. Its launch-era price is historical, so check any current listing for availability and price rather than treating that old figure as current.
Which Dragon Age route fits my time and priorities?
Choose the full-history route
Play Origins, Awakening, Dragon Age II, Inquisition, Trespasser and then The Veilguard. This is the best option if you want the broadest view of Thedas and intend to make informed world-state choices in Inquisition.
Choose the four-main-game route
Play Origins, Dragon Age II, Inquisition and The Veilguard. Add Trespasser if you can; it has a more explicit connection to the newest game than optional side content does. Skip Awakening only when time or access is limited.
Choose the fastest route to Veilguard
Start with The Veilguard. This avoids requiring access to older platforms and still gives you a complete, self-contained campaign. You can later return to the earlier games as background rather than treating them as prerequisites.
Choose a choice-focused route
Play Origins and Dragon Age II, record the decisions you care about, build that history in Keep, then play Inquisition through Trespasser. When you begin The Veilguard, use its Inquisitor and decision prompts to recreate the parts of your Inquisition history that the newer game supports.
What are the most common order mistakes?
- Interleaving campaigns: the overlap between Origins and Dragon Age II is a reason to play both in full, not to alternate chapters.
- Starting Trespasser too early: finish the Inquisition main story and desired side quests first because the expansion can close unfinished content.
- Expecting Keep to feed Veilguard: Keep prepares an Inquisition world state; The Veilguard uses its own recreation prompts.
- Treating every DLC as mandatory: Awakening is optional, while Trespasser is the expansion with the strongest direct setup for The Veilguard.
- Assuming one console covers the entire series: check each game’s current platform and edition before committing to a hardware-based plan.
- Confusing edition dates with original release dates: EA product pages can display dates tied to a listed edition. Treat those as edition information, not proof of when the original game first launched.
How we chose this order
The sequence follows BioWare’s stated placement of Awakening, the broad overlap and ten-year span described in the Dragon Age II recap, and the explicit story connection BioWare drew between Trespasser, Tevinter and Solas. It also separates the two continuity systems: Keep for constructing an Inquisition world state, and The Veilguard’s in-game prompts for selected earlier decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What order should I play the Dragon Age games in?
For the main games, play Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Add Awakening after Origins and Trespasser after Inquisition for the fuller story route.
Do I need to play Origins before The Veilguard?
No. BioWare describes each game as a standalone story, so you can start with The Veilguard. Playing from Origins first gives you more background on the world, characters and earlier events.
Does The Veilguard use Dragon Age Keep?
No. The Veilguard does not integrate with Keep or directly import earlier saves. It lets you recreate the Inquisitor and select certain Inquisition decisions during character creation.
Should I play Trespasser before The Veilguard?
Yes, if you want the fullest story connection. Finish Inquisition’s main story and any side content you care about, then play Trespasser before starting The Veilguard.
Do Origins and Dragon Age II happen at the same time?
Their fictional timelines overlap broadly during and after the Fifth Blight, but you do not need to alternate between campaigns. Play Origins and then the complete Dragon Age II story.
Who is the playable character in The Veilguard?
You play Rook, a new protagonist rather than importing an old hero. The game’s character creation also lets you recreate the Inquisitor for the decisions it recognizes.
How many companions are in The Veilguard?
Electronic Arts describes seven companions for The Veilguard. That is a published character count, not a statement that every companion must be recruited or used in a particular order.
Does The Veilguard Deluxe Edition add another story campaign?
No. EA presents the Deluxe extras as cosmetic content, so they do not add a required chapter to the Dragon Age sequence.
Can I buy an old physical copy of Origins and play immediately?
Not always. Depending on the edition, a boxed PC copy may need a DVD drive, a valid serial code and account activation; verify those details for the exact copy before purchase.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Play Origins → Dragon Age II → Inquisition → The Veilguard. Add Awakening after the first game and finish with Trespasser before The Veilguard if you want the most complete story. You can start with The Veilguard on its own, but Keep does not transfer your earlier choices into it.