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Android
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Mac
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PC
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Xbox One
Xbox X|SWe've documented 24 accessibility features for Dragon Age: Origins, including Fully Voiced (Or No Speech), Adjust Speed, Select Difficulty, Play Without Hearing and Audio Cues. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Navigation, Visual, Reading, Difficulty and Audio to reduce unintended barriers.
This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.
Our accessibility examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Dragon Age: Origins accessibility 10 months ago. It was re-examined by Ben Kendall and updated 10 months ago.
Accessibility Notes
When you adjust the difficulty, which you can do at any time, you primarily change the intelligence of your opponents, not the amount of damage you deal. You can also pause the combat at any time and use the "tactical camera" to get a clearer picture of the threat, as well as give yourself a moment to think.
Although all the dialogue is voiced, the menus and other information is not. Although some of the text is backdropped by a contrasting colour, much of it is overlaid directly over the gameplay, meaning at times it can be quite hard to read, as well as being quite small at times. All dialogue is voiced, and you can select how much is subtitled, although these subtitles can also be small, from just the main dialogue to background chatter. You can go back and view your conversation history at any time from the pause menu.
You can turn off blood and dismemberment by deselecting the 'Enable Persistent Gore' option in the settings.
There is a depth of field effect which cannot be disabled, which appears in many of the cutscenes of the game.
Some items are distinguished primarily by colour, and different the colour of much of the UI text throughout the game indicates what it corresponds to, and there are no options to change colours to accommodate for colourblindness. You can highlight interactable items around you with a button press.
Game Details
Release Date: 03/11/2009, updated in 2009
Price: 75% Off
Out Now: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Xbox One
Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds
Players: 1
Genres: Action, Role-Play (Adventure, Fighting and Narrative)
Accessibility: 24 features
Components: 3D Third-Person
Costs: Purchase cost, In-Game Purchases and In-Game Pass
Controls
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Controls in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Gamepad
Can play with the following:
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Mouse And Keyboard
Can play with the following:
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Remap Controls
Can customise the controls for the game as follows:
Remap Mouse and Keyboard: Can remap mouse and keyboard key bindings, on systems that support these controls.
Invert X/Y Axis: Can invert the direction required to control looking and aiming. This enables you to match your instinctive orientation when looking.
Sensitivity
You can adjust
Adjust Mouse/Stick/Touch Sensitivity: Adjust how sensitive touch/mouse/stick controls are.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Controls
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
- God of War Ragnarök (13 Controls Features)
- The Last Of Us Part II (12 Controls Features)
- Rogue Lords (11 Controls Features)
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla (11 Controls Features)
Difficulty
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play.
Difficulty Options
Select Difficulty: Select the level of difficulty from a range of presets. This not only offers a way to adjust the challenge of a game but enables you to do so without dealing with individual criteria.
Adjust After Setting
Adjustable Anytime: You can adjust the difficulty while playing, without having to restart the level you are on. This enables you to quickly adjust the game to suit your needs and see the difference immediately.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Difficulty
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Difficulty accessibility:
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard (3 Difficulty Features)
- Baldur's Gate 3 (3 Difficulty Features)
- God of War Ragnarök (3 Difficulty Features)
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla (3 Difficulty Features)
Getting Started
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Getting Started in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing.
Assistance Getting Starting
These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials and instructions on how to play. Information is provided in a timely manner, with appropriate level of detail.
Adjust Speed: Adjust the speed of the game at critical moments or throughout, or rewind play for a second attempt, to ease reaction times. By slowing the game, you have more time to interpret what is happening and then execute your actions. It also reduces the pressure on getting things right quickly or the first time you attempt them.
Assistance For Progressing
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.
Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue: The game enables you to review the history of conversations or provides highlights of the information you gather in a form you can review.
Save Progress Anytime: The game automatically saves progress or you can save any time. This doesn’t mean you never lose progress, but it does mean you can stop whenever you want (without having to get to a save point) without losing progress.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
- The Last Of Us Part II (11 Getting Started Features)
- Baldur's Gate 3 (9 Getting Started Features)
- God of War Ragnarök (8 Getting Started Features)
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla (8 Getting Started Features)
Reading
We've documented 3 accessibility features for Reading in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides visual and audible access to the text and whether subtitles and captions are a good fit for purpose.
Reading Level
How much reading is required to play the game's main path or story and how complex the language is. The presence of voiced characters doesn't reduce this requirement, as it's recorded as a separate datapoint.
Moderate Reading: Moderate reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading are at a level that a high school student (14-year-old) would appreciate.
Subtitles
All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game): All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to hear spoken dialogue or narrative to play the game.
Voice Acted
All Dialogue is Voice Acted (Or No Speech In Game): All of the game dialogue and narrative can be voiced, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to read the dialogue and narrative text to play the game.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
- God of War Ragnarök (7 Reading Features)
- Fallout 4 (7 Reading Features)
- Assassin's Creed Origins (7 Reading Features)
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla (7 Reading Features)
Navigation
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Navigation in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how the game provides guidance and assistance to navigate its worlds. These are only for games that have traversal and exploration in 2D and 3D spaces.
Clarity
Clear Mission Objectives: The game provides clear, structured missions with directional guidance and advice on which can be attempted next. This also indicates (ideally on maps where they are provided) which missions can't be attempted because you do not have the appropriate items yet.
Head-Up Display
Adjust Head-Up Display: Resize and adjust the content of the head-up display. This enables it to be made more visible. It can also enable the removal of too much information that can be distracting or confusing.
Game Map: View a map of the game world during play, with the landscape, points of interest and missions highlighted throughout the entire game. This enables the orientation of the player and the world, confirming a direction of movement and the location of destinations or points of exploration.
Menu Navigation
Digital Menu Navigation: Menu choices with Gamepad can be made without using an analogue stick to guide a cursor to a selection. For example, using D-Pad, buttons or the Stick to change menu selection in a single action.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Navigation
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
- God of War Ragnarök (11 Navigation Features)
- Baldur's Gate 3 (9 Navigation Features)
- Rogue Lords (8 Navigation Features)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (8 Navigation Features)
Visual
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Visual in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Interactive Elements
Outline Interactive Elements: Characters, platforms and enemies can be outlined or highlighted for visibility. This can be with a large border around the character or a special visual mode that adjust the colour to make characters more visible.
Audio Cues for Visual Events
Audio Cues for Visual Events: Audio is provided to indicate visual events. Game events or progress highlighted by visual icons, effects or animations are also accompanied by audio to signify that progress. This is useful for blind players.
Violence
Turn Off Blood: Reduce or disable graphic content of blood and gore.
Turn Off Dismemberment: Disable graphic depiction of dismembered bodies and corpses.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
- The Last Of Us Part II (7 Visual Features)
- Baldur's Gate 3 (6 Visual Features)
- God of War Ragnarök (6 Visual Features)
- Foretales (6 Visual Features)
Audio
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Dragon Age: Origins which deal with how you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.
Adjustable Audio
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.
Play Without Hearing
Play Without Hearing: No audio cues are necessary to play the game well.
Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Audio
If you want to play Dragon Age: Origins, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
- God of War Ragnarök (4 Audio Features)
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard (3 Audio Features)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (3 Audio Features)
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (3 Audio Features)
System Accessibility Settings
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
Xbox One
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Ben Kendall
