Dragon Age Producer Reveals What He'd Change in Every Game

Mark Darrah, former Dragon Age executive producer, shares what he'd remove and add from each game, from cutting filler quests to adding the Keep in Veilguard.

Ever wondered what a Dragon Age dev would tweak in their own games if they had a time machine? Mark Darrah, former executive producer of the series, recently spilled the beans on TikTok when asked exactly that: "If you could go back in time what would you remove from each of the Dragon Age games and what would you add?" His answers are candid, insightful, and might just match your own wishlist.

Starting with Dragon Age: Origins, Darrah didn't hesitate: he'd cut or dramatically reduce the dream sequence in the Mage Tower. "It's not very good content. It's kind of filler," he admitted, adding that it was "definitely done pretty fast in the end." If you've ever installed the Skip the Fade mod, you're nodding along. As for what he'd add, Darrah mentioned the planned human origin where you'd play one of the Avvar in the Korcari Wilds. "I would like to have another human origin, but wow, what an expensive add," he said.

Moving to Dragon Age 2, Darrah tackled a common frustration: the forced fight against both templars and mages at the end, regardless of your allegiance. Even if you side with Orsino and the Circle, he goes full blood mage, proving Meredith's point. Darrah would remove that. For additions, he'd throw in "probably just a couple of more levels to use" for more location variety, and he'd reduce the gold available in act two's main questline to encourage sidequesting for the expedition. "If you just do the crit path, the crit path gives you enough gold to go on the expedition so it kind of doesn't work," he explained. He'd consider cutting one critical path mission to fix that.

On Dragon Age: Inquisition, Darrah would trim the open-world bloat. "I'd probably cut Hissing Wastes maybe or one of the big levels because it's too big," he said. He'd also drastically reduce the Power requirement for critical path missions. "That's there for not-super-great reasons, and I think you could cut it by 40 to 60% and the game would just be paced better." Sounds like a welcome change for anyone who felt the grind.

Finally, for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Darrah would add the Keep, the world state import system from previous games. "I told them to. It wouldn't take 'that much'. I mean, it would," he joked. As for what he'd remove? "I don't have a good answer to that one." Fair enough—maybe the internet has thoughts, but Darrah seems content with how Veilguard turned out.

So, what do you think of Darrah's picks? Would you skip the Fade, or do you have your own list of changes? Let us know in the comments!