Widely considered one of the greatest RPGs of all time, Dragon Age: Origins has unfortunately aged less gracefully than many games of its time. Although its storytelling and worldbuilding are still excellent, other elements don't quite match modern standards. Luckily, Dragon Age: Origins is the most moddable game of the series and still hosts a thriving modding scene even 15 years after launch.

Anyone playing through the Dragon Age saga in order before the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard will find that modding Origins is the key to the best overall experience. Despite its age, Dragon Age: Origins is surprisingly mod-friendly, with a diverse set of easy-to-install mods. Here are some of the best, most essential mods for Dragon Age: Origins.

9 Extra Dog Slot

Make Room In Your Party For Your Faithful Canine Companion

Early on in Dragon Age: Origins, The Warden gets the opportunity to recruit their very own Mabari War Hound: a breed of exceptionally intelligent and ferocious dog. Both Origins and Dragon Age II featured canine companions, but dogs were conspicuously absent from Inquisition, much to its detriment. Apart from offering comic relief at the party camp, Dog is also a force of nature on the battlefield and has a unique set of unlockable talents.

Unfortunately, as players recruit more companions, it quickly becomes difficult to justify including Dog in the party. The Extra Dog Slot mod makes a simple tweak, allowing The Warden to summon Dog using a custom item. This ensures that players can continue their adventures with their loyal canine without using up a valuable party slot.

The Warden can take advantage of Dog's unique abilities. He may dig up gifts and other assorted items outside camp. Additionally, Dog can mark his territory in select spots throughout the world, buffing his stats.

8 Madd Gift Guide

Give Companions Their Favorite Gifts

Giving gifts is one of the best ways for The Warden to raise Companion Approval, and each of Dragon Age: Origins' companions has their own set of loved gifts.

There are a few generic gifts that award +5 Approval when gifted to all companions, but others grant up to +10 Approval if given to the right companion. Players need to speak to each companion to become familiar with their tastes; for example, the witch Morrigan loves jewelry, while the dwarf Oghren is fond of all kinds of rare alcoholic brews.

The Madd Gift Guide makes a simple but effective tweak by placing the name of the best companion in the item description. While this may seem insignificant on paper, this is actually a valuable quality-of-life tweak. The Warden gets the maximum Approval from gift-giving, and players save time by not having to search through the Dragon Age Wiki.

Approval is tracked on a scale of -100 to 100. With extremely low Approval, companions may leave the party. In contrast, gaining Approval can unlock new companion events, dialogue options, and quests.

7 Skip The Fade

Shorten An Otherwise Frustrating Story Quest

An undeniable favorite of anyone who has ever played Dragon Age: Origins more than once, Skip the Fade removes a significant portion of a particular story mission. As part of their efforts to recruit the Circle of Magi, The Warden finds themselves trapped in the domain of a powerful sloth demon. To escape, players must explore a complex maze-like map in the dream realm, The Fade, learning to shapeshift into new forms and rescue their companions from personally handcrafted nightmares.

The Fade is worth experiencing, especially for new players, and there are even bonus permanent stat boosts to be found if The Warden explores the entirety of the sloth demon's domain. However, seasoned players may quickly grow tired of exploring the maze, and Skip the Fade provides a suitable solution.

To unlock certain skills and talents, including the best powers in Dragon Age: Origins , The Warden may need to meet a specific stat requirement, so gaining permanent stat boosts is incredibly useful.

With Skip the Fade installed, The Warden still enters the sloth demon's domain, but the mission is much more linear. The maze is removed, so The Warden only has to rescue each of their companions from their nightmares before facing the sloth demon in battle. They still gain their temporary shapeshifting powers and permanent stat boosts off-screen, so nothing valuable from The Fade is lost.

6 Lock Bash

Learn How To Pick (Or Break) Locks

Without mods, players need a Rogue with lockpicking skills in their party to unlock chests and doors. It's worth noting that Rogue is one of the best classes to play in Dragon Age: Origins due to its versatile DPS and exploration abilities. However, for non-Rogue players, having to walk past locked doors and chests can quickly become frustrating.

The Lock Bash mod introduces a new mechanic: characters can attack and break locks to open locked doors and chests. However, for the sake of gameplay balance, the mod also tweaks the game so that items in locked chests may be destroyed when the lock is broken. This provides an interesting dynamic: players need to balance the chance to obtain rare items with the potential risk of destroying them completely.

However, this mod also features an .ini file, so Lock Bash can be configured as players see fit. This includes reducing the chance of items being destroyed.

5 Character Respecialization

Add A Modern Mechanic To A Classic RPG

One of the harsh realities of replaying Dragon Age is that Dragon Age: Origins lacks mechanics that players often take for granted in modern games. One of the most glaring omissions is character specialization: the ability to reset a character's attributes, skills, and talents and redistribute points to refine a character's build. Respec is incredibly common, and in games like Baldur's Gate 3, players can practically respec on a whim.

The Character Respecialization mod introduces a raven that appears at the party camp and in other locations across Ferelden. Interacting with it allows the player to respec their character and companions. For balance, The Warden still needs to unlock certain specializations through story decisions to make them available. Character Respecialization is a seamless add-on to the world of Dragon Age: Origins and provides a mechanic that's become essential for most modern RPGs.

4 Retexturing DAO

Improve And Tidy Up Old Textures

Dragon Age: Origins' dated visuals have aged poorly since launch, making it the toughest Dragon Age game to start playing. A few popular mods are designed to enhance the game's aesthetic, swapping old textures with new high-resolution replacements. However, due to the way in which Origins was developed, massive graphics packs can cause the game to suffer memory leaks and frequent crashes.

The Retexturing DAO mod is arguably the best option for an overall graphics boost. Although it doesn't replace all textures, it offers plenty of high-resolution replacements that give Dragon Age: Origins a much cleaner and sharper look without being unsubtle. The game arguably won't ever look "modern" even with mods, but Retexturing DAO finds a happy medium with nice resolution-boosted textures that don't clash with the game's overall aesthetic.

As a bonus, Retexturing DAO anecdotally causes fewer crashes than other graphics mods.

3 Dragon Age Redesigned

Tweak And Tidy Up Companion And NPC Appearances

Where Retexturing DAO deals with environments, Dragon Age Redesigned deals with characters and NPCs. This massive mod redesigns all NPCs in Dragon Age: Origins to make them appear more realistic and lifelike than their base game designs. Like some of the best mods for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age Redesigned can be customized. Players have three presets to choose from in a custom-built installer:

• The Aesthetics preset for additional beautification at the expense of lore and realism.
• The Lore preset for minimal and subtle improvements in line with in-game lore.
• The Recommended preset is a middle ground between the two.

Dragon Age Redesigned also features optional alternate appearances for almost all companions, and custom installers for each. With this mod installed, NPCs have been painstakingly improved to look their absolute best. Depending on the preset, the effect can be both subtle and effective.

2 Grey Wardens Of Ferelden

Ensure The Warden Looks The Part

Dragon Age II has spectacular storytelling ability, and a lot of that is due to how its developers created a more seamless world compared to the first game. In Dragon Age: Origins, the Grey Wardens never felt like a particularly cohesive organization, with its members using weapons and gear commonly worn and used by other characters. The Grey Wardens of Ferelden mod introduces an assortment of Grey Warden armor sets and weapons taken from Dragon Age II.

Each class receives a custom Grey Warden armor set based on Grey Warden designs from the second game. Grey Warden characters such as Duncan and NPCs in the Warden's Keep DLC and Awakening expansion also wear these armors, making the Grey Wardens feel like a true organization.

Additionally, these armor sets are more than purely cosmetic add-ons tying Origins to Dragon Age II. Each armor has its own stat boosts and effects, making it viable for most of the game.

1 Improved Atmosphere

Improve Ambient NPC Behaviour And Immersion

Improved Atmosphere is one of the biggest Dragon Age: Origins mods, and it has a transformative effect on the game. More NPCs are added, and their ambient behavior has been greatly improved. Item appearances have been tweaked and revised, and new items have also been added, contributing to overall immersion and making Ferelden feel like a real place inhabited by real people.

Perhaps the most compelling reason to install Improved Atmosphere is bug fixes. The mod fixes conversations, causes party banter to trigger more often, restores dialogue options, and even reintroduces lore-friendly cut content. Additionally, it has a modular design: players can choose whether to use the full mod or take just a few choice improvements.

To see some of Improved Atmosphere's restored content in action, check out the video above from SpaceExile on YouTube.

Improved Atmosphere makes so many significant changes that it's impossible to sum up; however, its transformative effect makes it one of the best and most essential mods for Dragon Age: Origins.