A genuine banger. A wacky premise and tone, noir tropes abound, and it's easy to go in thinking this is all just a gag before it sneaks up on you with its well-realised characters, its genuine heart, its savvy politics, and twists I never could have seen coming hidden right behind the ones I could. Excellent use of the 24-hour time cycle, and some very clear Majora's Mask inspirations in both its systems and its content (look at how the garden gets used)!

Some unfortunate technical fumbles that can be distracting.
— Abrupt soundtrack/ambience changes
— Typos in the dialogue, and sometimes other strange wording choices that are suggestive of rushed copy-editing.
— What seem to be some memory management issues. This would probably be fine if I weren't also streaming, but I had to quit and restart the game every hour or so as the frame drops started to creep in. I found that surprising, given some of the other games this machine can handle + streaming just fine.

But, I absolutely found it worthwhile to push through those problems. I loved this game, and I can't wait to see what the devs do next.

Got bit by a scorpion. Picked up the scorpion. Got bit again. Tried to yeet it. Got bit again, dropped it, got bit again. Poison damage expanded to more than twice my health bar's original length. Died in a corner looking like I'd attempted to cave-dive while my friends, trying to find me, got swept away by a tornado. 10/10 gaming experience, not to be missed.

If you're expecting the same quality of writing or the same freedom of choice from DA:O, that team and the ethos that came with it no longer exists at Bioware. What replaces it is a fun, cinematic romp where the combat goes hard, the exploration keeps giving, and a bunch of lore questions from as far back as Origins start getting paid off, big-time. It also feels a lot more like a Mass Effect game, which is either good or bad depending on your perspective.

It's not what I used to come to Dragon Age for, but it's still what I come to a single-player game for.