It has almost been 10 years since I last played DA2 as a 15 year old and now as almost a 25 year old, going back to DA2 felt like rather weird, but at the same time cozy and comforting. I don't remember much about my experience back then, but I think it most likely mirrored the way I felt about it now. DA2 is surprisingly a good game, even though it was made in 16 months, with lovable cast of characters, likeable protagonist and interesting city to explore. The combat feels better and more impactful than in Origins and it felt easy to build an efficient rotation that would work in every encounter. The story isn't amazing and the timeskips (that I think could have been utilized better somehow) felt jarring, but I still found myself wanting to play a bit more every time I shut off my xbox. This time around I also played the DLC, really liking Legacy, but Mark of the Assassin really missed the mark (hehe) and if I'm being honest, it is my least favorite out of all BioWare DLCs so far. I just couldn't stand Tallis and I just found the story of the DLC very uninteresting and unimportant regarding the bigger picture.

The game doesn't come without its issues though; repeating environments, acts that feel disjointed from each other (every act has its main plot that are all separate from each other, which leaves a bit weird feeling. For example something big that happens in act 2 is never really discussed again in act 3, even though it would have impacted Kirkwall greatly), some rather annoying bugs (Hawke wouldn't drink a health potion no matter what), clunky AI and weird difficulty spikes with some of the bosses prevented this game from really shining. I think DA2 does suffer a little bit from being in a middle of a trilogy, not doing much to it in general, but it is still worth of playing and experiencing at least once.