Mark Darrah wants to shorten or cut the Fade in Dragon Age: Origins

In the same retrospective on the series, Darrah also mentioned other possible changes, including a different take on the mage/templar outcome in Dragon Age 2.

Darrah is relevant to the franchise because he worked at BioWare for more than 20 years, left in 2021, and returned in 2023 as a consultant on Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

What happened

IGN reported on 23 September 2026 that Mark Darrah answered questions in a TikTok reaction about what he would change in the Dragon Age series. The piece focused mainly on his comments about Dragon Age: Origins and the Fade/Mage Tower section.

According to that report, Darrah said he would rather shorten that part or remove it entirely. The gist of his response was that he sees the Fade as filler and as content that, in his view, is not strong enough. The source summarizes that as a preference to “cut or dramatically reduce” the section rather than keep it in its current form.

The same source also mentions other changes Darrah would make to the series. In Dragon Age: Origins, he would reportedly add more character options, including an extra human origin and possibly the Avvar. He would also approach Dragon Age 2 differently by not having the mage/templar choice lead into the fight with Orsino. That point is explicitly mentioned in the coverage as a change he would want to see in how that storyline plays out.

The comments fit into a broader look back at the series, with Darrah weighing multiple parts of the Dragon Age games. The provided source does confirm that the Fade/Mage Tower section is the clearest example of content he would want to shorten or cut. The exact format of the TikTok reaction, and whether it was one video or multiple clips, is not fully detailed in the available material.

Background

Mark Darrah is described in the source as a former BioWare executive who spent more than 20 years with the company and was involved with the Dragon Age franchise. He left BioWare in 2021, but returned in 2023 as a consultant for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. That makes him one of the more recognizable names publicly reflecting on the series’ development.

The Fade in Dragon Age: Origins is a well-known story and gameplay segment that often sparks debate among players. In the provided source, Darrah names this section first as an example of something he would handle differently, alongside his comments on Dragon Age 2. The report ties his criticism specifically to the Fade/Mage Tower section, which suggests this is not a general judgment on the whole game, but on a defined part of the campaign.

The source also says Darrah would like to add more character options to Dragon Age: Origins. Those include an extra human origin and possibly the Avvar. Because the available material does not go further, it remains unclear how he would have implemented those options or at what point in development they might have been added.

For Dragon Age 2, the source names one concrete change: the mage/templar choice should not lead into the fight with Orsino, according to Darrah. That matters because it shows his retrospective is not limited to Dragon Age: Origins, but also extends to later storylines in the series. However, the supplied information does not provide a full list of every other adjustment he may have mentioned.

The context of these remarks is important: Darrah is not presented in the source as BioWare’s current leadership, but as a former executive and later consultant. His comments are therefore best understood as a reflection on earlier design choices within the franchise, not as an official plan to redesign the games.

Sources

• IGN, “It’s not great content”: ex-Dragon Age exec says he’d now change or ditch several key moments from the series, 23 September 2026.