There’s something indescribably alluring about the freedom to make your own choices in a game. Whether it’s the ability to voluntarily evolve into the world’s biggest jerkwad anti-savior in Fallout 3 or making the solemn decision of whether or not to shoot your own mother in Silent Hill: Homecoming, the days of following a rigidly set path are long over for us gamers.

Roleplayers can thank BioWare — the studio’s Knights of the Old Republic made moral decisionmaking a gameplay staple when it hit the original Xbox. And the Edmonton-based developers are up to their old tricks again by making the upcoming Dragon Age: Origins an even more deliriously dense series of ethically branching paths for us to navigate. But how? The answer is in the game’s title: Origins.

Out of the gate, you’ll have to make a choice: Do you play as a dwarven noble with the potential to ascend to your kingdom’s throne? Or do you take up arms as a magi and have to endure The Harrowing, a rite of passage for all magic users? Or maybe you’ll be an outdoorsy Dalish elf, seeking out ruins and artifacts from your people’s past? Your options include three more classes — dwarven commoner, human noble, dwarven noble — each with a unique origin story riddled with choices that’ll affect not only how the world looks, feels, and reacts to you, but also who you’ll be once you reach the quest that all of the characters will have to eventually apply for — becoming a Grey Warden.

So what’s the big whoop about becoming a Grey Warden? Well, the world of Dragon Age is exactly that — a dark and brutal landscape populated by fantastic creatures, many of which aren’t exactly cuddly unicorns. Humans, dwarves, and elves are all under constant threat of being overrun by a quasi-race of supernaturally powered beasts known as darkspawn. But reaching the point where you’re fighting darkspawn as an official member of the centuries-old Grey Warden clan is a large part of DA’s path-defining joy.

Your origin story — and your decisions therein — will help determine whether you’ll seize the power and glory of defending humanity as a noble-minded savior or a grinchy, tyrannical bastard. For instance, if you’re playing as an elf, you’ll discover that most of the human world doesn’t care much for your kind: In the past, elves were mostly slaves, and that stigma remains to this day. Even if you’re considered elven nobility or have reached Grey Warden status, random conversations with humans get frosty and condescending at times. How will you respond? Will you get all righteously indignant and strike back for your peeps? Or do you take it on the chin and travel the high road to get what you want? Your decisions can lead to consequences you might not realize until later in the game. Whatever the outcome, it makes for delicious replay value if you want to taste-test every origin story and its unique ethical quandaries.

BioWare hasn’t gotten specific about how they’ll treat the game’s 360 version in terms of combat and transitioning the user interface from the PC. Currently, the cursor-driven fighting involves being able to pause your game (while still viewing every aspect of the battle) and then assign positions, tactics, and attacks or spells to each member of your four-person party. We’re eager to see if the studio can find a way to translate the pinpoint-strategy focus of the PC version’s battle system into a less cursor-dependent form. If they do, we’re so ready to start mucking up the moral waters with reckless, decision-making abandon.