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It’s not every day that you see an expansion for a 23 year-old game, but thanks to its undying community, Neverwinter Nights isn’t just any game, with a level of support and fanmade content that calls to mind the likes of Doom or Thief. With the blessing of Wizards of the Coast, fantasy author, RPG developer, and Neverwinter Nights enthusiast Luke Scull has released Doom of Icewind Dale, the first act of a sequel campaign to Neverwinter Nights as an official $10 expansion.
Doom of Icewind Dale is set some years after the events of the original NwN campaign, and promises 10-15+ hours of mid to high-level third edition D&D questing in the Forgotten Realms’ notorious icy waste/adventurer special economic zone, Icewind Dale. Rounding out the value, Doom of Icewind Dale introduces new monsters, portraits, music, and a narrated intro sequence to set the stage.
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BioWare’s Neverwinter Nights is an incredibly weird little RPG that was somewhat compromised by an identity crisis at its core, but in a funky, interesting, old school RPG way that only makes me love it more. Its original campaign was widely regarded as a disappointment coming on the heels of Baldur’s Gate 2, and it also removed full party control, stripping back Baldur’s Gate’s tactical six-person command to just your main character and up to two AI-controlled companions.
But that was in service to an extremely ambitious hybrid multiplayer experience that presaged Larian’s revolutionary seamless RPG co-op in Divinity: Original Sin and Baldur’s Gate 3. You can play any of Neverwinter Nights’ campaigns (including user-made ones) in co-op multiplayer, and Neverwinter Nights also plays host to “persistent worlds,” which are effectively mini, player-driven MMOs, some of which are still operating to this day.
But I’m a singleplayer guy, and Neverwinter Nights ultimately delivered on that front as well. In addition to two more inspired expansions, Neverwinter Nights’ Aurora Toolset is still one of the best RPG-making programs out there, hitting a sweet spot of ease of use and versatility that truly sets it apart. Fanmade Neverwinter Nights content ranges from standalone adventures to epic, multipart campaigns like Swordflight or the Aielund Saga that rival the OG Baldur’s Gate trilogy in scope.
Scull, an author and developer at Ossian Studios currently also working on Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand, got his start in games modding Neverwinter Nights, creating a loose trilogy of adventures that form their own zero to hero campaign: Siege of Shadowdale, Crimson Tides of Tethyr, and Tyrants of the Moonsea. At Ossian, Scull was also lead dev on the final official expansion pack to Obsidian’s Neverwinter Nights 2, Mysteries of Westgate.
Originally conceived as another free mod campaign for NwN, Scull turned to Patreon and Wizards of the Coast to expand the scope of Doom of Icewind Dale, which is planned to be the first entry in a multipart, globetrotting campaign called The Blades of Netheril. I’m still neck-deep in Obsidian’s excellent Avowed, but I’m once again hearing the siren’s song demanding I make another Half-Orc who’s good at everything to take on Neverwinter Nights.
Doom of Icewind Dale lets you start with a fresh guy, but what better excuse to once again replay that original campaign I was just slagging off, but still secretly cherish? You can grab The Doom of Icewind Dale, as well as Beamdog’s Enhanced Edition release of Neverwinter Nights, on Steam and GOG. That’s not the end of the boom times for Neverwinter Nights sickos either: Signs point to a similar enhanced edition treatment for Neverwinter Nights 2 on the horizon.
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Kurt Indovina
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