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Forbes
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition—Everything You Need To Know
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is out now for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch complete with all four campaigns and cross-platform multiplayer features. The four campaigns are the original storyline, Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate. You don't have to necessarily play them in that order, but it's definitely what I'd recommend. You can read my review here for my thoughts on the game as a whole, but I also wanted to publish a separate article answering a lot of the specific questions I've seen raised about this game. This new Enhanced Edition was developed and published by Aspyr, but the original game from 2006 was originally developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari exclusively on PC. Neverwinter Nights 2—What Is It And Why Care? 'Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition brings players back to the rich, story-driven world of Dungeons & Dragons with updated visuals, improved UI, and full mod support," Aspyr product manager Jordan Reese said in an email. Set in the iconic region around Neverwinter and the Sword Coast, it's a deep, choice-driven RPG that modern players—especially fans of Baldur's Gate 3—will love. Whether you're returning or diving in for the first time, this edition delivers classic D&D adventure reimagined for today.' Even though this is a numbered entry in a series, you don't need to play the original Neverwinter Nights at all previously if you don't want to. As I mentioned, there are four total campaigns included in Neverwinter Nights 2 and you can technically play them in any order, but I definitely recommend playing them in the order they're presented at the main menu. 'You don't have to start with the base game, but it can be a helpful introduction—especially for players new to the classic ruleset of D&D 3.5e,' Reese said. 'The base campaign gives you a solid grounding in the world and mechanics, and if you do complete it, you can carry your character into Mask of the Betrayer. That said, MotB also lets you create a new level 18 character, so you can jump right in if you prefer. Storm of Zehir and Mysteries of Westgate are standalone adventures with their own stories, so no prior progress is required—they're great options whether you're continuing your journey or looking for something fresh.' Neverwinter Nights 2—What's The D&D 3.5e Ruleset? Dungeons & Dragons has been around for many decades and directly influenced and laid the groundwork for, essentially, the entire RPG genre in video games. You can trace a direct line from D&D, to Ultima, and everything else that followed. As a result, it's seen many iterations and updates over those years. Right now, D&D 5e is the current version most people play and it's the version games like Baldur's Gate 3 are based on. But since Neverwinter Nights 2 is a nearly 20-year old game, that version didn't exist when it was released. Instead, NWN2 is based on D&D 3.5e. '5e is a ruleset that has been built upon the foundation set by 3.5e,' Reese said. 'Neverwinter Nights 2 is based on the 3.5e which, to some, may feel more complex however it translates so well into the classic D&D game where the computer handles all the behind the scenes math. Players will have a lot of freedom in character customization, classes, and overall experience. Players looking for a deep and original D&D experience will feel right at home in Neverwinter Nights 2. I deeply enjoy playing with the 3.5e ruleset.' Plus, as I mentioned in my review, the game has 'packages' you can use during character creation to align with a certain playstyle you want to follow. Additionally, you can even have the game recommend stat points and feats when leveling up for you and any of your companions. There's a lot to digest in this game, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming if you don't want it to be. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition—What's New? As you can surmise from the title of the game, it's not a remake and not even really a remaster. This is, more or less, a cleaned up port with restored functionality, better performance, more platforms supported, and slightly improved textures. 'We've made several adjustments to gameplay including controller support, with a new controller specific UI, updates to the visuals with improved textures and assets,' Reese said. 'We're adding in cross-platform multiplayer, so players are able to play with friends regardless of the platform they own. We're also including all four enhanced campaigns, which includes the expansions, Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate. There are some additional minor updates being made and we'll leave those to players to uncover and experience on their own.' So if you were hoping for sweeping changes and updates to the game, this may leave you a little disappointed. But if you play primarily on Steam Deck, consoles, or had trouble getting the original game to run on your PC like a lot of folks, this is a very faithful and smooth way to play Neverwinter Nights 2. In fact, I'd say if you haven't played the game before, this is definitely the version to get regardless of platform since all of the existing mods and player-made campaigns still work on PC. 'Most of the console updates center around visual enhancements and playability,' Reese said. 'We've reworked menus, updated the controls scheme, and polished the experience so that players feel more comfortable navigating the world and game using a controller. Along with controller support we've targeted Verified status on Steam Deck. It comes down to personal preference how and when someone wants to play games. If that's on a console or on the go with something like the Steam Deck, we want the player to be able to make that choice.' Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition—Physical Release? If you've followed my work here on Forbes, on social media, or anything I've done over the years then you probably know I'm a huge proponent of physical media, specifically in the game industry. I buy physically almost always when given the chance and have a large collection of nearly 800 games stretching back to Atari consoles, NES, Genesis, and far beyond. Naturally, I was hoping for a physical release of Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition, but it doesn't seem like that was the plan for initial release—but we don't need to rule it out entirely just yet. 'Physical is something we're always thinking about,' Reese said. 'There is a certain type of value that comes from having the physical version, plus it opens the doors to do all kind of cool things with collector's editions. I can't confirm anything right now but know it's something we think about with all of our titles.' Fingers crossed. Since I received a PS5 code for the review, I'd immediately buy a physical edition on Switch to play on Switch 2. I'd love to see cross-save support added at some point in the future as well. 'If you have experience playing any D&D based game, or D&D adjacent game, you'll pick up pretty quickly on how the mechanics work,' Reese said. "Much like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 and the Pillars of Eternity games, this game is a real time combat system simulating turn based gameplay. New players that are inexperienced with D&D will find that the learning curve isn't so steep that they will have a bad time. It's an exceptional game that veterans of the D&D world, and newcomers, can enjoy. 'Take your time, get into the story and the world, experiment with different characters, races, and classes, and above all else—have fun. My personal favorite is a lawful good Paladin on a traditional hero's journey smiting evil from the land. That might be a good place for people to start.' Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is available now from Aspyr for PC, Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Forbes
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition PS5 Review: A Classic D&D RPG
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is far from being classified as a remake and I wouldn't even call it a remaster, either. This is functionally the same game as it already existed, but it's optimized to run better on modern hardware along with some bug fixes and perhaps upgrades to things like enhanced resolution support. Fundamentally, what this does is bring one of PC gaming's most beloved classic RPGs to consoles (and modern machines) for the very first time in a way that's highly enjoyable and that's worth commending in and of itself. I was only given access to the PS5 version of the game for this coverage and I didn't have anyone to test multiplayer with, but fortunately the single-player experience of the four included campaigns is pretty fantastic from what I've played so far. Neverwinter Nights 2 was originally developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that somehow found itself making sequels to other studio's RPGs fairly often for several years. Between this game, Knights of the Old Republic 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and Dungeon Siege III it's remarkable how adept they became at adopting an existing game world and just running with it. This Enhanced Edition is in the hands on Aspyr, the same folks behind the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remaster, as well as the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remaster collection, and many others including multiple Star Wars games. Let me be perfectly clear up front that prior to playing the game for this coverage, I had not played it before. Well, not really. I tried to once upon a time back in college over a decade ago, but it didn't really run very well on my PC at the time so I shelved it and never tried again. I think something similar happened to a lot of people, especially after the original game was removed from Steam. All these years later, I can happily report that not only does it run well on PS5 via the new Enhanced Edition, but the story, characters, and gameplay are as rich and engaging as ever. I did not have the bandwidth to complete any of the campaigns during my time with the game, but I tried them all out for a bit and fully intend on continuing to adventure my way through each story. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition While all four campaigns are technically standalone endeavors, I'd highly recommend playing them in the order you see them listed in the main menu. Start with the original main campaign (The Wailing Death) storyline because it's designed to be your introduction to the game and its systems as it will take you from a brand-new character all the way up to around level 20—which is basically endgame in Dungeons & Dragons terms. After that, you should go into Mask of the Betrayer, which is an excellent story in and of itself but it does seem to function best as a sort of epilogue to the main campaign. To this day, that storyline is still regarded as one of the best of any RPG. After that, the final two (Storm of Zehir and Mysteries of Westgate) are pretty much entirely separate so the order doesn't matter as much. If you're completely unfamiliar with Neverwinter Nights 2, something of note to be aware of is that the game's gameplay and ruleset are based on Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition. This is important to keep in mind because it's quite different from 5th edition, which is what Baldur's Gate 3 is based on. Without getting into the nitty gritty details too much, 3.5 is a more complex system with a lot more nuance and detailed rules for situations, whereas 5 is generally a more accessible and streamlined format. That being said, they've done a nice job of easing you into things with Neverwinter Nights 2. For me personally, I started playing tabletop D&D with 4th edition, but have since moved on to 5th edition which is what I'm most familiar with. However, over the years, I've played a wide assortment of D&D video games ranging from Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, to Eye of the Beholder, Warriors of the Eternal Sun, Pool of Radiance, and even Dungeons & Dragons Online. All that's to say I know my halflings from my gnomes. Despite my lack of direct knowledge of 3.5 as it exists in video game form, I didn't find the game that overwhelming. During character creation, there are some great options to select 'packages' for your chosen class, which streamlines some of the options so you can neatly fit into a bucket that sounds appealing for how you want to play your character. Since this is a relatively crunchy RPG full of stats and character sheets, it's important to think in terms of roleplaying and possibilities not just within combat, but in the larger world as a whole. For example, even just in the first few hours my Paladin was able to persuade and diplomatic resolve multiple conversations and even violent encounters. There were several instances in which I had to leave a locked door or locked chest behind before I had a reliable rogue in my party. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition For the main campaign, it starts off pretty slow. I really enjoyed the small town harvest festival event that teaches you how to play the game and introduces a bunch of side characters, but in general the first several hours move quite slow. Once you actually reach Neverwinter and get into the thick of things more it picks up quite a bit, so don't get put off if you feel like things aren't moving very quickly at first. In many ways, the world feels very alive and reactive here. Perhaps it's my nostalgia for the era and willingness to look past shortcomings in favor of ambitious design, but something about the way this game presents itself is just so charming and appealing on a core level. Maybe it's just the strength of the source material. From what I've seen so far, the characters and writing are phenomenal. Despite playing this game nearly two decades late, I really feel like some of these companions are going to stick with me for quite a while. They feel so multi-faceted and interesting in ways that characters rarely do in modern games and I think it's a testament to the quality of Obsidian's writing with this game. They've continued that with games like Pentiment, Avowed, The Outer Worlds, and more. As a package, Neverwinter Nights 2 is dense and cumbersome. Once I had the hang of the basics I wasn't overwhelmed, but I did find some aspects of playing with a controller a bit wonky. For example, it seems like it takes more button presses than it should to navigate some of the manus. A lot of the sifting involves pressing triggers to cycle through sub-menus within a specific screen and toggling between characters within those sub-menus. It's not too different from something like Baldur's Gate 3, admittedly, and they've done a good job of making these menus feel like they were definitely designed for controller and console players. But I can't help but feel like there could have been some better ways to approach some of it. It's tough to remember which hot keys and menus have the right sub-menu you're looking for, but the onscreen tool tips fortunately do a nice job of guiding you when you get lost in the weeds of it all. Neverwinter Nights 2 utilizes a real-time-with-pause combat system, very similar to Pillars of Eternity, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, and the original Neverwinter Nights. What this means is that while you're in combat everything is happening in real-time under the hood. Dices are being rolled and stat modifiers are being applied, you just don't necessarily see the math happening on a table, you just see the outcomes. But at any time you can pause the game by pressing the touchpad on PS5, to more specifically issue commands to individual characters. This is most important for large battles and boss battles in which you want to orchestrate specific chains of actions or manage crows of smaller enemies throughout the battlefield. It doesn't take long to get the hang of things and for fans of the actual tabletop game, it can be really satisfying to position your characters, queue up abilities, and then just watch it all play out like a ballet of blood and battle. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Unsurprisingly, I found the combat in Neverwinter Nights 2 to be absolutely captivating. Each class is so varied and unique and the steady flow of quality loot and interesting areas to explore kept me highly engaged. You can roll through rounds in combat fast enough that you don't ever really run into that tedious lull found in some other similar games. What's nifty about Neverwinter Nights 2 is that there are two wildly different camera perspectives. The default, at least on console, was a more character-focused third-person camera angle. This looks and feels like something you might see in a Dragon Age game, for example, and puts you right up in the middle of the action all the time. I actually played this way most of the time since I could still zoom in and out using the d-pad. The other camera mode, which I imagine will be more intuitive and useful for PC players using a mouse, is an isometric tactical camera angle. You can select characters, click where you want them to move, and more readily access hot bars and things like that during gameplay. It just didn't feel right on a controller for me, but it's great they included this as an option. I will say that a few times my characters would get stuck on some of the environmental geometry, like branches and twigs on the ground, and the only way to move them off would be to switch to the tactical camera and click for them to move. The third-person camera wouldn't let me move at all. Other than that little quirk and a couple of conversations that either didn't show my character model at all or positioned some NPCs in front of the speaking character inexplicably, it actually didn't have any performance or stability problems. It never crashed on my PS5 Pro even once. Despite the fact that the game releases today at the same time as this review embargo, there are still lots of open questions, such as what exactly is enhanced in this Enhanced Edition and how does the mod support work for the PC version. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Revives an RPG Classic Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is an excellent game for fans of classical high-fantasy D&D. While it's absolutely a product of its time and is showing its age in a lot of ways, the folks at Aspyr did an admirable job of updating things like the UI to work well on a controller for consoles. That being said, you can ultimately still tell this is a nearly 20-year old PC RPG at its core. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is worth keeping in mind. The quality of the four campaigns varies a bit with the core storyline and Mask of the Betrayer most worthy of your time, while the other two are more traditional extra side stories worth looking at if you're still hungry for more. Baldur's Gate 3 fans will likely find plenty to love here as long as they approach it with an open-mind and willingness to unlearn or re-learn things they thought they knew from D&D 5e since Neverwinter Nights 2 is actually based on D&D 3.5e. All in all, if you love games with absolutely deep character customization and roleplaying features, tactical combat systems, vast worlds, and interesting characters to meet, then Neverwinter Nights 2 is absolutely a game for you. There's plenty of content to keep you busy for well over 100 hours—and that's before you start replaying campaigns and trying out new build options. Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Platform: PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC Developer: Aspyr (Originally Obsidian Entertainment) Publisher: Aspyr (Originally Atari) Release Date: July 15th, 2025 Price: $29.99 Score: 8/10 Disclosure: A representative on behalf of Aspyr sent me a download code for an NA digital copy of Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition on PlayStation 5 for the purposes of this review.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ahead of its remaster, GOG added one of my favorite D&D videogames to its preservation program and is also giving owners of the original a 'loyalty discount' on the enhanced edition
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. First spotted by Blue's News, GOG is showing some love to Neverwinter Nights 2 and its fans ahead of the launch of the game's enhanced edition this week. The original game has been added to GOG's preservation program, and owners of NwN2 on GOG have a 15% off "loyalty discount" on the remaster, one that stacks with the 10% off preorder discount. The preservation program is a commitment by GOG to use its own developers to keep games running (and running well) on current and future versions of Windows. NwN2 has already benefitted from its inclusion: The game received its first update on GOG since 2015, finally fixing a black screen issue that has vexed me for years. The loyalty discount is also mighty neighborly, but as much as GOG Galaxy is the only launcher other than Steam I enthusiastically use, NwN2 Enhanced Edition still has a big draw on Valve's storefront: Steam Deck. NwN2 Enhanced has been verified since before it was even officially announced, and while it's possible to get GOG games working on Deck, it's a big hassle. As for what all the fuss is about, Neverwinter Nights 2 is a phenomenal D&D and Obsidian classic I would love to see get its flowers in the post-Baldur's Gate 3 era. The Enhanced Edition will offer a bundle of four huge RPG campaigns for $30, and while NwN2's mod scene was never as big as NwN1's, there are still some lauded campaigns there to check out like The Maimed God's Saga. The Enhanced Edition releases on July 15 on Steam and GOG, and that's also when the preorder discount ends and the loyalty discount drops to 15% from 25%. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releasesBest PC games: Our all-time favoritesFree PC games: Freebie festBest FPS games: Finest gunplayBest RPGs: Grand adventuresBest co-op games: Better together
Forbes
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Neverwinter Nights 2 Is The Perfect Game For Baldur's Gate 3 Fans
Neverwinter Nights 2 Aspyr While Baldur's Gate 3 might be the current favorite jewel in the crown of Dungeons & Dragons media, it's far from the first. The franchise which began as a tabletop roleplaying game and has since morphed to include blockbuster movies, game of the year-winning video games, best-selling novels, geek culture-defining podcast series, and so much more, has a storied legacy of dozens of classic PC games. And Neverwinter Nights 2 was always one of the most elusive, until now. Developed by Aspyr, Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition releases on July 15 for PC (including Steam Deck verified), Xbox, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. Pre-orders are now live! This Enhanced Edition will include all three of the game's original expansions: Mask of the Betrayer, Storm of Zehir, and Mysteries of Westgate. The original Neverwinter Nights CRPG from BioWare shares a lot of DNA with the first two Baldur's Gate games in that it's from the same developer and is similar in overall gameplay style, but came out several years later under a different publisher. The sequel, Neverwinter Nights 2, was actually developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the folks also known for Pillars of Eternity, Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded, Avowed, The Outer Worlds, and so much more. Plus, Neverwinter Nights 2 takes place in the exact same campaign setting (the Forgotten Realms) as Baldur's Gate 3 so many locations, factions, and overall themes will be familiar. The reason this is the perfect next game for you if you love Baldur's Gate 3 actually goes even deeper than that, though. Besides the DNA and development similarities in genre and franchise, the core gameplay, camera systems, dialogue trees, and overall game feel are also very similar. However, the main difference is that while Baldur's Gate 3 utilizes a fully turn-based combat system, Neverwinter Nights 2 is actually real-time with pause like the first two Baldur's Gate games and the first Neverwinter Nights. What real-time with pause (RTwP) combat entails is similar to Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. When combat is happening all of your characters are acting in real-time, but you can then pause the game to issue commands about which abilities to use and what to target. This mixes the slow-paced strategy of a turn-based game with the immediate and intense visceral reactions of a real-time combat game. From what we've seen so far, this remaster is going to be wonderful. I've played the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights, and Icewind Dale, so if you've dabbled in any of those as well then you understand what to expect here too. Fortunately, you don't need to have played the previous game to jump right in here. Neverwinter Nights 2 Aspyr The base game hasn't aged very gracefully though and, arguably, it's been the most in need of a remaster of the whole bunch if you ask me. Upgrading performance, improving resolution, and streamlining the janky bits so it runs well on modern machines (including consoles for the first time!) is just what the cleric ordered. Fans of Baldur's Gate 3 should definitely have Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition high on their to-be-played list for 2025.
