Neverwinter Nights 2 – the 2006 RPG from Obsidian based on D&D 3.5 – is getting an Enhanced Edition, and it’s out next month. ‘Enhanced’ in this case means nicer textures, camera improvements, Steam Deck and controller compatibility, and Steam Workshop mod integration. It’s out next month, July 15th.
It also includes three story expansions. If that’s simply not enough Neverwinter Nights for you, there’s a bundle on Steam currently where you can buy both this and the original NN – also in Enhanced Edition form – for 10% off. This would require pre-ordering, however. It’s like I always say: if someone has to bribe you into doing something, it’s surely a brilliant idea. Here’s Steam on the matter of the affairs of the particulars of the videogame at hand:
Return to the city of Neverwinter in Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. A dark force sweeps over Faerûn, ravaging everything in its path as though searching for something – something that you now find in your possession. As the Shard-Bearer, only you can stop the King of Shadows and his army from desecrating the land you call home. Will you save Faerûn, or fall victim to the temptation of absolute power? When your actions dictate the fate of the Realms, there are no small choices.
I bet there are some small choices, really. That’s just good writing. How do you make the big choices seem big otherwise? Please, consider your hyperbole for one second, advertising blurb.
The previous Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition was handled by Beamdog. They’ve since been gobbled up by Aspyr, themselves a gobbling appendage of chief gobblers Embracer, and it’s Aspyr on both enhancing and publishing duties this time around. Being long in the tooth by now, the Neverwinter Nights games have built up a decent modding community over the years, and the minimal amount of research I’ve done suggests that mods for the original NN worked fine with the 2018 EE. Assuming that’s the case for this new one, it means you’ll be able do things like play the entire Baldur’s Gate 1 campaign inside of it.
Here’s John’s (RPS in peace) diary series A Bastard In Neverwinter if you’re curious to learn how Neverwinter Nights 2 reacts to proto-Dark Urge shenanigans, and also just find the word ‘bastard’ inherently funny enough to force at least once into most articles you write, like some sort of marauding crambastard.