Neverwinter Nights, set in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) universe, was released more than two decades ago, but now it has a new official add-on!

It’s rare to see a game of this age get official content, but Neverwinter Nights has managed to do just that, thanks to its undying community. The level of support and fan-made content is on par with DOOM or Thief. With the blessing of Wizards of the Coast, fantasy author, RPG developer, and Neverwinter Nights fan Luke Scull has released Doom of Icewind Dale, the first part of the Neverwinter Nights sequel, as an official $10 expansion.

Doom of Icewind Dale takes place several years after the events of the original story. It promises approximately ten, fifteen hour, medium to high level, third edition D&D quests set in the infamous Icewind Dale, the icy wasteland of the Forgotten Realms. New monsters, portraits, music, and a narrated introductory sequence are also included. BioWare’s game is a strange RPG that has a bit of an identity problem, but it has an absolutely old-fashioned RPG style. Anno’s original campaign was called a bit weak by the press (also in our country) after Baldur’s Gate 2. You couldn’t even control the whole team, and the tactical six-man control was reduced to three (our protagonist and two comrades controlled by artificial intelligence).

But it offered an extremely ambitious hybrid multiplayer experience that foreshadowed Larian’s revolutionary, seamless RPG co-op. All of Neverwinter Nights’ campaigns (including user-created ones!) could be played cooperatively, and Neverwinter Nights also features “persistent worlds,” which are essentially mini-MMOs run by the player. Some of these are still running today. Scull, an author and developer at Ossian Studios, is currently working on Pathfinder: The Dragon’s Demand, but he also began modding Neverwinter Nights and has created a trilogy (Siege of Shadowdale, Crimson Tides of Tethyr, and Tyrants of the Moonsea). At Ossian, Scull was also the lead developer on Obsidian’s final official expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2, Mysteries of Westgate.

Originally planned as another free mod campaign for NwN, Scull has turned to Patreon and Wizards of the Coast to expand the scope of Doom of Icewind Dale, which is planned to be the first of a multi-part, globe-trotting campaign called The Blades of Netheril. Doom of Icewind Dale is available on Steam and GOG!

Source: PCGamer, Patreon, Steam, GOG