Review: Icewind Dale II
This is a review I’ve been looking forward to for some time. If you read this site often, then you know that I’ve been a huge fan of the Infinity Engine D&D games. Well, the game I’m going to talk about today, Icewind Dale II was the final game created using that legendary game engine.
Before I jump in to my full Icewind Dale II review, I want to mention that playing Icewind Dale II in 2024 was no easy task. Unlike other Infinity Engine games, there is no modern Enhanced Edition for this title. The reason for this is simple. When Beamdog (the company responsible for the other Enhanced Edition titles) was putting the finishing touches on the first Icewind Dale Enhanced Edition, they realized that the source code to the second Icewind Dale title was missing from their repository. After scouring various archives and contacting the original development team, it was determined that the original code had been lost. Without access to this low level source code, it would be impossible to give Icewind Dale II the same treatment that was given to previous games in the series. While there’s no major issues to running Icewind Dale II on modern hardware per se, the game wasn’t developed for widescreen resolutions. This means that graphically, the game isn’t very appealing on today’s PCs.
Even though there is no official Enhanced Edition, it is worth pointing out that a number of unofficial mods are available for Icewind Dale II that largely correct most of these issues. If you want to experience the game as it was originally designed, but with support for widescreen resolutions, a quick Google search should provide you with what you’re looking for. But, if you want something closer to the “Enhanced Edition” experience that you get with Beamdog’s other EE titles, then I would like to direct you to the following page: Unofficial Icewind Dale II Enhanced Edition. The project detailed on this page is a fanmade update to the original game using a number of various mods. It contains widescreen support, a number of QoL enhancements, plus some mechanics tweaks and balancing adjustments. It’s important to note that this fan-patch does make some pretty fundamental changes to certain aspects of the gameplay. But honestly, if you’ve never played the game before, you probably would never notice the difference. And even if you have, the majority of fans agree the changes make the game better. It’s important to note, that I personally encountered a number of issues with this unofficial Enhanced Edition. Namely problems with black screens and issues with my screen blinking when quitting the game. However, I attribute these problems to the unusually high refresh rate on my main monitor mixed with the fact that I use Adaptive Free Sync. I’ve researched these issues and to date, I seem to be the only person reporting this problem so the chances of it affecting you are low. But, even with the weird issues I encountered, I feel that in 2024, this fan-made Enhanced Edition is the way to go if you want to play Icewind Dale II.
The story of Icewind Dale II takes place about thirty years after the events of the original game. The story is largely unrelated to the first title, so unlike the Baldur’s Gate games, there’s no option to import your previous party into this sequel. In this game, the player controls a party of adventurers who were hired to help defend the town of Targos, a seaside city in the Icewind Dale region. When the game begins, the city is under attack by a band of goblins. Once the goblin raid is defeated, the party is tasked with finding the source of the goblins and eliminating any future threat to the town. As the party begins their investigation, they uncover a plot much more insidious than originally thought. The adventure will take them from various areas in Icewind Dale to the depths of the Underdark and even all the way to the outer planes.
Icewind Dale II is very much like the other Infinity Engine games that came before. If you’ve played the original Icewind Dale, then you know exactly what to expect here. All of the basic gameplay elements remain largely unchanged. The game is still presented in a top-down isometric style with a tool bar at the bottom of the screen. The biggest visual differences are a slightly revamped UI design. Like Icewind Dale, this game requires you to either create an entire party of characters or choose from a list of pre-generated parties. So far, it sounds very much like a carbon copy of the first title in terms of gameplay. But the big difference between this game and the original Icewind Dale is the underlying gameplay rules. Whereas other Infinity Engine games were built using D&D 2E as the ruleset. Icewind Dale II was designed using 3E mechanics. Honestly speaking, most players are unlikely notice much of a difference. But, if you’re the type who pays really close attention to the text scrolling across the bottom of the screen, you may notice a difference in the way certain skill checks and combat damage is calculated.
Like the previous game, Icewind Dale II does support online multiplayer. However, be warned. The online experience here is nothing like the previous Enhanced Edition Infinity Engine games. Unless you have a group of likeminded friends who also want to play Icewind Dale II, you’re likely going to have a pretty difficult time finding other players. And even if you do, the online multiplayer in this game seems to be inherently buggy. Frequent disconnects and crashes seem to be a lot more common in this game when playing in multiplayer mode. I’m unsure why. But these issues are frequent enough that I find it hard to recommend online play for this title.
It’s difficult to discuss Icewind Dale II without comparing to it Neverwinter Nights. Despite using a completely new and much more modern engine, Neverwinter Nights managed to beat Icewind Dale II to release by a few months. Even though the gameplay is somewhat similar between these two titles, it’s very obvious that Neverwinter Nights is the technically superior product. This left fans of the the genre in a weird place. Icewind Dale II certainly feels more familiar in the way it looks and players. But on the other side of the coin, it was very dated looking even when it was brand new.
At the end of the day, I feel like the majority of CRPG gamers ended up giving more love and attention to Neverwinter Nights than they did to Icewind Dale II. Considering how modular and community-friendly Neverwinter Nights was, this is really no surprise. Still, there’s a certain charm to Icewind Dale II that cannot be denied. Being able to control a full party of characters and using those characters to test the limits of the D&D rules in a computer game is quite a draw. Out of all of the Infinity Engine games, Icewind Dale II does seem to provide the most polished single-player experience but this time around it does seem a little more focused on combat than previous games.
I found the pacing of the game to be well done. But as I mentioned above, it felt like there was considerably more combat in this game than in the first Icewind Dale. Options to resolve encounters in a more peaceful or creative way definitely felt much more limited this time around. Plus, the storyline seemed a tad more shallow in this chapter than in the previous Infinity Engine games. But, even with these observations, the game was still a joy to play through and complete.
It’s truly a shame that we will likely never see a true Icewind Dale II Enhanced Edition. This game was already the black sheep of the Infinity Engine collection and now, without a true modern version of it, it is destined to end up as more of a footnote to the series than the epic conclusion that it deserved to be. The majority of gamers are likely to pass the game by for this reason. However, if you are an old school CRPG fan or a D&D fanatic. You still owe it yourself to give this game a try. The unofficial EE mod certainly makes this game playable on modern machines.
Despite Neverwinter Nights being a game of the same type, but with a more modern presentation. There’s a still a certain charm in these old 2D isometric games that can’t really be replicated. For this reason, I found my time with Icewind Dale II to be well spent.
Version Reviewed: PC
Difficulty: Variable– Icewind Dale II features a number of difficulty settings so players can customize their experience. The options are as follows: Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane. These settings can be specified in the game’s separate config program and further tweaked from inside the game itself. Like the original Icewind Dale, there’s also an optional Heart of Fury mode. This difficulty setting will give you the most unforgiving and brutal experience you can imagine. I spent a little time tinkering with the various settings and I can tell you that all of them seem to be named pretty accurately. Personally, I found the Normal setting to be my go-to for a first time playthrough.
Multiplayer: Online Co-op – Even though the multiplayer technically still works today, the online community for this game is nil. On top of that, the multiplayer code seems to be riddled with bugs.
Story: Despite being a bit more combat focused than similar games, the storyline is very well done. Aside from the main story, there’s plenty of sidequests and optional content to explore. Many bits of lore and backstory are uncovered by talking to NPCs. The more you’re willing to put into these NPC conversations, the more you’re going to get out of them.
Originality: It’s a shame to admit it. But Icewind Dale II doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. You can feel the love and dedication put into this game by the development team. But there’s nothing really groundbreaking that they deliver.
Soundtrack: As is usually the case with these games, the music is somewhat subtle and more for mood than anything else. Still, the compositions are appropriate and pleasant. There’s not really anything about the soundtrack that stands out, however. The voice acting in the game is very well done and doesn’t seem as repetitive as it did in older games.
Fun: If you’re a hardcore fan of CRPGs and/or Dungeons & Dragons, there’s lots of fun to found here. However, it must admit that this game isn’t exactly the best example of what was possible with this type of title. Forget the Enhanced Editions for a moment. I can’t help but feel that the original Icewind Dale just felt a little more unique and exciting than this chapter.
Graphics: Overall this game looks pretty good for the underlying engine. However, even at the time of its release, the 2D graphics were dated and not as detailed as other games of the period.
Playcontrol: As was the case with the first Icewind Dale, the playcontrol is pretty precise and accurate. The AI is responsive but it doesn’t seem quite as reliable as it did in Icewind Dale. From the very beginning, I found that a few of my party members wanted to take the long way around an obstacle or sometimes just seemed to refuse to follow my initial command. So puzzled was I by this behavior, that I tried the unmodded vanilla version of the game to see if perhaps this was some sort of glitch with the fan-patch. But, it was present still even in the untouched original.
Downloadable Content: When the game was originally released an optional “Adventure Pack” was available to those who preordered the game. This pack contained a number of items that were available via an in-game merchant. However, the final official patch added this content to base game. No other official DLC was ever made available.
Mature Content: Fantasy Violence, Mature Themes
Value: This game is currently available on GoG for $10. Even with all its faults, this is a more than fair price.
Overall score (1-100): 75 – Icewind Dale II is certainly not the best example of Obsidian’s old D&D games. That being said, there are worst ways to spend your time. If you are a hardcore D&D fan, this game is very much worth a look. However, just go in knowing that it’s not going to be quite as polished some of the other games in the series. It’s really a crime that we are likely to never see an official update to this game. I feel like a modern Enhanced Edition would likely correct many of the shortcomings that Icewind Dale II contains.
Original System: PC
Available today on: PC – (Updated as of Fall 2024)
Best Experience: PC – (Updated as of Fall 2024)
Other Reviews In This Series:
Baldur’s Gate – Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear – Baldur’s Gate II – Baldur’s Gate III
Icewind Dale – Icewind Dale II
Neverwinter Nights – Neverwinter Nights 2
