Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide

"A Decent, But Disappointing Expansion Pack"

For starters, I am no D&D fanatic or know all or anything really about the D&D games and rules. All I know is that I've played Neverwinter Nights and I enjoyed it thoroughly. In fact, I had the most fun with NWN when I played it online with my friends. Needless to say I was looking forward to the first expansion pack - Shadows of Undrendtide. As the tagline states, SoU is a decent expansion pack, but overall it is quite disappointing. It does add a lot of little things to the NWN experience, but unfortunately that's all there is - just a lot of little things that don't really merit SoU as a good expansion pack in the end.

Story: 8/10

The story of SoU is actually pretty good, but it doesn't take place after the first NWN campaigns. Instead, it is a totally separate story that takes place during the exact same time period that the first NWN takes place, only in a different area. Your character is a graduating whatever (it depends which class you choose) and out of nowhere your wizard mentor is attacked by creatures and is poisoned. This is where the story begins, and it travels through 2 chapters and an Interlude. While the story of SoU is enough to keep overall interest in the campaigns, it just somehow doesn't feel quite as epic as the first NWN campaign. There are a lot of add-ons that make the campaigns pretty cool though, like new in game cutscenes, and the final battle in the game I thought was awesome as hell.

However, the campaigns aren't really what make an expansion pack an expansion pack. What does this game really add?

Gameplay: 7/10

It plays the same way as NWN does, same interface and what not, which is great, but the gameplay gets docked points due to it's expansion add ons. The game is also pretty easy, and only lasts 20 hours - half of what the original NWN lasted, which was 40+ hours.

Expansion Pack Add-Ons: 5/10

What's new?:

-5 new prestige classes
-new tilesets for those with mod capabilities
-a whole bunch of new spells (around 50)
-a whole bunch of new feats (around 40 I think)
-some new voice packs
-a few new portraits
-new monsters
-new animal companions and familiars
-new henchman inventory accessibility

-and of course plenty of new items, weapons, and armor as well

By far the best feature here is the new prestige classes, such as Archane Archer, Blackguard, Shadow Dancer, Assassin, and Harper Scout. Personally, I think the only ones worthwhile are the Arcane Archer and Blackguard though. The new tilesets are nice, but mainly if you're the type who likes to create your own mods and toolsets for the game, and the new spells and feats are pretty cool too. However, nothing really stuck out to me. The new voices and portraits were decent, but it could have had a lot more. And where is the new character creation stuff? No new heads, or body types, or options, etc? New monsters are nice, but nothing to get too excited about. The new ability to check your henchmans inventory is a nice touch. You can now equip your henchman with various weapons and armor and even have them carry a few things that you want to lug around.

But overall, the best add ons for SoU is the new prestige classes as well as the cool new spells and feats. However, even in a sense those elements seem to be quite lacking, but I can't quite put my finger on it. There's just something about SoU's new stuff that merely seems mediocre at heart.

Sound/Audio: 9/10

The voice overs are pretty good, but once again, just like in the first NWN, the game has a ton of text to read. Normally I don't mind this too much, but more often than not I found myself clicking through dialogue that wasn't really necessary. The music is very good, but sometimes it gets way too loud and way too dramatic during the simplest little fights. Not a big deal really, but it's noticeable and can get annoying when it gets awkwardly loud.

Graphics: 9/10

It's the same as NWN. Nothing new, but nothing bad at all. SoU has good graphics.

Replay Value: varies

If you like to mod stuff or like to play on other peoples mods, then there's a ton of stuff to do, just like in the first NWN. Also trying out and playing as the new different prestige classes might have you coming back for another round or two in the campaigns, or online. Personally, I felt like I had gotten the most out of SoU after my first play through of the campaign with my friend online.

Final Thoughts:

I really wanted to enjoy this expansion pack, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed. If you are hardcore about D&D and the first NWN, then SoU is a sure buy. But if you're a casual fan like myself, you might find SoU to be quite lacking as an expansion pack to an otherwise awesome game with a lot of possibilities. They didn't add enough to make this expansion pack unique and worthwhile. Although I did enjoy playing it with a friend online on my first playthrough, I still couldn't help but feel let down. There just wasn't enough to this game.

If you liked NWN a lot, SoU is worth your while. If you're a casual fan of the first game and want to give this a try out, wait for the price to drop. Hopefully the second expansion pack, Hordes of the Underdark, will be a much more worthwhile expansion pack to invest in and enjoy.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/08/03