Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition Review - Some Things Never Change
In recent years, we’ve seen the best and worst of Aspyr Media. At one point, the sky seemed the limit when the team revealed that they were working on the now-in-limbo Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic remake, then the game hit the skids, and they both no longer work on the game, and have returned to remaster jobs for other teams. Even within that realm, there have been some major successes, such as the Tomb Raider I-VI remasters, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered, and a range of great classic Star Wars remasters, but on the other hand there are also some not-so-great efforts, also coincidentally involving Star Wars. Now they’ve turned their eyes to a much loved PC title, Neverwinter Nights 2.
As is fairly well documented in the lore of Player 2, I’ve never been much of a PC gamer, though there are a small number of exceptions to the rule, games that stealthed their way into my home, and my heart. Dungeon Keeper, Age Of Empires, Guild Wars, and Neverwinter Nights were among the very small number of games that consumed a lot of mental real-estate during a time where I childishly refused to play nice with the PC gaming ecosystem. So colour me impressed when Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition came to PC and consoles in 2017 courtesy of Beamdog. Replaying the game was like curling up in a warm blanket, re-experiencing a childhood classic, and once it was revealed that Aspyr would be releasing Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition, my hopes were high that the great form would be continued. There were several elements present in the original version that didn’t hold up well in 2025, and Aspyr has addressed some of these, made the game more accessible for the modern audience, and let some other aspects through the cracks at the same time, making Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition a great, but not top-shelf remaster.
2006’s Neverwinter Nights 2, was an Obsidian Entertainment gem that, as was the pattern of the time, was a follow-up to a Bioware title, the original Neverwinter Nights. Despite there being a 2 in the title, players can jump straight into Neverwinter Nights 2 without fear of missing context from the original game; the stories of the two games are completely divorced from one another. Set in the city of Neverwinter, in the region of Faerûn, and across the game’s three-act narrative structure, we see your player character survive an attack on your village of West Harbor. Following the attack, you’re sent a mysterious silver shard in a neighbouring cave, before setting out for Neverwinter. What you soon learn is that the silver shard, and many more like it, connect to a much larger threat than any village attackers; the threat of the ‘King Of Shadows’ looms over the land, and you’ll soon be part of a campaign to end the threat posed.
As with its predecessor, Neverwinter Nights 2 is played from a third-person, top-down perspective, and the world is explored and conquered by the player according to the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition ruleset, paired with typical CRPG systems. I’m no D&D fan, so this element sails straight over my head, but as a video game experience, it all feels very playable and intuitive. Neverwinter Nights 2 originally supported multiplayer, but over the years, any official methods to play the game online have gradually ceased to exist, until now. Aspyr has gotten online going again, and with the game now expanding to consoles as well as PC, the pool of players will be considerably larger than before. Speaking of consoles, the conversion from a PC-only experience to one that can be played on consoles, has been successful. Playing the game on PS5 was a great exercise, and it felt like Neverwinter Nights 2 had always been designed for the controller.
It isn’t all smooth sailing however. Neverwinter Nights 2’s original release featured a number of glitches and bugs, and if Aspyr’s goal was to replicate the experience, warts and all, then they succeeded, because bugs and glitches are features of the Enhanced Edition as well. Typical remasters also benefit from some quality of life improvements to make the game a bit more intuitive for the modern player, or to improve weak elements of the original release, and in this respect, Aspyr has done surprisingly little to improve the game in these regards. Yes, the game now runs at a higher resolution, and yes, the framerate is smooth, but the improvements are quite minor. We all have those rose-tinted lenses moments where believe that a remaster was how a game looked back in the good old days, and in the case of Neverwinter Nights 2, that is sadly true here, and not for ideal reasons.
Neverwinter Nights 2 is the game you loved from nearly 20 years ago, almost as you remember it, with multiplayer restored, and bugs for good measure. As a remaster, it’s a pretty by-the-numbers effort, but it gets the job done. Ultimately, you can now play the game in multiplayer, and console gamers can get in on the act, job done. If you don’t have too high of an expectation then you won’t be disappointed, and you can kick back enjoy an otherwise excellent CRPG experience.
Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition was reviewed on PS5 with a code kindly provided by Aspyr Media.
