Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is a classic western DND style RPG that brings back the classic experience with some additional enhancements. With fantastic, more recent modern Dungeons & Dragons themed RPGs existing in modern time, most notably, the turn-based and critically acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3, the return of more and more of these games taking place in the granddaddy of roleplaying is always a very welcoming experience.
In Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition, however, with its nostalgic, wacky “Y2K” era 3D models and wacky, over-the-top high fantasy voice acting, it’s more of a time capsule, if anything, than a complete role-playing experience. How well does this redefined classic hold up in 2025? Join Niche gamers in this rewarding campaign of heroes and monsters.
Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition
Developer: Aspyr, Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher: Aspry, Atari Interactive
Platforms: Windows PC (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5
Release Date: July 15, 2025
Price: $29.99
Starting the game, you are immediately treated to the game’s strongest feature. Creating your main character is a process that can take very little time or potentially hours of your night, depending on whether you are the type of player who prefers metagame or roleplay.
Most players more experienced in the world of Dungeons and Dragons are at an advantage, as most of the feats, spells, and skills translate almost one for one in this game. Sorcerers are a very enticing choice as they have many options, in combat and out during their adventure. A clever rogue can use their cunning to deal with traps, locked doors, and chests far more easily.
The choices between doing the mentioned or something more combat-focused like a Fighter or Paladin can feel like a lot to choose from, as they all have their quirks versus more utility-based things. Some joinable companions can be recruited during the adventure that can fulfill these niches, so as not to spread the hero’s talents and skills too thin. Dwarves can handle crafting weapons, and a Tiefling as well, who can manage to open locked rooms and chests.
Combat is a very perplexing process in Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition. Playing with a controller requires some effort in understanding how all of your menus are located all over the place. In order to select a party member to look at their sheet or even select them mid-combat is very difficult when under pressure.
First, you need to open the character selection mode, then press a sub-menu to issue a command on what you would like to interact with, such as healing them, talking to them, or taking control of them. Combat itself is done in real time, but purely through automatic gameplay. In most cases, especially if you choose to take control of a melee-oriented character, most of the combat will boil down to auto-attacking.
Playing as a caster, like the mentioned sorcerer, adds much more in terms of options with their spells. Casting spells is precious, unlike in a JRPG, where you can easily replenish your mana with endless consumables. Here, it’s best to use them at their most crucial. Later on, more spell slots are more numerous as you level up, but they require 1 day of in-game rest to replenish their uses.
As combat plays out, a message log will be showing nearly every result constantly spamming the window in real time, which almost feels kinda pointless to take up space in the game’s screen, as no one is gonna be able to take that information realistically. This is especially perplexing as each attack result is broken down into its raw dice result format.
Neverwinter Nights 2 shines where any WRPG should. The storytelling and experiencing how scenarios play out as you progress through your adventure is great. You never know what kind of people you are gonna meet next. Expect sudden ambushes from monsters as you travel, people getting waylaid by ruffians, and big tavern brawls disrupting the peace.
The choices behind how these numerous tidings play out are completely in control of the player’s decisions. In one case during my adventure, I saved someone I knew, only to let them know I eliminated the competition by killing them myself. The dialogue of allowing this to pass not only had me laughing in my cockles, but also felt very satisfying to make such an unusual choice, which led to a much better reward than if I were to spare them.
In most cases, I tried not to resort to what is known as “murder-hoboing,” a strategy where killing anything to get their belongings to line your pockets. However, like most games with this western style of role-playing, it’s hard not to choose this direction.
The reward tends to be immediate and more in reach of the player, especially since there’s a trade-off to lowering the difficulty, allowing it to be even more in reach. Neverwinter Nights 2 is a game that deserves the time of any player familiar with Dungeons and Dragons.
As a player of the original game, it was fairly easy for me to catch on to many of the game’s more nuanced features, how to parse the information of one’s attacks and spells, calculate, and other things. However, going into this blind will feel very overwhelming.
The classic Y2K look in Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition was an absolute joy, even with some enhancements slapped on, but it could turn people off for the same reason.
Combat in Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition can feel a little lifeless and lacking if you pick a melee class, especially early on, but weirdly enough is very addictive to play. It could also be the funny death cries, or mere curiosity about what loot they may drop.
Despite some minor issues, the adventure itself, in its full package as Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition, is one I’d still recommend to any DnD player.
Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition on Steam was reviewed on PC using a code provided by Aspyr. Additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy is here. Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is now available for Windows PC (via STEAM), Xbox SeriesX|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
