There’s a lot of fervor around Dungeons & Dragons these days. Thanks to the overwhelming success that is Stranger Things, the mainstream has decided that D&D is cool. So cool in fact, there are actually paid D&D coaches that help you level your characters and play the game effectively. It’s absolutely insane, especially if you’ve been playing since D&D was not only uncool but literally culturally unacceptable! That being said, the game has been around a long time and it’s spawned a plethora of games for the PC initially, and pretty much every game system over the years. There are Dungeons & Dragons games for NES, Genesis, Playstation 2, and even the arcade! One of the most enduring titles over the years though has been Neverwinter Nights.
Neverwinter Nights was originally released on PC in 2002 by Bioware. This is long before Bioware was a household name with titles like Dragon Age and Mass Effect under its belt. After the successful release of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II, it was time for Bioware to do something new and different and so they came up with Neverwinter Nights, a Dungeons & Dragons game taken to a full three dimensional perspective. The acclaim was substantial and it became a fantastic best-seller, spawning three expansions and a sequel. Neverwinter Nights ended up as one of the most successful PC games around, and has a special place in the hearts of D&D gamers the world over.
Fast-forward to today. The resurgence of Dungeons & Dragons has led to the reissue of a fair number of D&D video games, notably Icewind Dale Trilogy & Planescape: Torment and the Baldur’s Gate duology, both of which we have recently reviewed here at Real Otaku Gamer. Now, Beamdog and Skybound have also released Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition on the Switch, it’s, well, something. Keep in mind that Neverwinter Nights is a game originally designed for a mouse and keyboard and crafted in 2002. It is 2020 now and despite having the same digits in the year, albeit in different orders, gaming has advanced somewhat. Unfortunately, Neverwinter hasn’t. This is the exact same enhanced edition of Neverwinter Nights that was originally released in 2018, and when they say “enhanced” all it really means is “runs at a modern aspect ratio”. In this day and age, Neverwinter is an absolute relic and it feels just as musty and old as it is.
Start up a game and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Once you get past the character creation phase (which is substantial in its own right) there’s a training phase that teaches you the basics. Even this is insanely clunky with a terrible camera, low polygon characters, and a busy screen with tiny text along the bottom and top edges. Nothing is simple and all the sub menus are on wheels that you use the L, R, ZL, and ZR buttons to activate. There’s no easy way to do anything, and that includes targeting enemies. More than once I ended up accidentally targeting allies and turning them against me, forcing me to reload my game or face the consequences of violating my alignment, something I shouldn’t even be able to do in a D&D game. Even in the tutorial, I managed to get stuck in a coffee table while searching a crate. After saving and reloading, the glitch was still present, leaving me helplessly stranded with my legs embedded in the décor, forcing me to reload the game from a previous save and backtrack.
Neverwinter Nights is chock full of issues like this, partly related to the conversion from a keyboard and mouse game to a controller, and partly due to the sheer age of the game. Sure, the storyline is absolutely amazing, but good luck having the patience to play through it. Pick the wrong weapon in the character phase and you’ll be unable to fight even the weakest enemies. Take too long to select your options from the multiple pop-up wheel menus? You’re dead. Accidentally press the wrong button? Out of healing potions and dead again. Neverwinter Nights is absolutely unforgiving and it doesn’t matter how long you play because it never lets up.
This is a game that should be completely remastered from the ground up for modern controls and graphics, but it hasn’t been. Sure, it’s been made to run on a Switch and you can play it portably, but you probably won’t even be able to read the text in the game because it’s so small. It’s an absolute tragedy, because anyone buying Neverwinter that isn’t buying it for nostalgia will likely get so frustrated that they won’t even experience the game itself. They’ll just lament at wasting the money and move on, even though every bit of content from the Neverwinter Nights Diamond edition is included in this comprehensive release. There’s even a spectacular soundtrack by none other than Jeremy Soule, but chances are good you won’t play long enough to hear it.
I’m not entirely clear on why Beamdog and Skybound bothered to even release Neverwinter Nights on the Switch. Baldur’s Gate was bad enough, as you may have seen from my previous review, but it was spectacular in comparison to Neverwinter Nights. I actually found myself missing Baldur’s Gate, as it was significantly more playable, even it if looked embarrassingly terrible. Neverwinter Nights plays poorly on the Switch in both docked and undocked mode, looks atrocious, and is simply not fun to play. Anyone looking for a gameplay experience to reminisce about is going to be sorely disappointed too, as chances are good they’ve forgotten just how old Neverwinter really is.
Now, don’t get me wrong here. Neverwinter Nights is a spectacular story and a great game. But it’s very, very old and it shows it’s age. If you have the patience to play a PC game that’s literally 18 years old and don’t care at all about graphics or modern control schemes, you might enjoy it. And hardcore D&D enthusiasts will find that everything is tailored to AD&D specifications, almost to a fault. It’s entirely accurate to the D&D world and it makes for a singularly focused experience. But in terms of modern gaming, Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition should stay on the shelf as the relic it is. It’s a ridiculously frustrating slog that only pays off with a significant time investment and careful attention to the storyline and for $50, it’s not worth the investment. Do yourself a favor and wait for Baldur’s Gate III, which should be both amazing and completely optimized for modern consoles, PCs, and control schemes. Very few people are likely to enjoy Neverwinter Nights Enhanced Edition for the Switch and it is a strong reminder that not everything we think back fondly on is worth playing again.
This review was based on a digital copy of Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and was insufferable on both. Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition is also available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. I personally love Dungeons & Dragons and the storylines of all the old D&D games and it hurt me inside to go back and play this one. Do yourself a favor and just go buy a DMG and Player’s Handbook and some adventure modules instead. You’ll get more out of it!