Icewind Dale II

Did You Know?

• Beamdog was unable to produce an Enhanced Edition of Icewind Dale II because the source code was lost.
• The Red Chimera Group, a team of modders and coders from the Infinity Engine community, rebuilt the game and released an Enhanced Edition on November 4, 2023.
• The Enhanced Edition uses WeiDU, a program for developing and installing modifications for Infinity Engine games.

Plot

Icewind Dale II takes place in the Forgotten Realms setting on the continent of Faerûn, centered on the northern Icewind Dale region thirty years after the original game. The story begins in the harbor town of Targos, one of the Ten Towns, which is under siege by a goblin army directed by the Legion of the Chimera, an army of outcast races and religious factions including goblinoids, half-breeds, and followers of the winter goddess Auril. Targos hires mercenaries to defend against the attack.

The player's group arrives by ship and fends off a goblin assault at the town palisade. The mayor then orders them to launch an offensive; they kill the goblin chieftain and discover he was commanded by a woman named Sherincal. Returning to Targos, the mayor sends them to rendezvous with reinforcements from Neverwinter via an airship piloted by Oswald Fiddlebender. A storm crashes the ship, and the group finds a glacier blocking the reinforcements' path.

Investigating the glacier, they encounter Sherincal, a half-dragon guarding an Aurilite temple, and learn that the Legion of the Chimera's leaders are cambion twins Isair and Madae, residing in the Severed Hand. Inside the temple, they free a prisoner from Kuldahar who warns them of the Legion's threat. The group then creates a passage through the glacier and meets the reinforcements.

Development

By the summer of 2001, Black Isle Studios had three teams at work: one on Icewind Dale, one on a project called Torn, and a third on an unannounced title. Several people on the Torn team had been keen to make another game using the Infinity Engine. The team that would build Icewind Dale II only learned about the decision after Torn was canceled. Lead designer J. E. Sawyer remembered being told on a Wednesday afternoon that the game was happening, and that Feargus Urquhart wanted him and Steve Bokkes to have a story and area overview ready by the next afternoon.

They talked through ideas that day, Sawyer worked at home that night, and he turned in the documents the following day. After a Friday division meeting, the project was officially underway. Interplay Entertainment was leaning on Black Isle’s games to ease its financial troubles, which meant games had to come out fast. The choice to make Icewind Dale II came partly from how well the first game was received and partly from the team’s ability to produce a game quickly using the Infinity Engine.

The concept took shape during work on the original game’s expansions, and full production started in late July 2001, right after Icewind Dale: Trials of the Luremaster was finished. After six months of work, Icewind Dale II was announced on February 4, 2002.

Reception

Icewind Dale II entered the NPD Group's weekly sales chart at number six for the week of August 25–31, 2002, with an average price of $45. It climbed to fourth place the next week and dropped out of the top ten by its third week. It ranked as North America's 20th best-selling computer game in August 2002 and 14th best-selling in September. By August 2006, U.S. sales ranged from 100,000 to 270,000 copies, with the entire Icewind Dale series selling 580,000 units in the country.

Critics were mostly favorable. Game Informer praised it as one of the best PC RPGs ever, and GameSpot called it simply a great role-playing game, but PC Format found it uninspired and uninspiring. Many compared it to Neverwinter Nights: IGN noted its more varied pace and better balance, while PC Format and PC Zone argued it didn't measure up. Combat and pacing drew strong praise—G4 called the combat sublime, and GameSpot said it was expertly paced.

PC Zone criticized the outdated spell system and the constant need to rest after fights. The game's use of Third Edition D&D rules and its interface were widely applauded. Computer Gaming World highlighted character development, and GameSpot called the interface a big improvement over earlier Infinity Engine games. Game Informer deemed the interface absolutely inspired and the inventory system second to none.