Icewind Dale

Did You Know?

• Icewind Dale is based on the BioWare Infinity Engine, featuring pre-rendered backgrounds and sprite-based characters with an isometric camera perspective.
• The game was released in North America on June 29, 2000, in Australia on July 7, 2000, and in Europe on July 21, 2000 for Windows.
• A port for Mac OS and Mac OS X, developed by Contraband Entertainment and published by MacPlay, was released on March 26, 2002.

Plot

In the town of Easthaven, a party of adventurers meets Hrothgar, the town's leader, who invites them to join an expedition to investigate strange happenings in Kuldahar. On the road, frost giants ambush the group, causing an avalanche that blocks the return path; only the adventurers survive. They continue to Kuldahar and meet Arundel, the village's archdruid, who explains that a mysterious evil force is kidnapping villagers, causing abnormal weather, provoking monsters, and reducing the magical warmth from the giant tree above the village.

The adventurers search the Vale of Shadows, where they encounter a cursed barbarian spirit named Kresselack, who tells them the threat lies elsewhere. Arundel then instructs them to retrieve the Heartstone Gem, an ancient scrying item, so he can locate the evil's source. After finding the gem stolen from a temple, the party travels to the Dragon's Eye caverns, where lizard men hold missing villagers, and they discover the gem used by a Marilith named Yxunomei.

They kill Yxunomei and retrieve the gem, but return to find Kuldahar under attack by Orogs and Arundel mortally wounded by a shapeshifter disguised as the archdruid. The true Arundel advises them to take the Heartstone to Larrel at the fortress of the Severed Hand, the only one who can now use it, before dying.

Reception

Critics generally praised Icewind Dale, with aggregate scores of 86% on GameRankings and 87 out of 100 on Metacritic. Four outlets—Computer Gaming World, GameSpot, The Electric Playground, and CNET Gamecenter—put it forward as the best computer role-playing game of 2000, though Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn took the actual award from each. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin rated it 8.6 out of 10, describing it as a good fit for fans of Black Isle Studios' earlier titles, classic hack-and-slash AD&D computer games, and anyone wanting a deep, action-packed RPG.

IGN gave it 8.8 out of 10, and GameZone awarded it 9.5 out of 10. GameSpy's Allen Rausch called it an enjoyable dungeon romp that stands tall, even if it cannot match its bigger siblings. Jeremy Soule's music score earned widespread acclaim. Chris Chan of the New Straits Times ranked it among the best games he had ever played, favorably comparing it to Diablo II.

The main criticism centered on repetitive, combat-heavy gameplay with little room for interaction or investigation. Bob Low of the Daily Record pointed out technical flaws like poor pathfinding and occasional crashes. PC Zone criticized its resemblance to earlier Infinity Engine titles. In 2014, IGN placed it sixth on its list of the top 11 Dungeons & Dragons games of all time, and in 2015, Paste's Ian Williams ranked it third on his list of the ten greatest D&D videogames.

Kevin Rice of Next Generation gave it four stars out of five, calling it a huge, engrossing game with the most action in the Forgotten Realms series and a must-have for any self-respecting RPG fan. The game was nominated for the PC Role-Playing award at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, but Diablo II won.

Legacy

Interplay and Black Isle Studios moved quickly on an expansion for Icewind Dale, putting Heart of Winter into development just two weeks after the original launched, thanks to strong early sales. Producer Darren Monahan noted that the team drew heavily on what players were saying, especially about class balance, and also brought over code and features from Baldur's Gate II. Heart of Winter came out on February 21, 2001, and a smaller downloadable add-on, Trials of the Luremaster, followed in early July that same year.

While working on those, Black Isle started planning a full sequel. Icewind Dale II entered production in late July 2001, right after the studio's Torn project was canceled. Designer J. E. Sawyer explained the thinking behind the sequel was about playing it safe and improving the odds of making a hit. The game was announced in February 2002 and hit shelves on August 27, 2002.

The original Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter were bundled together in two budget releases in 2002: Icewind Dale: The Collection and Icewind Dale: Complete. That same year, they were also included alongside Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment in the Black Isle Compilation. A collector's set called Icewind Dale: The Ultimate Collection, which added the sequel and its expansion, came out in 2003. All four games were repackaged again in 2004's Black Isle Compilation – Part Two, 2006's Ultimate Dungeons & Dragons, and 2007's Atari Rollenspiele: Deluxe Edition.

On October 6, 2010, the original game and its expansions were re-released on GOG.com. In 2014, Beamdog's Overhaul Games released a remake, Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition, for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS.