For a long time it has been customary to make expansion packs for strategy and RPG games. Baldur's Gate, Red Alert, Icewind Dale, Dark Ages of Camelot, Medal of Honour, you name it - all of them had expansions, so naturally Neverwinter Nights had to have an expansion pack too. It came out a few months ago with the title Shadows Of Undrentide. This is actually not the only expansion pack for the game as Hordes of the Underdark will also be available soon.

You are a recruit of Drogan, a dwarf adventurer, who has opened a school for training young people for the life of an adventurer. When Master Drogan is attacked, and poisoned by some malicious kobolds, you are as the most promising student of Drogan to find a cure for Drogan as well as discover the whereabouts of 4 antique artifacts that the Kobolds stole from Drogan, but this is unfortunately also the tip of the iceberg in this game that brings you to the wast climate of Hilltop - a desolate area near the Spine of the World in Faerun, and it also brings you to the desert of Anauroch. Both places are unfriendly to people, and, believe me, loaded with monsters and strange creatures!

The graphics most of all follow the same 3d graphic rendering as NWN. More of the same, but this time they have really made a beautiful, icy environment that looks very good as well as a desert with an environment that makes you think of the desert area in Diablo II. I believe I know from whom Bioware got the inspiration for the desert area.

The music in Shadows of Undrentide is better than in the regular NWN game. The battle sounds are improved. The composer of the music have captured the right mood for a desolate, icy environment at least, which of course is a good thing. Not much to say, but the sound is there, and it is tolerable :)

Well, the game has improved on several levels: The henchman is definitely more involved in the expansion, where the henchmen/henchwomen hand out advice, involve themrselves in conversations and they generally talk more. It is also possible to control your henchmans inventory, which is a great improvement, because now you have the ability to give your henchman better armor, better weapons and equip them with magical rings and amulets. In the original version it could sometimes prove to be quite difficult to keep your henchman alive, but this has now been rectified. Justly, I'd say! Why on earth this wasn't a part of NWN, is beyond my imagination. This is not the only improvement. Now it's also possible to follow tracks in the snow, and to walk into a crypt without being completely assaulted instantly. Good job Bioware.

This is an expansion for those who liked to play the original NWN scenario. If it wasn't anything you liked, don't play it. Play it if you just want more single player gaming, but in the long run it might be funnier to join the guilds online.

Shadows of Undrentide is a good, and improved version of Neverwinter Nights, which I can definitely recommend to all fans of Neverwinter Nights. You also need NWN if you want to play, of course.

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