Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn was released in 2000 and still stands as one of the pinnacles of the classic computer RPG. The story follows on from the fate of the descendant of the god of murder, who wakes up in the torture chamber of the wizard Irenicus and then sets out into the wealthy and corrupt city of Athkatla in the land of Amn. The player leads a party of up to six characters; combat plays out in real time with the option to pause at any moment and issue orders, and the entire system is built on the rules of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Alongside the main storyline, the game offers a huge number of side quests, companions' personal stories, romances, and even the chance to build your own stronghold based on your chosen profession.

The game runs on the Infinity Engine, meaning two-dimensional, hand-painted backgrounds with an isometric view and characters rendered as sprites. The result ages remarkably well, since the backdrops of Athkatla, the underground passages, or the elven city are essentially paintings that don't depend on graphics chip performance. On the Pentium-based systems of the time with a few dozen megabytes of memory, the game ran smoothly; only the installation took up a lot of space by the standards of the day. The sound design pairs orchestral themes with an extremely extensive voice cast, which gives the companions a strong personality and noticeably contributes to players still remembering them years later.

Critics received the game exceptionally warmly, praising above all its scope, the quality of its writing, and the freedom with which one can proceed. The Throne of Bhaal expansion brought the story to its conclusion, and the whole became the yardstick by which new party-based RPGs are still judged today. Its influence can be seen across a whole range of later games that adopted the combination of pausable tactical combat with a heavily narrated campaign. Today it requires a bit of patience, since the rules of the second edition are occasionally unintuitive and the player has to learn to read the combat system, but the reward is one of the densest fantasy adventures ever released on PC. Modern re-releases also address resolution and controls, making entry considerably easier.