Icewind Dale

Icewind Dale arrived in 2000 as the tougher, more combat-focused cousin of the great narrative RPGs of the time. It takes place in the frozen north of Faerûn, in the region of Icewind Dale, where a group of adventurers sets out to investigate strange events around remote settlements and gradually gets caught up in a much larger conflict. The key difference from its competitors is that the player creates the entire party themselves, from race and class to portrait, so instead of ready-made companions with their own stories you get a lineup exactly to your own liking. The game is built on the rules of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, and real-time combat with pause makes up most of the playtime.

Under the hood runs the same Infinity Engine as other titles of its generation, but with noticeably richer artwork. The hand-painted backgrounds of snowy plains, ice caves, and dwarven halls are among the most beautiful that two-dimensional isometric RPGs ever offered, and thanks to the static graphics they still look good on today's monitors. Demands on period computers were modest, since the engine didn't need 3D acceleration and relied on the processor and memory. Jeremy Soule's music lends the whole thing an epic, cold edge and is one of the reasons players remember the game above all as a mood piece, carrying a sense of wintry isolation.

Reception at the time was welcoming, although reviewers noted that the story was simpler and more linear than in related games and that the focus lay on a continuous chain of battles. But that's exactly what earned the game its own audience, which appreciates tactical party planning, spell management, and gradually building a lineup from scratch. The Heart of Winter expansion further expanded the difficulty and scope. Today Icewind Dale is an ideal choice for a player who wants a classic isometric RPG without dozens of hours of dialogue, but with honest tactics and a strong atmosphere of wintry wilderness. It demands patience with the rules, but the reward is a very clean and clear gameplay loop.