Dungeons & Dragons as a Video Game: Neverwinter Nights

Neverwinter Nights is a game that was first released in 2002, as a video game based on popular tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons. Since its release it has been pretty popular among the fans, enough to get an enhanced version in 2018 and several collector editions including PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch versions. The game also has a successor named Neverwinter Nights 2 and Neverwinter.

Story

Neverwinter Nights has a campaign system just like D&D. There are different campaigns with different stories to play. The main campaign, named The Wailing Death, is about a plague that holds the city of Neverwinter captive. This campaign starts with an attack to Neverwinter Academy. During this attack some creatures escape the academy. These creatures are named Waterdhavian creatures and it is believed that they are essential to find a cure for The Wailing Death. The story follows the protagonist who tries to find these creatures.

Gameplay

The game is based on D&D tabletop games and you can see its effects on the game. The game is basically a turn-based point-and-click game. You can see the dice rolling while playing if you are paying attention. A similar system is used in the Dragon Age series, which was also published by the same company, Bioware. In that sense, it is possible to say that Neverwinter Nights inspired the Dragon Age series. The game has an isometric third-person perspective which makes the ambiance more critical. Getting a solid grasp of the gameplay is not too hard. Yet, what makes the game surprising and unpredictable is the dice roll system. During the fights, a dice is rolled for every attack. This system is also inspired by D&D and the rolls determine the success of the attack. The skills and the class of the main character are also important criteria for the attacks. The game works pretty well on gaming consoles but it can be easily understood that the game was designed for PC gameplay specifically. It can be seen that the game suffers from the same problems Dragon Age: Origins does when played on gaming consoles.

Setting

The setting of Neverwinter Nights is the Forgotten Settings of the D&D. The graphics are pretty good for a game that is more than 20 years old. Isometric third-person point of view enhances the atmosphere of the game since it allows the player to see the whole room at the same time. The game might be old but the graphics are not ugly to look at and the game is still pretty fun to play. It is a cheap option that provides entertainment for about 50 hours.