Dungeon matters
Over time, Dungeons & Dragons games shifted online and sought to mimic the creative spirit at the heart of the tabletop experience
There are two branches of Bioware’s development that you can follow in the wake of Baldur’s Gate. One leads to Knights Of The Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect – the style of cinematic, story-driven blockbuster that made the studio a household name. The other ends firmly with Neverwinter Nights, the onlineRPG-slash-development-tool designed to capture the creative freedom of tabletop D&D (released as an enhanced edition for PS4 in 2019). You can consider it either an evolutionary full stop, or a starting point that has enabled countless community adventures ever since.
The making of Neverwinter Nights actually predates Baldur’s Gate. This was a five-year commitment in an era when games typically came together in less than half that time. Its long gestation can be explained in part by its technical complexity. Not only was this Bioware’s first 3D RPG, it was one that would connect players together for co-op and competitive encounters across the millennium-period
“Neverwinter Nights’ toolset was taken up by fans, who created MMORPGs, fighting arenas, and sprawling sagas.”
internet. It would launch with a fully-featured campaign comparable in scope to Baldur’s Gate that could be played solo or with friends. And every element of that campaign could be pulled apart and used as the building blocks for brand-new adventures, which could in turn be shared as tiny downloads online.
In the end, the Bioware-directed adventure starting in the titular city of Neverwinter didn’t prove the equal of the studio’s previous RPGs. But the toolset was taken up by fans, who created MMORPGs, fighting arenas, and sprawling sagas. Bioware did a marvellous job of spotlighting the best player inventions, even funding further community expansions with the backing of publisher Atari. Some of the finest Western RPGs of all time are still to be found within the walls of Neverwinter Nights.
For several years afterwards, Neverwinter Nights was Bioware’s primary recruitment tool for new developers. And over in Poland, CD Projekt Red made its first ever game on the foundations of Bioware’s engine; switch to isometric view in The Witcher’s original PC release and you can clearly see the resemblance.
FOREVER WINTER
Don’t mistake Neverwinter (released for PS4 in 2016) for a direct sequel. Made by City Of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios, it’s much closer to a traditional MMORPG, with the muddy graphics and confusing fights to match. Yet it has its perks, including a guest questline – guestline? – written by celebrated Drizzt Do’Urden novelist RA Salvatore, and a history of expansions that keep up with changing events in D&D lore. If you want to be kept abreast of local news in the Forgotten Realms, Neverwinter is the game you ought to be playing.
That said, the closest thing to a proper successor to Neverwinter Nights on PlayStation was Sword Coast Legends, released for PS4 in 2016, which replicated both Nights’ Forgotten Realms setting and its desire to empower players. In its Dungeon Master mode, one player could resize dungeons, place chests, designate quest givers, hide secret rooms, and design monster
encounters. Then, when adventurers entered their nest, the DM could steer and antagonise them in real time. Sadly, its story campaign failed to live up to the pedigree of Dragon Age: Origins game director Dan Tudge, and the multiplayer mode that once gave Sword Coast Legends its USP has shut down, its servers closed.
As it stands, no new developer has stepped up to the daunting task of representing Dungeons & Dragons in its entirety on console. Most adaptations of the tabletop game settle for nailing either the lore or the ruleset, but leave out the shared storytelling that sits at the centre of the tabletop hobby.