Nearly two decades on from its original release, Neverwinter Nights 2 staggers back into the spotlight, wearing the awkward badge of “Enhanced Edition” like a moth-eaten tabard. Thanks to Aspyr, we now have this revisit to the Forgotten Realms on PS5. Spoiler: not all relics age like fine wine. Some just smell funny.
Gaming Heaven
Let’s start with the morsels of positivity. This version bundles in the base game and all three expansions, meaning if you’ve a masochistic urge to wade through dozens of hours of mid-2000s RPG design, you’re well catered for. Controller support is oddly decent, offering menus and radial wheels that mostly make sense. Multiplayer is also back, complete with crossplay, so you can gather your friends and collectively wonder why you didn’t just load up Baldur’s Gate 3 instead.
Gaming Hell
Now, about that “Enhanced.” The much-vaunted texture upgrades are so subtle you’ll need a microscope – or perhaps just an imagination. Bugs buzz around incessantly: hit sounds vanish, character selection is out of sync and the camera seems to have mistaken “pan” for “seizure.” Even tiny joys like choosing your character’s voice are tainted by mismatched samples.
Quality-of-life improvements? Practically non-existent. No toggle for highlighting objects without holding a key, no faster walking speed, no modern conveniences beyond “it works with a DualSense.” It’s an enhanced edition in the same way reheating yesterday’s soggy chips makes them “gourmet.”
Final Judgement
If you desperately crave couch CRPG or can’t live without multiplayer, this version exists. Will you be better off for it though? This “enhancement” is proof some things are best left entombed in 2006.
