Year: 2002
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Jeremy Soule
Number of tracks: 66

★★★★★

Surprisingly unsurprising

Four and a half years ago, I wrote my 22nd of a total of 334 reviews on this site - including add-ons - with Neverwinter Nights 2. A lot has happened since then. Back then, I noted that if I were asked to recommend a good, classic role-playing game, I would probably suggest Neverwinter Nights 2. Good game, no doubt - but nowadays the choice would probably be Baldur’s Gate 3, the genre's prime example of fun pen & paper on PC, released in 2023.

Nevertheless, my fingers are tingling a little to take another look at the Neverwinter- series; after all, I started role-playing a good three years ago with The Dark Eye, moved on to Cthulhu, Star Wars and finally ended up with Dungeons & Dragons. And last but not least, Baldur’s Gate 3, mentioned above, has deepened my knowledge. Unlike back then, I now understand the concept of spell slots, short and long rests and rituals. Because when I was playing Neverwinter Nights 2 at the time, hearing about saving throws and the lack of a mana bar was ultimately confusing for me - you never stop learning.

Neverwinter Nights (2002)

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide (2003)

Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark (2003)

Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006)

Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (2007)

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (2008)

Another thing that surprised me when I was writing the review at the time was that the score was composed by Dave Fraser and Neil Goldberg. Years earlier, I had probably made a mistake when curating the OST and was firmly convinced that the music was composed by Jeremy Soule. In fact, he was only responsible for the predecessor Neverwinter Nights and its second add-on, Hordes of the Underdark.

But before we get into that, let's start with the basics: The album is currently available to purchase as part of the 2018 Enhanced Edition and contains a total of 86 tracks, including those from the two add-ons Shadows of Undrentide and the aforementioned Hordes of the Underdark. To keep things tidy, I've split up the albums, which is why the main game only contains 66 tracks, including the three bonus themes "Kingmaker", "Shadow Guard" and "Witch's Wake". But now to the composer.

Most people will probably celebrate Soule for his outstanding creations in the Elder Scrollsseries, others will rub against the accusations of sexual assault against him. You can read my take on this in the About Cancel Culture . As someone familiar with Soule's previous work for the first Harry Potter-games and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic , I recognize much of what I've heard in those games in this form album.

For example, "Prison Fight" follows a similar instrumentalization to "Battle at Davik's Estate" from Kotor, which in turn sounds a little like "Draco" from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . Or "Snake Cult Estate", which drifts towards a mixture of "Stealth Search" and "The Jedi Academy". "Aerin Gend" or "Source Stone Battle" then thankfully break out of the rut a little and are more reminiscent of the later Morrowind.

Regardless of this, the score moves through a range of different emotions, sometimes thoughtful as in "Charwood", then peaceful again ("Temple of Tyr", "Castle Never"), heroic ("Siege of Fort Ilkard") and action-packed ("Solomon's Ambush"). However, there is no leitmotif. There is also hardly any experimentation. Nevertheless, because of its uniformity, the score has an undeniable stringency, which on the one hand makes it seem pleasantly cohesive, but on the other hand leaves us shrugging our shoulders due to the lack of acoustic highlights.

Even little nuggets like the playful "Cutlass Inn", whose guitar brings a bit of variety to the ever-changing thundering of the score, can't change that. In fact, I only give it top marks once, and that's for "Klauth's Demise". This comes across as a rather generic classic battle track, but the in-your-face pathos works.

To sum up: Even though Soule's work began in the late 90s and the score for Neverwinter Nights is the 32nd entry in his impressive videography, the music here still feels a little too formulaic. Every artist has his or her own style, of course, but the elements such as distant drums that build suspense with dark winds and strings are something I've heard better before - whether because of more moving melodies or nostalgic romanticization, I can't say. To me, hardly anything about Neverwinter Nights stands out from the crowd.

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	Startup Screen	Jeremy Soule	3
02	Prelude [Intro Movie]	Jeremy Soule	4
03	Neverwinter Nights	Jeremy Soule	3
04	City of Neverwinter	Jeremy Soule	3
05	Aribeth de Tylmarande	Jeremy Soule	3
06	Academy Attacked [Movie 1]	Jeremy Soule	3
07	The City Core	Jeremy Soule	4
08	Peninsula District	Jeremy Soule	3
09	Prison Fight	Jeremy Soule	4
10	Lair of the Devourer	Jeremy Soule	3
11	Beggar's Nest	Jeremy Soule	3
12	Snake Cult Estate	Jeremy Soule	3
13	The Great Graveyard	Jeremy Soule	3
14	Warrens of the Damned	Jeremy Soule	3
15	Street Encounter	Jeremy Soule	3
16	Shining Serpent Tavern	Jeremy Soule	4
17	No Man's Land	Jeremy Soule	4
18	Blacklake District	Jeremy Soule	4
19	Rich House	Jeremy Soule	3
20	Never's Tomb	Jeremy Soule	4
21	Silver Sails Company	Jeremy Soule	4
22	Seedy Tavern	Jeremy Soule	4
23	City Market	Jeremy Soule	3
24	The Store	Jeremy Soule	3
25	Temple of Tyr	Jeremy Soule	3
26	Resurrection	Jeremy Soule	3
27	Castle Never	Jeremy Soule	4
28	False Helm's Hold	Jeremy Soule	3
29	Northern Expedition [Movie 2]	Jeremy Soule	2
30	Aarin Gend	Jeremy Soule	4
31	Charwood	Jeremy Soule	3
32	Castle Jhareg	Jeremy Soule	3
33	Port Llast Mines	Jeremy Soule	2
34	Creator Ruins	Jeremy Soule	1
35	Farmlands	Jeremy Soule	2
36	Druid Challenge Circle	Jeremy Soule	3
37	Neverwinter Wood	Jeremy Soule	3
38	Heart of the Forest	Jeremy Soule	3
39	North Road	Jeremy Soule	3
40	Solomon's Ambush	Jeremy Soule	4
41	Luskan Docks	Jeremy Soule	3
42	High Captains' War	Jeremy Soule	3
43	Cutlass Inn	Jeremy Soule	4
44	Wink and Tickle Bordello	Jeremy Soule	4
45	Sewers Beneath Luskan	Jeremy Soule	3
46	Ruins of Illusk	Jeremy Soule	2
47	Morag's Appearance	Jeremy Soule	2
48	Dark Aribeth	Jeremy Soule	2
49	Enemy Revealed [Movie 3]	Jeremy Soule	2
50	Beorunna's Well	Jeremy Soule	3
51	Homesteads	Jeremy Soule	3
52	Siege of Fort Ilkard	Jeremy Soule	4
53	Elk Tribe Keep	Jeremy Soule	3
54	Klauth's Demise	Jeremy Soule	5
55	Neverwinter Besieged	Jeremy Soule	3
56	War Zone	Jeremy Soule	4
57	Wizard's Chantry	Jeremy Soule	1
58	Battle Aribeth	Jeremy Soule	3
59	Maugrim Korothir	Jeremy Soule	2
60	Lizardfolk Sanctuary	Jeremy Soule	4
61	Source Stone Battle	Jeremy Soule	4
62	Neverwinter Saved [Movie 4]	Jeremy Soule	4
63	Coda	Jeremy Soule	2
64	Kingmaker Theme [Bonus]	Jeremy Soule	3
65	Shadow Guard Theme [Bonus]	Jeremy Soule	4
66	Witch's Wake Theme [Bonus]	Jeremy Soule	4

Year: 2003
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham
Number of tracks: 5

★★★★★

Shadows of Undrentide

The expansion pack adds a new campaign and new features including new character classes, creatures, feats, and spells, and other nuances such as allowing the player to access and modify their henchman's inventory.

Wikipedia

The synopsis for the first Neverwinter Nights addon Shadows of Undrentide , reads so wonderfully archaic that it makes me think back wistfully to a time when games were self-contained and expanded with expansions. Nowadays you only get the full game at some point through season passes and subscription models *cries in Millenial*.

I don't feel like crying with the five-track OST, as the score for the main game already wasn't much of a revelation. Nevertheless, it is somehow noteworthy that one of the two Amarasingham brothers (Arx Fatalis) composed the score instead of Jeremy Soule. One of the two? As is so often the case, sources disagree: the internet claims it was Kemal Amarisingham, the file tags speak of Simon - solomonically I give them both credit.

The tracks are spectacularly unspectacular in themselves and only worth mentioning because they sound different from what Soule presents to us. On the one hand more lively, on the other more oldschool, the album seems like an unintentional throwback to the days of the dungeon crawlers. Is it worse than the main game? A little, because it is completely different and seems alien. But that's a matter of taste.

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	The Silver Marches	Simon Amarasingham; Kemal Amarasingham	3
02	Tracking the Kobold Raiders	Simon Amarasingham; Kemal Amarasingham	3
03	Journey Through Anauroch	Simon Amarasingham; Kemal Amarasingham	3
04	Gypsy Caravan Ambushed	Simon Amarasingham; Kemal Amarasingham	3
05	Night on the Desert	Simon Amarasingham; Kemal Amarasingham	3

Year: 2003
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): 15
Number of tracks: Jeremy Soule

★★★★★

Hordes of the Underdark

As if Soule had heard my criticism of the main game's OST, in the second and final add-on The Hordes of the Underrealm he no longer relies on a mixture of gloomy action pieces and quieter tracks that drown in the dull monotony, but reverses the ratio. At this point I would like to quote a review from the Steam product page of the soundtrack:

This is easily amongst Jeremy Soule's best work, right up there with Oblivion and Skyrim's soundtracks. The man was tasked with creating a soundtrack to accompany what is essentially a fantasy game toolbox. He could've easily phoned it in to mimic the open-ended descriptor that is Neverwinter Nights as a whole, but he did anything but. Soule is truly an expert at ambient tracks that set the scene and create an understated life in what are essentially digital geometric corridors.

The battle and dungeon tracks, on the other hand, are not really his strong suit here.. but then, that's probably not why you'd pick this up.

Groover about Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition Official Soundtrack

Although the user is referring to the entire Enhanced Edition album, in this case it underlines my point quite aptly. Hordes of the Underdark starts strongly and - at least at the beginning - focuses much more on set pieces that have their own identity. Where it is difficult to recognize notable melodies in the main game, almost every piece feels unique in the addon.

I particularly like that Soule largely breaks away from comparability with the previously named Knights of the Old Republic and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . Admittedly, "Queen of the Shattered Mirror" sounds very much like "The Sith" motif, but "Waterdeep, City of Splendors" is a touching and magical piece that is somewhat reminiscent of Jesper Kyd's later work for Assassin’s Creed II . Or "Zorvak'mur", in which the Supreme Commander ideas shine through. "Lith My'athar", on the other hand, has the adventurous charm of Guild Wars 2, which is why the track is right at the top of my list. Overall, the composer has achieved a renaissance with the OST, which adds the right nuances to the comparatively interchangeable score of the main game.

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	Startup Screen	Jeremy Soule	4
02	Hordes of the Underdark	Jeremy Soule	4
03	Queen of the Shattered Mirror	Jeremy Soule	4
04	Waterdeep, City of Splendors	Jeremy Soule	5
05	Fight in the "Yawning Portal"	Jeremy Soule	4
06	Tunnels of the Undermountain	Jeremy Soule	3
07	Liberating Halaster	Jeremy Soule	4
08	Lith My'athar	Jeremy Soule	5
09	Zorvak'mur	Jeremy Soule	4
10	Dracolich Vix'thra	Jeremy Soule	4
11	Confrontation with the Underdark Army	Jeremy Soule	4
12	Valsharess Double-Crossed	Jeremy Soule	4
13	Frozen Wastes of Cania	Jeremy Soule	3
14	Slashing Through Hell	Jeremy Soule	4
15	Showdown with Mephistopheles	Jeremy Soule	4