Classically good

If someone were to ask me if I could recommend a good, classic role-playing game - which no one does, but just in case - my immediate answer would probably be "Neverwinter Nights 2". Because hardly any other game I've ever played screamed Dungeons & Dragons as directly in your face. From the classic hero's journey to the party with different characters, classes and races to the pausable combat system and the fantasy world, the work of the story veterans from Obsidian Entertainment (Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Pillars of Eternity, etc.) offers exactly what pen and paper means on the PC.

Of course, there are now much better examples, but for this review we're jumping back 14 years, so it's okay to be a bit less critical. I don't really want to say too much about the game, at the time it kept me glued to the screen for several days and enthralled me with its twisty and seemingly everlasting story. Incidentally, I didn't play the predecessor from 2002, but I found my way around the world of Neverwinter just as well.

Games from the Dungeons & Dragons-series

Neverwinter Nights (2002)

Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006)

But now to the Neverwinter Nights 2 OST. It comes from the composers Dave Fraser and Neil Goldberg and, contrary to the sprawling game, is quite manageable with its 19 tracks. However, they are of a consistently high, to very high standard. This is quite unusual, as classic role-playing games with their ambient tracks often drive the overall score towards the lower end. In this case, we have a pleasant mixture of quieter/neutral tracks alternating with fast-paced, action-packed versions. Overall, the music balances itself out and, in my opinion, manages the fine line between dark, menacing motifs that tend towards the thriller-like and orchestral, hopeful melodies that emphasize the fantasy genre.

Take Neverwinter City, for example, which characterizes the eponymous city of Neverwinter as a bright, lively and, as it were, sublime place that evokes purely acoustic associations with Stormwind from World of Warcraft or whose vocals create almost angelic white backdrops à la Minas Tirith from The Lord of the Rings in the mind's ear. This façade is then broken up again at night in tracks such as Back Alley or Ammon Jerro’s First Murder . Menacing strings and the sound of a bell, characteristic of this soundtrack, announce lurking danger, creating the image of a deserted street shrouded in fog at night. Not all that glitters is gold, and the deceptive harmony is thrown into disarray.

In addition, the soundtrack offers great action pieces that create a dense atmosphere, especially in the rather sedate battles, which are based on the pen and paper concept. In fact, the composers manage to capture the style of Jeremy Soule, who orchestrated the predecessor, very well, making tracks such as Back Alley (Combat) or Dock District (Combat) resemble Souls tracks such as Rakghoul Attack from Kotor or Daedra in Flight (Oblivion). What stands out for me, however, is the King of Shadow (Combat) track, which is almost reminiscent of hard style rather than classical music. The package is rounded off with variations of the main theme (Ilfan Ruins, Neverwinter City (Interior) and other side themes such as Village or the Githyanki theme - a clear recommendation for me. However, you can probably leave the game for current top dogs like Pillars of Eternity.