$20 Game of the Week: Neverwinter Nights 2 Platinum Edition (PC)

Before Dragon Age, before Elder Scrolls, before Final Fantasy, before Zelda even, Dungeons and Dragons laid out the blueprint for fantasy RPG action. Everything from customizable characters, complex moral alignments, to skill development came from the pen and paper classic. Naturally, there have been many computer adaptations of the popular series, from Cloudy Moutain back on the Intellivision to Capcom’s arcade beat-em-ups. Neverwinter Nights 2, developed by Bioware and Obsidian, is one of the better games in the franchise, thanks to its length, depth, and user content generation tools.


After creating your character, your home village is destroyed by an invading horde. You set out on a quest to find the secret behind your birth, only to get swept up in a greater conspiracy. You’ll meet several characters, and you craft your character from several classes, races, and alignments. Your actions will affect how people perceive you, and you can approach the game in several different ways. After you’re done with the game, you can use the toolset to craft your own adventures, just like in the original (which is also available for under $20). NWN 2 Platinum Edition includes the base game, along with all three expansions, each adding new classes, races, features to the toolset, and hours of gameplay. If you’re a fan of Dragon Age, you’ll love this title.