Icewind Dale

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Description

In the Northern parts of Faerûn the winter never ends. In this harsh realm of ice only a few tough survivors live, and nowadays even those hardy few find the conditions a tad tougher. A party of adventurers has just arrived at the small fishing town of Easthaven. Its leader Hrothgar organizes an expedition to help a troubled nearby tree-village, Kuldahar. The party joins the expedition, but an ambush by frost giants causes an avalanche, killing everyone but the heroes themselves. Now they must continue Hrothgar's quest and discover the source of the evil that threatens the land.

Icewind Dale is a party-based role-playing game with real-time combat, very similar in visual style and basic gameplay mechanics to Baldur's Gate. The game utilizes the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. As opposed to Baldur's Gate (and similarly to older AD&D RPGs), the player is free to create a party of up to six characters belonging to various races and classes; no characters inhabiting the game world are able to join the party afterwards. Compared to Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment by the same developers, Icewind Dale is more combat-oriented; it has a linear plot advancement and focuses on extensive exploration of hostile areas rather than conversations with characters and quests.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Alternate Titles

• "冰风之谷" -- Simplified Chinese spelling
• "冰風之谷" -- Traditional Chinese spelling
• "Bingfeng zhi Gu" -- Simplified Chinese title

Part of the Following Groups

• Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Setting: Forgotten Realms
• Dungeons & Dragons (D&D / AD&D) licensees
• Fantasy Creatures: Dwarves
• Fantasy Creatures: Elves
• Gameplay feature: Journal
• Gameplay feature: Paper doll inventory
• Gameplay feature: Pickpocketing
• Graphics Engine: Infinity Engine
• Icewind Dale series
• Replay (GT / Infogrames / Atari) releases

User Reviews

Old times recaptured in a straight line	Windows	Unicorn Lynx (181490)
Excellent break from the Baldur's Gate series.	Windows	OlSkool_Gamer (102)
Ooohh … now I remember this! An adventure gal revisits the RPG genre	Windows	Jeanne (76329)
Not just another overrated RPG	Windows	Sam Tinianow (116)
Wonderful RPG with a twist	Windows	The Gay Elf (14)
Superb RPG - But it lacks the soul of AD&D	Windows	Indra was here (20891)

Critic Reviews

Gamer's Pulse	Windows	Jul 23, 2000	91 out of 100	91
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Windows	Aug 19, 2000	9 out of 10	90
Score	Windows	Aug, 2000	90 out of 100	90
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Windows	Oct, 2000		90
Daily PC Game Reviews	Windows	Feb 26, 2011	8.5 out of 10	85
GameSpy	Windows	Jul 16, 2000	82 out of 100	82
GameStar (Germany)	Windows	Aug, 2000	81 out of 100	81
Gameplanet	Windows	Sep 10, 2000		80
Gry OnLine	Windows	Dec 14, 2000	7 out of 10	70
Gamekult	Windows	Sep 08, 2000	6 out of 10	60

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Icewind Dale + Heart of Winter	11	Rwolf (18294) Apr 28, 2017

Trivia

Preview version

In the preview version distributed to gaming magazines the end boss had special dialogue (mostly threats), e.g. "I slaughtered many editors and their families."

Sales

Icewind Dale hit the shelves the exact same time as Blizzard's Diablo 2. Despite selling numbers that were below the "Big D", Icewind Dale was a good commercial success.

Related Web Sites

• Hints for Icewind Dale (These hints are designed to give you just what you need without spoiling the game for you.)
• Icewind Dale (The official homepage)
• Icewind Dale: FAQs & Guides (A collection of files that includes full strategies and help for specific character types and more.)
• Mike's Icewind Dale pages (A great resource site for Icewind Dale. Tips, walkthroughs, weapon charts, subquests and much more.)
• Strategy Guide for Icewind Dale (by the Stratos Group)