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

User Reviews

Old times recaptured in a straight line	Windows	Unicorn Lynx (181640)
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 (76388)
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 (20905)

Critic Reviews

WomenGamers.com	Windows	Aug 08, 2000	9 out of 10	90
Power Unlimited	Windows	Sep, 2000	8.8 out of 10	88
RPGFan	Windows	Sep 29, 2000	87 out of 100	87
Daily PC Game Reviews	Windows	Feb 26, 2011	8.5 out of 10	85
GameBanshee	Windows	Aug 25, 2000	8.4 out of 10	84
FiringSquad	Windows	Jul 18, 2000	84 out of 100	84
Gamezilla	Windows	May, 2001	81 out of 100	81
Quandary	Windows	Aug, 2000		80
Absolute Games (AG.ru)	Windows	Jul 09, 2000	80 out of 100	80
Computer and Video Games (CVG)	Macintosh	Jul 17, 2002	8 out of 10	80

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Icewind Dale + Heart of Winter	11	Rwolf (17334) 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)