This is where
Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark really shines. Ever since the first
NWN, people have wanted to venture forth into the dreaded Underdark and face the perils that dwell there. They have also wanted the experience cap lifted as well as epic levels and more material for the
NWN toolset. Bioware has delivered in spades adding a new three chapter campaign, epic levels, six new classes, more monsters, new characters and an experience that is reminiscent of
Baldur's Gate II. The only real problem with the game is that I wish it were longer.
Where to start? Hmmm. Lets start with the new 3-chapter campaign. This campaign does all in its power to put the word epic to shame, and it easily trumps the official campaign from the first NWN. In Hordes, you continue as the character from Shadows of Undrentide, the first NWN expansion, and venture into the dreaded Underdark. There are plenty of new characters and familiar faces that you will meet up with. A new two-henchman option has been implemented, so you can now have a party of up to three adventurers including yourself. The quests are varied and it is fun to do them, because you never know how they will turn out. A simple fetch quest may have you fighting through hordes of enemies in one moment, and helping out a couple's relationship in another. The consequences of these quests depend on your choices, and actions and can change the whole flow of the story.
The Underdark is home to many dreadful creatures, such as the Dark Elves, or Drow, the Beholders, who can destroy adventurers with a glance, and the Mindflayer, which uses its psionic abilities to render its victim immobile while it sucks out the victim's brain. Luckily, with all of these new enemies, Bioware has also thrown in six new prestige classes and new epic levels. These add new epic spells, feats and skills to your hero's already impressive library. The new epic spells allow you to summon dragons, or wither your target to nothing. Almost all of the epic feats can stack on top of each other, so if you wanted to improve your intelligence ten times, you could. The new skills in the game allow you to craft weapons, armor and traps using the natural resources that you find throughout the game.
Those of you who thought that the toolset was the focus of NWN are in luck. All of the improvements that I listed above are in the toolset, including more tilesets, character models and weapon models. There are also more wizards to help you along.
I do have some minor complaints. I didn't like the fact that this was an expansion pack. The whole quest leant itself to being a full game in its own right, and I do believe that this quest is what the NWN official campaign hoped that it would be. Another complaint that some people might have is the fact that the Hordes campaign cannot be played in multiplayer as of right now. I know many people went through the first and second campaign with groups, and that might turn off some people from the game.
