Siege of Dragonspear 9+

A fantastic addition to an incredible series!

As a massive fan of Baldur's Gate 1&2 I was sceptical of how good a new entry could be when it's developed by a completely new entity. Suffice to say I was more than impressed.

There's quite a lot this game has going for it if you've played the originals. There are all sorts of callbacks and call-forwards to the previous and subsequent games and even to other Infinity Engine RPGs of the era. Many characters from BG1 make an appearance, and given the thinner writing on party members in the first game some of them get their first real times to shine. The new party members are quite enjoyable, and the story for the most part is pretty good.

Sadly the story contains my two biggest issues: first that the end of the game can feel like you've suddenly been railroaded into a no-win scenario, which is sensible given it needs to set up Baldur's Gate 2, and the endings can still feel varied because of the actions of your party members and NPCs to how you are railroaded, so to speak. Second is that the villain's plot comes off as somewhat contrived, given the willingness of hordes of gullible masses to follow what is by all accounts a fool's errand with no hope of success. These two aspects aren't deal breakers by any means though, the game is still fantastic!

Not the Baldur’s Gate You Remember...

If you enjoyed Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, or Icewind Dale 1 & 2, just replay those instead. Siege of Dragonspear is a mess of an RPG that tries to emulate its older cousins but falls horribly short in trying. The story is poorly paced, with dull, uninteresting characters. The villain is flat and fails to deliver a sense of threat. All of the characters you loved from previous BG games are misused, given horrible campy dialogue that reads like an elementary school child’s fan fiction.

The Overhaul team has done some great work in breathing new life into the old Infinity Engine titles, but Siege of Dragonspear does not belong in that company. Hard pass on this game.

*note - I previously wrote a more detailed criticism of this game, but it mysteriously vanished. Not saying Overhaul removed it, but it does seem suspect when every other review I’ve submitted is untouched.*

great addition to baldursgate saga

ok, the writing have some problems but most important the gameplay is great ! and minsc and his spacemaster us back!

Developer Response ,

Boo: Squeaks!