Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
released on Sep 27, 2007
An expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2
Following the climactic battle against the King of Shadows, you awaken alone and stranded deep beneath the earth. A dark hunger grows within you, threatening to devour your very soul. Will you fight against the hunger within or will you embrace it, revelling in your newfound power? Set in harsh, spirit-rich Rashemen, near the powerful nation of Thay, Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer presents players with an exciting new 20-30+ hour campaign filled with meaningful choices, rich characters, and surprising outcomes. Continue the adventure of your Neverwinter Nights 2 character or create a completely new epic hero - no previous Neverwinter Nights experience required. Hundreds of new gameplay options include epic levels; feats, spells, races, and classes; powerful weapons, armour, and crafting options; and hordes of diverse creatures.
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A hidden gem in terms of storytelling. A fantastic, dark world and a great story, I really wouldn't have believed this game to be possible, especially as an addon to NN 2. The game partly reminded me of Planescape Torment and that's saying something. It's also relatively detached from the main game and should be played by anyone who likes dark western role-playing games and good stories, a little masterpiece.
Kino.
Thanks for fixing the main campaign
Beaten: Aug 23 2021
Time: 15 Hours
Platform: Mac (via WINE)
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW I loved this game.
I'd heard that this was the best part of the Neverwinter Nights 2 package and HOLY HELL IT WAS TRUE!!!! Not only that, but as a standalone experience I'm pretty sure this is one of the best games I've played this year? And it's just an expansion???
Uh ok ok I should calm down and talk about the game. Sooooooooooooo if you read my Neverwinter Nights 2 review you know I thought it was good enough. Well written, though a little unimaginitive with it's tropes for my tastes, and mechanically solid. The last act of the campaign mostly made up for some pacing issues in the beginning by delving deep into some interesting lore and doubling down on the action, but I was pretty lukewarm on the whole experience.
This expansion not only addresses all my issues with the base game, but it even made me appreciate the base game more! Mask of the Betrayer is a mysterious, tightly paced experience that contrasts the bright tone of the original game with a tone not dissimilar to Planescape Torment. It's depressing, dour, unique, and and imaginitive as hell, even when dealing with typical fantasy creatures, and I love it for that.
On top of that, it's much more thematically focused than the original game. I've been trying to describe the game without spoilers to friends, and the most unhinged attempt I had at that was "it's like if obsidian made a game based off The Stranger by Billy Joel", but that's really more of a starting place for the themes. It deals with masks as both a theme and a plot device, but also as a gateway to talk about other themes, particularly love. I don't really want to say too much about it, because when it all came together to me it hit like a ton of bricks, but in short the game does a very convincing portrayal of a hopeless and cold story, defined by it's nihilism more than anything else, and it's actually the most hopeful and warm game I've played in a long time. It's a game full to the brim with love, no matter how dark it gets.
I don't really have too much to say about it compared to what I usually like to talk about. Like, the only flaw for me was that the combat was a little hard for me at times, but I'll give it a pass on that because it's an epic level campaign. You're fighting gods, you should feel like you're fighting gods. Also the game isn't the most stable, which is something I didn't mention in my review for Neverwinter Nights 2 but absolutley got worse here, as more spells are being cast and more effects fill the screen. Again though, I don't really care about that. I got good at saving a lot and that let me focus on the game, and that's all I needed.
But yeah that's about it? Pacing was perfect, length was perfect, writing was amazing, dungeon design was great, and the connection of gameplay to story was stunning. It all comes together in such an amazing way. I hugely recommend this game, and I'll prob be replaying it whenever I replay kotor 2 and planescape.
Oh also, you can absolutely play this without playing the original campaign. You'll miss out on some references, and like I said before the tonal contrast elevates both games, so I'd still say the best way to play is to play the original campaign first, but if you don't wanna spend 40 hours on a campaign that's a little shy of great, just read up on some build guides for this and dive straight in.
Time: 15 Hours
Platform: Mac (via WINE)
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW I loved this game.
I'd heard that this was the best part of the Neverwinter Nights 2 package and HOLY HELL IT WAS TRUE!!!! Not only that, but as a standalone experience I'm pretty sure this is one of the best games I've played this year? And it's just an expansion???
Uh ok ok I should calm down and talk about the game. Sooooooooooooo if you read my Neverwinter Nights 2 review you know I thought it was good enough. Well written, though a little unimaginitive with it's tropes for my tastes, and mechanically solid. The last act of the campaign mostly made up for some pacing issues in the beginning by delving deep into some interesting lore and doubling down on the action, but I was pretty lukewarm on the whole experience.
This expansion not only addresses all my issues with the base game, but it even made me appreciate the base game more! Mask of the Betrayer is a mysterious, tightly paced experience that contrasts the bright tone of the original game with a tone not dissimilar to Planescape Torment. It's depressing, dour, unique, and and imaginitive as hell, even when dealing with typical fantasy creatures, and I love it for that.
On top of that, it's much more thematically focused than the original game. I've been trying to describe the game without spoilers to friends, and the most unhinged attempt I had at that was "it's like if obsidian made a game based off The Stranger by Billy Joel", but that's really more of a starting place for the themes. It deals with masks as both a theme and a plot device, but also as a gateway to talk about other themes, particularly love. I don't really want to say too much about it, because when it all came together to me it hit like a ton of bricks, but in short the game does a very convincing portrayal of a hopeless and cold story, defined by it's nihilism more than anything else, and it's actually the most hopeful and warm game I've played in a long time. It's a game full to the brim with love, no matter how dark it gets.
I don't really have too much to say about it compared to what I usually like to talk about. Like, the only flaw for me was that the combat was a little hard for me at times, but I'll give it a pass on that because it's an epic level campaign. You're fighting gods, you should feel like you're fighting gods. Also the game isn't the most stable, which is something I didn't mention in my review for Neverwinter Nights 2 but absolutley got worse here, as more spells are being cast and more effects fill the screen. Again though, I don't really care about that. I got good at saving a lot and that let me focus on the game, and that's all I needed.
But yeah that's about it? Pacing was perfect, length was perfect, writing was amazing, dungeon design was great, and the connection of gameplay to story was stunning. It all comes together in such an amazing way. I hugely recommend this game, and I'll prob be replaying it whenever I replay kotor 2 and planescape.
Oh also, you can absolutely play this without playing the original campaign. You'll miss out on some references, and like I said before the tonal contrast elevates both games, so I'd still say the best way to play is to play the original campaign first, but if you don't wanna spend 40 hours on a campaign that's a little shy of great, just read up on some build guides for this and dive straight in.