This review contains spoilers
This expansion adds in a lost island explored by Balduran with a dark secret, a little ice cave full of insane wizards, and durlags tower plus a little bonus mini quest afterwards. IMO, this content is indispensable to Baldur's Gate 1. I've never played the game without it, and it really feels like the game would be missing a lot if it weren't included.
Spoilers start here:
The ice cave is probably the weakest story beat in the expansion. The wizard fights are kinda fun and tactical, but that's about all you get from that aside from a bit of nice loot. Level 5 recommended for that, I think. If you're at level cap, you'll steamroll these guys and then it's over.
The Isle of Balduran is one of the more interesting sidequests from a narrative perspective, as you uncover the secret of an island colony where everyone is a werewolf and have to deal with their own internal politics as well as a local werewolf girl (or boy) who becomes smitten with charname. It's a well written diversion, the biggest downside is that it never is mentioned again, not even in the 2nd game. There were some mod attempts to fix that, but they never went anywhere, sadly.
And of course, the main course, Durlag's Tower. The indisputably best dungeon in the entire series. The powerful items you find here can really help swing the fight against Sarevok in your favor. On top of that, once you finish the tower, you still get another awesome bonus boss fight against a demon trying to invade the Sword Coast.
All in all, a necessary addition to Baldur's Gate.
Spoilers start here:
The ice cave is probably the weakest story beat in the expansion. The wizard fights are kinda fun and tactical, but that's about all you get from that aside from a bit of nice loot. Level 5 recommended for that, I think. If you're at level cap, you'll steamroll these guys and then it's over.
The Isle of Balduran is one of the more interesting sidequests from a narrative perspective, as you uncover the secret of an island colony where everyone is a werewolf and have to deal with their own internal politics as well as a local werewolf girl (or boy) who becomes smitten with charname. It's a well written diversion, the biggest downside is that it never is mentioned again, not even in the 2nd game. There were some mod attempts to fix that, but they never went anywhere, sadly.
And of course, the main course, Durlag's Tower. The indisputably best dungeon in the entire series. The powerful items you find here can really help swing the fight against Sarevok in your favor. On top of that, once you finish the tower, you still get another awesome bonus boss fight against a demon trying to invade the Sword Coast.
All in all, a necessary addition to Baldur's Gate.