Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer review

Oct 18, 2007

Expansion pack Mask of the Betrayer picks up from the moment D&D-loyal RPG NWN2 finished, with the King of Shadows defeated, and your character squished beneath a collapsed building. You're alive, but there's something wrong. You're now at the bottom of a dangerous dungeon, with only a suspicious Red Wizard for company.

Fear not if you haven't completed NWN2: you can fire right in with a brand-new level 18 character, which gives you the chance to try out the six new sub-races (Wild Elf, Half-Drow, and Air, Earth, Fire and Water Genasi), and two new classes (Favoured Soul - similar to the cleric, but with more divine power, and Spirit Shaman - a master of the spirit world). And the deific tone of these new classes is no coincidence. MotB is all about religion.

The story begins in your new homeland, Rashemen, which is wrapped up in the aftermath of a rebellion against the gods, and the betrayal of Myrkul, the god of Death (who rather fittingly was killed). Rashemen is a town filled with portals leading to a Shadow version of the world, where colour is washed out and lots of spooky spirits fester. With heavy tones of Zelda, a lot of the game is about going back and forth between the two mirrored worlds in order to progress.

It gets even more spirit-filled when the peculiar hunger inside you gets completely out of hand, and you find yourself with the moral dilemma of how to control your newfound need to consume spirits. In comes a traditional gaming morality play, choosing between Devour, where you feast satisfyingly but cruelly, and create an increasingly insatiable appetite, or Suppress, offering you fewer fulfillments, but more control, and the approval of key companions. Eventually this complication leads to even more involved item enchantment.