Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

Mask of the Betrayer is the first expansion pack to role-playing epic Neverwinter Nights 2. It was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, also the makers of the parent game and sci-fi favourite Knights of the Old Republic II. This fairly substantial pack follows in the footsteps of those games, providing the excellent adventure we have come to expect from this studio.

I think that Mask of the Betrayer offers what is probably one of the best adventures in a Neverwinter Nights game so far. While you can continue using your character from the main campaign and there are a number of references to that story, the expansion storyline is somewhat set apart from the events of the main game. At the outset you are whisked away to far-flung Rashemen, with a whole new world of adventures awaiting you. It's a nice way of getting a fresh slate and an easy opportunity to introduce a bunch of new characters, all of whom are infinitely more interesting than most of those from the original campaign. There are five new characters – all of whom are optional – and your dealings with them are much more personal and tied into the storyline in a much more intricate way than in previous adventures. The plot itself is quite dark; without giving too much away the basic premise is that you have been afflicted with a curse placing your soul and everyone around you at risk. You become a character to be feared, and your quest to unravel all this takes you all over – from cursed forests to the Plane of Shadows to the City of Judgement. It's a pretty riveting adventure.

Obviously gameplay remains much the same as its parent game, but Mask of the Betrayer does introduce a number of new features, additions and refinements to the system. The most obvious is the addition of Spirit Energy – a mechanic directly linked to the curse mentioned above – which, while granting many new feats and useful abilities, is as often much more trouble than it is worth. It's the nature of having a curse, I suppose, but this is one aspect of the game that takes a while to get used to and can often result in a modicum of frustration for the player. There's nothing quite like having to prise yourself away from your current objective in order to go eat spirits for a while to regain your strength.

The other additions to the gameplay include many new character options – new races (Genesai, Wild Elf, and Half-Drow) and new classes (Favoured Soul, Spirit Shaman and five new prestige classes) – and an extension of the upper level cap. Your characters can now reach epic levels, topping out at level 30. All excellent ways to develop your characters however you see fit. The companion influence system has also been overhauled, making it much easier to gain (and lose) enough influence to directly affect in-game events.

Mask of the Betrayer has made some changes to the graphical aspect of the game, specifically the camera angles. The game now provides two new selectable camera modes – including an action-adventure over-the-shoulder style and a way-the-hell-overhead strategy style – which both have their practical and aesthetic uses. The rest of the graphics remain much the same, the Electron engine still looks great for the most part and occasionally downright stunning. With Mask of the Betrayer and the later patches for the parent game fixing most of the interface issues from the initial Neverwinter Nights 2 release, graphically this is still quite a looker.

Voice-acting and music are once again very good. There's never a point where you want to turn your speakers off – sadly a too-common occurrence in many games – rather, there were a few points that made my ears perk up a little. Once again the developers have assembled a strong voice cast; perhaps other studios should take note.

I think it is obvious that where most publishers use expansions as an excuse to squeeze more money out of the consumer for little content, Mask of the Betrayer instead gives you rather more bang for your buck. Far more refined than most main games (let alone expansion packs), certainly chock full of enhancements and additions and most importantly, a campaign that could easily take up to 25 hours if you take the chance to explore and complete additional quests.

It is still buggy however, with at least one show-stopper about halfway through. If you're not one for console tinkering, you might want to wait until another couple of updates roll out, which shouldn't be too long based on Obsidian's track record with the main Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

There's little left to say, other than – despite the bugs – this is definitely the best official Neverwinter Nights content to date.