Neverwinter Nights is probably one of the greatest RPGs I ever played. The sense of an epic journey, the feeling of urgency over the crisis at hand, the well-developed NPC characters all made it a story to remember.

Shadows of Undrentide was a weak addition to that legacy, according to many opinions. The quick campaign never gave you a chance to feel like you were doing anything but mulling about awaiting the big boss to appear.

Hordes of the Underdark picks up where that tale left off, and in many ways improves many of the problems. The three 'acts' of the story are far more expanded. The characters are more interesting, and more useful. The storyline has shades of the strength of the original NWN. But ultimately, for those who loved the first game, this game tries too hard to be a little too epic.

Its hard to feel like you're accomplishing anything in a game where you level up every hour and every chest has an epic item. Such successes are devalued by the ease with which they come, even at harder skill settings... you're just too darn epic for the world around you halfway through the story.

Had HOU been a true sequel to NWN, it would have been a fantastic game. As it is it tries to build off the success of the original, and build upwards. The new prestige classes are great (I played through as a Bard/Harper), but there's something unfulfilling about reaching level 15 halfway through a campaign half as long as the original, just so you can get a few prestige levels. When did the badguys start giving xp away?

If you're reading this review at this point you're probably contemplating the Diamond Edition NWN. I strongly recommend it, even if the sequels are a bit of a letdown. They're still enjoyable (HOU over SOU), and the premier modules that come with the game are so great they make up for the expansions: Kingmaker and ShadowGuard deserved to be doubled in size, the storyline, action and level designs were that good.