hen first looking through the manual and checking out all the new feats, classes, and powers available in this expansion, I thought that they were way too obscenely powerful and would throw off the game’s difficulty balancing. However, even with a godlike character, the challenges found in the Hordes of the Underdark are no joke.
The adventure included in Underdark is one of the better official campaigns. Since players start at level 15, all the NPCs react to them as a legendary hero from the beginning – a nice change from the standard RPG opening. In all the time I spent playing Hordes, I didn’t kill a single rat, maggot, or slime. In the very beginning of the quest, there’s a blue dragon – which incidentally fell quite easily to Enserric the Longsword (who is quite the character himself, and has some of the best lines in the game). That’s an example of the power levels involved here.
Hordes allows characters to reach level 40 (!), twice the old level cap, and doesn’t disappoint in ways to make your hero über-powerful. Epic feats give you such silly abilities as turning into an ancient dragon or completely dodging one attack per round, no matter what. The six new prestige classes are fun to play as, though some are a bit underpowered compared to others. Items scale up with you as well, and can grant some really sickening bonuses. Enserric, for instance, heals you for five hit points every time you hit something; though five HP isn’t a whole lot when you’ve got 230 to begin with.
This expansion adds quite a bit of stuff for lower-level heroes as well. New crafting skills allow players to customize their equipment even more than before. Some of the prestige classes can be accessed as early as level six, and lots of new scripts have been added to give players greater control over their henchmen. Heroes can have two followers rather than the previous limit of one, which lets you have some semblance of an actual party even in single-player. Despite the new and vastly superior control, however, they still tend to run off and die when you’re not paying attention.
Mod makers will enjoy the improvements on the already comprehensive toolset. BioWare has also added a number of scripts to the game which allow for better interaction and combat. Of course, these upgrades will help regular players as well, in the form of better modules to adventure through.
Owners of Neverwinter Nights are punishing themselves by not getting Hordes of the Underdark. The amount by which it expands the game in every direction is truly epic.