holy ♥♥♥♥ holy ♥♥♥♥ holy ♥♥♥♥ it so so so so gooood

this is the game where RtP combat clicked for me

IWD is a classic power fantasy adventure about mindless killing, based on completely archaic, insanely clunky and straight up unplayable AD&D system, which for some reason, we absolutely love.

Cons of Enchanced Edition:
- still no spell range indicators after 20 years, although wiping your team every time you cast fireball is very true to original experience
- OG players would remember cleric scrolls and mage scrolls used to have different art, not anymore
- added katanas and other samurai nonsense for manga kids, but this also means more weapons so it's kinda a plus too, they're just out of place a bit

Pros of Enchanced Edition:
- it works
- UI improvements are good
- you can zoom out very far and seriously, it's a big change
- new classes add new depth but you can also keep things classic
- new eq is cool and sense of progression still seems balanced and well thought out; gear upgrades hit you in perfect timing, power spikes feel rewarding and satysfying and the whole adventure is quite addictive

Conclusion:
It could be improved, but I still gladly gather my party before venturing forward. If you like ADnD games, little inconveniences shouldn't bother you too much, 'cause you're a masochist anyway.

I could go on for hours about how underrated this story, how every freshly revealed plot point illuminates a new aspect of the original plot...but that would all be a lie because the story is meaningless here.

The combat, encounter variety, D&D progression, and itemization are why you play this game and it does all of it very well.