Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition revealed, preorders now up

Beamdog is on a roll. After enhancing Baldur's Gate (BG:EE) and its Baldur's Gate II (BGII:EE) sequel for both old and new generations to enjoy, it is now giving the same treatment to another well-loved D&D classic. The game developers have just revealed the existence of an Enhanced Edition for Icewind Dale, opening the doors for preorders for desktop versions of the game.

Releaed in 2000, Icewind Dale takes players once more to the D&D campaign world of Forgotten Realms, this time to the frigid north to fight, what else, evil. Here you will get the usual tropes of sword and sorcery RPG popularized by Dungeons & Dragons. But Beamdog has done more than just bring forward the old game to this decade, it has added a ton of new features you won't find in the original version. The Enhanced Edition, or EE, expands the amount of content considerably. And it's not just the six expanded quests. The game adds new classes and combinations inherited from Beamdog's previous work with Balduer's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. They even threw in cross-platform multiplayer mode for up to 6 players.

That last bit is equally interesting. Icewind Dale: EE will be available as a cross-platform game. And we don't mean just PCs and Macs, but even Linux, iOS, and Android. At launch, players will be able to choose between buying it from Beamdog directly, in which case they will be able to get a DRM copy for either PC or Mac, or from Steam, which expands that to Linux, with Steam's DRM in tow. Later on, the game will also be available on iOS and Android from their respective app shops.

Beamdog has already revealed prices for the desktop version of the game, at least for this pre-order round, putting it at $19.99. That puts it on the same price as Baldur's Gate: EE. No pricing scheme has been revealed for mobile yet, but BG:EE currently costs $9.99 on both ITunes App Store and Google Play Store. On the other hand, BGII: EE on iOS has a steeper price tag at $14.99. Interestingly, BGII:EE still hasn't been released for Android. Icewindale: Enhanced Edition for the desktop is estimated to launch in a month or so, with the mobile versions to follow "when they're ready".

SOURCE: Beamdog