Neverwinter Nights was developed by the same studio behind landmark role‑playing titles such as Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. The game enjoyed strong sales and received praise from critics when it debuted. However, it has never achieved the iconic status in gamers’ memory that its predecessors and successors have earned over the years. More than twenty years on, it nevertheless supports a close‑knit and remarkably active player base that surpasses those of the other franchises. In my view, this is largely due to the fact that it was a fundamentally different kind of game.