As one of the last Dungeons & Dragons games released by Atari, long-time publisher of all D&D videogames, perhaps it’s a bit odd that Heroes of Neverwinter is on a platform traditionally devoid of heavy RPG-style content – namely, Facebook. As big triple-A publishers slowly come to grips with the new world of social gaming, the possibilities seem more and more interesting than ever before. Facebook sounds like it could be the perfect realm for online D&D adventuring with your friends, after all, and that social element has long been missing from many non-MMO RPGs.
Of course, just because Heroes of Neverwinter is a social game doesn’t mean we don’t think it’s worthy of a full review – it’s an official licensed Dungeons & Dragons game, after all. For what it’s worth, Heroes of Neverwinter makes a good stab at capturing the fundamentals of D&D combat, and manages to provide an accessible and straightforward D&D experiences that stays true to the roots of the game. However, the relative lack of depth in gameplay, stripped-down options, and some particularly annoying design choices get in the way of what could have been (and still could be) an excellent Facebook RPG experience.
The Social Network
Let’s get one thing out of the way first – Heroes of Neverwinter is a freemium social game, and it comes with much of what that implies. It may have some strong core D&D-style gaming in it, but wrapped around it are a series of advertisements, in-game currency options, insta-win potions available for purchase, and so on. If you come into the game expecting to get away without seeing any ads, you will be disappointed. Unlike many freemium games, though, the basic gameplay is unaffected by these options, with most of them boiling down to customizations and “get new content faster” buttons – just be aware that they are most definitely present.
Heroes of Neverwinter takes advantage of its social options decently, but unremarkably. The game allows you to add friends to the game via easy invitations, and you can form a party with them if you wish. There’s no simultaneous multiplayer, but being able to create a team with the classes, races and skills you all want is definitely a boon for the game. You can also view each others’ trophies and accomplishments, although there’s little reason to look at this save for bragging rights. If you don’t have friends to play with, you can hire on other players’ heroes for a small gold fee (though your own hero doesn’t get any of this upon being hired).
Another neat feature, and one which should have been at the forefront of the game, is the ability to create your own dungeons for other players. However, this comes with a pretty big caveat – you must either purchase the option for Astral Diamonds (the in-game “real money” currency) or reach level 10 (the game’s cap, as far as I’m aware), which can take months of standard play. This means that the option is likely going to be grossly under-used by most players, which is a real shame. Still, player-made modules do have their downsides – there are no experience rewards for completing them, and the gameplay scenarios possible are extremely limited.
Really, the big issue here is the lack of any sort of multiplayer. As a casual, “fifteen minutes a day” sort of game that’s understandable, but even some sort of asynchronous co-op or competitive battling would have been a nice addition. D&D might be a bit fast-paced for play-by-mail, but it would have been nice if the option was there all the same. The game does allow for an Active Spectator feature, which sees you looking on when another player recruits your hero; your reward is a percentage of the gold and experience. However, during my time playing I was never recruited once, and I certainly wasn’t about to keep the game running 24/7 just to earn a little extra money.
Dungeon Crawling
Heroes of Neverwinter is a game of fairly limited scope. While other D&D-style games have always been a bit cut-down compared to what’s possible on the tabletop, Neverwinter reduces things to the very basics of turn-based, grid-based combat. For what it’s worth, the fundamentals are very much intact, with feats, flanking, traps and so on all factoring into combat. Tactical positioning is extremely important, when the dungeon layouts allow it, and smart use of choke points, spells and so on can often win an encounter.
The adventures themselves are very simple and quite short, only taking about 10-20 minutes of play to complete, but each one features a mini-narrative told through pop-up text boxes during the course of the adventure. There is no interactive dialogue to speak of, but as a framing device, the writing gets the job done just fine, even if the subject matter is very standard D&D fare – yes, goblins, bandits and undead are still the game’s staple enemies. Still, a bit more variety, like some simple puzzles or less linear dungeons, would have gone a long way toward spicing things up.
The game’s main freemium conceit comes in the form of Energy. Energy is represented as a purple bar, but is effectively a timer on the number of adventures you can perform in a given period. Energy recharges slowly over time, allowing you to play an adventure once every few hours, but the basic pool of 20 means that it’s almost impossible to go on more than once adventure in a row. I never felt I needed to play the game for hours on end, but failing an adventure often means waiting to try again, which is annoying to say the least. Obviously the goal is to get you to pay for extra Energy, and while it’s not too big a deal next to other social games, it’s still a bit too transparent for my liking.
There were a couple of other issues I ran into while playing. Your player character must be alive in order to save progress – if your character goes down during combat, and you win, you’ll still have to repeat the adventure. Furthermore, enemies have a habit of attacking your character above everyone else, often killing him or her instantly in the case of more powerful enemies. Playing as a Cleric, dying meant it was impossible to progress even if I had a Raise Dead spell on-hand, and taking two Clerics was a pretty poor alternative. This meant that on multiple occasions I had to replay the same missions again and again, which wasn’t very fun at all.
Outside of combat, there isn’t much to do. Aside from checking out your friends’ houses, you can buy and sell items at the game’s auction house (which automatically sets prices based on supply and demand), or you can create dungeons at the Dungeon Workshop once you’ve hit the level cap (or paid for access). These meta-game features are as sparse as it gets, and compared to other Facebook games, Heroes of Neverwinter could offer a lot more as far as mini-games and other activities go, especially as there is so little to do when waiting for Energy to refill.
Dungeons & Dragons for the Masses
One thing that Heroes of Neverwinter gets right above all else is making D&D approachable. The begins with a guide, Edrick, helping you through a number of tutorial areas which introduce the game’s basic functions – fighting enemies, healing, using items, trap detection, etc. – and this is pretty well-designed even if it’s framed in a silly context (“Don’t you remember? You inherited a house in Neverwinter! That’s why you’re here fighting goblins in the woods!”).
What’s more, Heroes of Neverwinter has a very good user interface, especially for a Facebook game, and I think even a full-priced retail product could take notes. Context-sensitive radial-style menus make it extremely easy to perform actions in combat, and the game has a very clean and uncluttered look. Getting into D&D has never been easier, and if there’s one strength of Heroes of Neverwinter, it’s allowing your non-gamer friends to jump in without too much trouble.
However, this accessibility comes at a huge price. Namely, the game’s class and race selection are very poor – you’ve got Fighter, Wizard, Cleric and Rogue, along with Human, Halfling, Eladrin and Dragonborn, and considering you have exactly four party slots, there’s never any agonizing over which to bring. Moreover, the number of abilities is extremely scant, with only two to choose from every few levels. While I’m not entirely up to speed on the 4th Edition rules, even what’s presented here is extremely limited. D&D and all its complexity has been adapted well plenty of times over the years, and Heroes of Neverwinter simply can’t compete with more fleshed out products on the market. It doesn’t kill the game, but it will probably alienate some of the more hardcore fans.
Conclusion
It’s clear that last year, Atari were very intent on making D&D as mainstream as possible. Along with Daggerdale, the hack-and-slash downloadable title from Bedlam Games, getting into D&D has never been easier. At the same time, it’s hard to ignore that this leaves hardcore players without nearly as much to latch on to, or to keep them playing. Considering that Wizards of the Coast are beginning to show off the 5th Edition rules, with the key tenet being a return to the complexity the game is known for, it seems casual focus may not have paid off as they intended.
Heroes of Neverwinter captures the fundamental fun of D&D, there’s no question – truth be told, it’s hard enough to find fun turn-based RPG combat in the Western scene these days. Beyond this, though, Heroes of Neverwinter simply doesn’t have enough features to toy with, enough character classes or races to make party composition interesting, or enough variety in its gameplay to warrant more than short-term play. If your goal is to get a few rounds of combat in on your laptop or smartphone, then Heroes of Neverwinter is certainly capable, at least for a few weeks; additionally, if you’ve got a friend or family member you want to introduce to D&D, this isn’t a bad supplement either. But, frankly, those looking for a more well-rounded experience should look elsewhere.
