Icewind Dale is the second Infinity Engine-based RPG, developed by Black Isle Studios and released by Interplay in 2000. It is based on the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, with a 2nd Edition AD&D ruleset.

Story-wise, Icewind Dale is centred around a quest to save a besieged fortress from an evil priest, called Brother Poquelin. But just getting to the evil priest plotline is an undertaking in itself…

Technically, this game is very close to Baldur’s Gate in terms of visuals and gameplay, except that there seem to be far fewer trees. The explorable world is represented as scrolling, 2D backdrops, and you explore with small animated characters who are largely controlled by AI, and who scurry around doing things to your mouse-clicks.

At this stage of CRPG evolution the Infinity Engine preferred to be played at 800×600 resolution by the looks of it, and it therefore looks a bit clunky by today’s standards. With Icewind Dale II the interface was improved even more, which gives it the edge in the series in my opinion.

An enhanced remake of Icewind Dale was released in 2014. These grabs are from the original 2000 CD-ROM version – not the remake.

More: Icewind Dale on Wikipedia
Steam: Icewind Dale on Steam
GOG: Icewind Dale on GOG.com