The first big Xbox release of this week was Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition - a fresh take on the classic Obsidian RPG from 2006 - and the reviews are a bit all over the place as things stand.
The game currently has a decent Metacritic average of 76 based on 4 reviews for the PC version, while the PS5 version has just two reviews that average out at 55. The Xbox Store doesn't have enough user reviews to deliver a star rating yet, but they're quite diverse - lots of people are giving it five stars, while others are giving it one or two stars! On Steam, it also has a "Mixed" rating based on a few hundred user reviews at the time of writing.
Here's what some of the professional reviews are saying about Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition so far:
PC Gamer (Very Positive) - PC Review
"This is a fantastic version of one of my favorite games, an Obsidian and D&D classic that really deserves its flowers. This isn't a flashy graphics overhaul, but a competent, measured, and effective clean-up job, one that leaves plenty of eccentricities in place. Your party members still have the dumbest friendly AI I've ever seen in an RPG, but I don't know if I'd want it any other way."
RPGSite (6/10) - PC & Console Review
"While the multiplayer is nice to have back, and the controller support is solid overall, I was otherwise left uninspired. I will always appreciate games becoming easier for new people to experience or getting a console port, but between the harmless-but-still-annoying bugs, the bland menus, and the lack of meaningful quality-of-life updates, I don’t feel like this release lives up to the “enhanced” moniker it's given itself."
Polygon (Mixed) - Console Review
"The game’s Enhanced Edition — unlike those developed by Beamdog for the Baldur’s Gate series — does little to improve or expand the original experience. However, this is still an epic tale of sword and sorcery set in the famous Forgotten Realms. If you missed the chance to play it when it came out, or if you just can’t get enough of D&D games, it’s worth giving Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition a chance."
Forbes (8/10) - Console Review
"This is functionally the same game as it already existed, but it’s optimized to run better on modern hardware along with some bug fixes and perhaps upgrades to things like enhanced resolution support. Fundamentally, what this does is bring one of PC gaming’s most beloved classic RPGs to consoles (and modern computers) for the very first time in a way that’s highly enjoyable and that’s worth commending in and of itself."
As you can see, the big takeaway here seems to be that although Neverwinter Nights 2 is still a great game, Aspyr hasn't done an awful lot to "enhance" the experience for this version - which may or may not bother you.
It's worth noting that some of these reviews are for the PC release though, whereas Neverwinter Nights 2 has never been on Xbox before, meaning this is our first taste of Obsidian's classic on console in any form.
If you're interested in checking it out for yourself, Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition is available on the Xbox Store at a reduced price of £22.49 / $26.99 right now, and it's playable on both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.