Cryptic Studios Announce Neverwinter

Written by Connor Beaton, published 23rd August 2010

Atari and Cryptic Studios today announced Neverwinter, a new online role-playing game set in the city of Neverwinter, which you might recall as the setting of BioWare’s 2002 RPG Neverwinter Nights and its somewhat lacklustre sequel. Players choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or computer-controlled allies to form five-person co-op groups. Players also create their own story-lines and quests utilising a user-friendly content generation system similar to Neverwinter Nights’ Aurora Toolkit, tentatively codenamed Forge.

“We’re beyond thrilled to develop a brand new version of Neverwinter. It’s been years since the original became a gaming icon and we’re honored to work with such a great franchise,” said Jack Emmert, COO of Cryptic Studios. “We’ve been working closely with Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore to create an authentic D&D adventure filled with compelling fiction and exciting gameplay.”

The game is scheduled for release on PC in the fourth quarter of 2011, and is part of a multi-platform event, including a book trilogy from New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore and a tabletop roleplaying game from Wizards of the Coast. Book one in Salvatore’s Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, will be released on October 5th and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline. The novel previews the settings, characters and monsters from the game and details the events that lead up to the game’s opening.