Discussing the exact types of monsters that will be encountered in the lower levels of the dungeon or trying to describe the locations will probably give too much away. Suffice it to say that this is one very impressively created opening and it is one of the most addictive role-playing games that I have ever played. At times I did feel compelled to keep playing just a bit longer to make sure that my characters were able to get to a spot where I truly felt they could rest.

There is a bit of scripted dialog between the Non Player Characters and the main character that is triggered when the party enters certain key areas and this is both one of the game's strongest and also most annoying points. It is nice because it does make the adventure seem much more interactive and it is nice to see that the Non Player Characterss have normal fears and concerns, but because of the scripting it makes replaying certain parts downright annoying. It's one thing to replay a game and interact with the same random characters but when reloading – which is very necessary in Baldur's Gate II – and hearing how worried Imoen is for the tenth time can be a little annoying. It is unlikely that these minor complaints can be addressed for the final version but they don't take too much away from the game.

The storyline is extremely creepy and while only the first chapter was previewable, this is one game that I'm going to have to play all the way through as soon as I can. The designers really opened up a lot of questions early in the game, which will likely keep players from getting bored or giving up. What can be safely said without spoiling too much is that players can expect a world full of weird experiments, hideous creatures and a lot of questions that won't be easily answered! A lot of combat sequences also involve more puzzles than in Planescape or Icewind Dale and it is necessary to "do something" to stop creatures from endlessly respawning in some cases.

All this plays out with a new modified version of the Baldur's Gate engine, which has been much more modified and updated than when it was used with Icewind Dale. The early levels are especially dark so it is hard to tell how much work has really been done, but everything does look a lot better. The scale also seems bigger and the game can be displayed at a resolution of 800x600. One of the problems with Icewind Dale was that every time players entered a building or cave a new screen had to load. This isn't the case with Baldur's Gate II as players can expect to venture through some really epic sized levels. Pathfinding has also been addressed, which is a good thing considering the sheer size of the places,although there were a couple of instances where some party members attempted to use passage ways that weren't unlocked yet. This is only annoying when the other members of the party come across some danger!