Icewind Dale II is a role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, released on August 27, 2002.

The player assumes control of a group of mercenaries in a war between the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale and a coalition of persecuted races and religions.

[1][2] When beginning the game, the player may choose to play a pre-selected party, or to create a party of up to six characters; unlike the Baldur's Gate series, Icewind Dale II does not permit the player to import characters from previous Icewind Dale games.

[1] Icewind Dale II takes place in the Forgotten Realms D&D campaign setting, on the continent of Faerûn.

[8] The goblins are directed by the Legion of the Chimera, an army composed of outcast races and religious factions, such as goblinoids, half-breeds, and followers of winter goddess Auril.

[11] Areas encountered in the game include: the Black Raven Monastery, built over an entrance to the Underdark;[12][13] the town of Kuldahar, constructed around a magical tree that emits heat;[14][15] the Severed Hand, an ancient elven fortress that was lost during a war with goblinoids;[16][17] and the Dragon's Eye, a network of volcanic caverns inhabited by yuan-ti.

[26] A storm causes the ship to crash, and the group awakens to discover that a glacier blocks the reinforcements' path.

[38] After the group prevents the attack, the Archdruid tells them that they may reach the Severed Hand through an exit at the bottom floor of the Dragon's Eye.

[16][41] Once inside, they learn that the war between the Ten Towns and the Legion of the Chimera was caused by the mayor of Bryn Shander, who had sent Isair and Madae poisoned food.

[8] Lead designer J. E. Sawyer described: "I don't know when the producers decided to make the game, but I was told that we were making the game when I learned that TORN was being cancelled ... on a Wednesday afternoon, and that Feargus Urquhart asked me to work with Steve Bokkes to create a story and area overview by Thursday afternoon.

[45] Sawyer said of the decision: "In all honesty, the reasons for making Icewind Dale II have to do with limiting risks and maximizing our chances for a popular title".

[43][47] Icewind Dale II was originally planned to be an incomplete conversion to the D&D Third Edition ruleset, with many rules omitted.

[46][49] Partway through development, Sawyer left the team to work as the lead designer on another internal project; Dave Maldonado and Chris Avellone were given his areas to finish.

[8] The developers wanted the game to contain more breaks from combat, with character interaction and puzzle solving, than the previous Icewind Dale.

[54] The music of the game was composed by Inon Zur, whose previous works included Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal and Fallout Tactics.

[55] Inon Zur worked with Jeremy Soule, the composer for Icewind Dale, to maintain the tone of the music.

[57] Inon Zur described the music as having "some uniqueness to it, that basically it developed throughout the game [with] the [inclusion] of more instruments, taking flutes and percussion and combining them with the standard orchestra".

Zur later said: "I thought that we definitely met some high standards; we compared our products to big budget films scores and in the end we were quite happy".

[1] Icewind Dale II debuted at #6 on The NPD Group's weekly computer game sales chart for the August 25–31 period, at an average retail price of $45.

"[54] PC Zone complained that certain gameplay mechanics had become outdated, but that "the only real downer is the antiquated spell system and the inexplicable necessity to rest after every fight".

[69] New Straits Times agreed, saying that although some of the effects were attractive, the "dated Infinity Engine" could not compare to contemporaries Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights.

[71] GameSpot called the story "engrossing", and said that "the game is very well written, offering up a number of strong characters and serious themes".

[54] PC Zone noted that, "thanks to the excellent NPCs, the battles have a lot more meaning, as there is a strong storyline behind the endless hacking and slashing".

[72] PC Format thought that "Icewind Dale II also suffers, like its predecessor, from a story irrevocably weakened by anonymous central characters – the six you create".

[66] Icewind Dale II was nominated for Computer Gaming World's 2002 "RPG of the Year" award, which ultimately went to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

The editors wrote that Icewind Dale II "is the last great game from a fading engine, and we love it".

[77] Other Infinity Engine games, including Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale, have been remade into Enhanced Editions by Beamdog.

Beamdog was unsuccessful in trying to do the same for Icewind Dale II due to the source code of the game being lost.

[78] The Red Chimera Group, a team of modders, coders, artists, and other contributors drawn from the Infinity Engine community, re-built Icewind Dale II and produced an Enhanced Edition.

The team used WeiDU, a program used to develop, distribute and install modifications for games based on the Infinity Engine.