Instead of customising the main character and playing the role of Bhaal's child (like in Baldur's Gate), Icewind Dale gives you the opportunity to create and customise your entire group of adventurers – again a party of six characters. This apparently simple change has a deep impact on how the entire game flows sometimes for better, others for worse. The best thing is the freedom to combine any classes and races you want – for more strategic players, this is heaven. And come on, isn't it fun (and challenging) to play with an entire group of spellcasters?

However, there's a trade off. To offer this level of freedom the designers sacrificed the personal touch of playing a bigger role with the protagonist. Since the entire party plays the main role, there's no room for a single character stand in the centre of the storyline. Plus, the fun of finding new companions and trying to make them happy is also gone. Of course, this doesn't ruin the game at all, but is something to be aware of. The game is clearly more focused towards dungeon-crawling, and works beautifully in this regard.

The game's journey takes place at the eponymous Icewind Dale, a sub-arctic region on the northernmost part of the Sword Coast. It's located near the Spine of the World, a massive mountain range known as a cold, deadly and evil-creatures-infested place. Your party begins in the city of Easthaven, where you join an expedition to investigate some strange happenings in the eastern city of Kuldahar.

It doesn't take long for the first of many unpleasant surprises: the expedition is ambushed by Storm Giants, who create an avalanche that kills the entire company, except for the player's party. The path back to Easthaven is blocked, forcing the party to venture forth to Kuldahar and start the main quest, given by Arundel, an Archdruid.