Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn vs Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is an RPG game (2000) while Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is an action-adventure RPG game from Beamdog (2013).
Quick answer: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn has the higher Metacritic, 95 to 78.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
What each one is
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is filed under RPG. In contrast, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition under Action-Adventure and RPG.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a 2000 role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows in September 2000. It is the sequel to 1998's Baldur's Gate. Following its predecessor, the game takes place in the Forgotten Realms, a fantasy campaign setting, and is based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition rules. Powered by BioWare's Infinity Engine, Baldur's Gate II uses an isometric perspective and pausable real-time gameplay. The player controls a party of up to six characters, one of whom is the player-created protagonist; the others are certain characters recruited from the game world.
The classic returns! Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition restores the full original adventure and Tales of the Sword Coast, now polished with quality‑of‑life upgrades for a smoother timeless Dungeons & Dragons journey.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Setting In the Government District, Athkatla, are the Council of Six building, the Prison, and the estates of the rich nobility. The Forgotten Realms , the high fantasy campaign setting in which Baldur's Gate II is set, is a fictional world similar to a medieval Earth , but with its own peoples, geography, and history. In the Realms, as its inhabitants call it, fantastic creatures and magic are common. (Wikipedia)
Characters
Bhaal, the God of Murder, was slain by an adventurer named Cyric, who himself became a god, but Bhaal foresaw his destruction and walked the land before the other gods. He left behind him "a score of mortal progeny", whose later deaths, when they were slain by heroes, would fuel his rebirth. The game's protagonist is one of these offspring, but, through the choices of the player, may be either good or evil. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales In the United States, Baldur's Gate II entered PC Data 's computer game sales charts at #5 during the September 17–23 period. It rose to second place the following week, behind The Sims: Livin' Large , while its Collector's Edition captured the seventh position. In its first 14 days, Baldur's Gate II drew in revenues of $4 million across all SKUs in North America, a sales record for an Interplay computer title. (Wikipedia)
Plot
Much of the game retains the original setting of Baldur's Gate and its expansion - that of the Forgotten Realms continent of Faerûn , the city of Baldur's Gate and the locations south of it within the regions of the Sword Coast and the Western Heartlands, including Beregost, Nashkel, Durlag's Tower and Candlekeep. The main story, too, is still retained - the player creates a character and takes them across the game's setting to investigate the iron crisis… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition received mostly favorable reviews from critics; on aggregate review website Metacritic the game attains an overall score of 78 out of 100 on the PC. Shacknews praised the remaster, calling the game "a truly enhanced version of a classic game". IGN gave the game 8. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | — | 7.8/10 |
| Steam rating | — | Very Positive (92%, 17,991) |
| Critic aggregate | 95/100 | 78/100 |
| Price | Unknown | $19.99 |
| Install size | — | — |
| Steam Deck | Untested | playable |
| Released | 2000 | 2013 |
| Developer | — | Beamdog |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn vs Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of AmnRPG gameBaldur's Gate: Enhanced EditionAction-adventure RPG gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of AmnNo descriptive tagsBaldur's Gate: Enhanced EditionRPG, Fantasy, Dungeons & DragonsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn ✓Metacritic 95Baldur's Gate: Enhanced EditionMetacritic 78Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn—Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition17,991 reviews · 5 add-onsReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of AmnUnknownBaldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition$19.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The better reviewed of the two: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Metacritic 95)
Where they differ
RPGFantasyDungeons & DragonsCRPGIsometricParty-Based RPG
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | — | OpenGL 2.0 compatible |
| Minimum CPU | — | Dual Core Processor |
| Minimum RAM | — | 1 GB |
| Install size | — | — |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn · Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and 0 for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition in scope?
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn lists little scope data. Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition has drawn 17,991 Steam reviews and ships 5 add-ons.
Is Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition better?
Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.
Which is cheaper, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition?
One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.
Should I get Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition?
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn has the higher Metacritic, 95 to 78. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.