With the second episode of Neverwinter's three-episode module, The Soul Keeper, coming up soon, Game Rant had the opportunity to talk with some of the game's creators to learn more about what's to come in the update. The second episode of the module will include new heroic encounters, some of which we were even able to get a sneak peek at before launch. Speaking with Noah Holmes, the Senior Game Designer for Neverwinter, we learned about two encounters: Gone Not Forgotten and Waking Nightmares.
The Neverwinter team provided us details beforehand about a heroic encounter called Gone Not Forgotten, in which players can face off against an undead Bressana Wildmaster, now Bressana the Depraved, a terrifying Death Knight. Once a brave hero in the distant past, she has now been brought back by the lich Valindra to torment the descendants of her former kin and allies. Holmes was happy to provide more detail:
"Bressana Wildmaster’s story is a sad one....Having successfully routed a group of cyclopses [during the Siege of Malabog in 1484 DR] and unprotected, Bressana Wildmaster turned her unicorn mount towards the front but was crushed when Azharzel [a blue dragon] landed upon the unprotected eladrin with his full weight....Using an ancient spell of necromancy, Valindra chose to resurrect the fallen elf to be reborn as ‘Bressana the Depraved,’ a death knight now bound to serve for all eternity within the Blighted Grove, tormenting and killing Iliyanbruen elves that pass through the region."
It seems like Bressana's fate is, unfortunately, not entirely unique. This episode is defined by a main villain that harasses her enemies with countless undead and even more powerful necromancy. Holmes went on, explaining, "There’s also a lot of souls being taken from adventurers and Iliyanbruen but they mystery has yet to be solved. Adventurers from Neverwinter will need to take up arms against this new threat and uncover who or exactly what is behind this..." It's clear, then, that other famous adventurers will likely be returning from their graves, and it will all be tied to a deeper mystery. Players will, of course, have a lot more heroic encounters to experience.
"Heroic Encounters in Neverwinter not only serve as an additional fun activity for players, they also exist to tie the evolving world episodic story to the main story of the entire module. Think of them like the shows Wanda Vision, Luke Cage or Marvel: Agents of Shield where you have these interesting side stories that are tied directly to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and serve to fill out what is happening in the world around the blockbuster films in the theater.
In Episode 2, players will be able to obtain new Companion gear to match the power of the rewards from Episode 1.... As an additional gameplay activity for players, Heroic Encounters offer a continued repeatable challenge for players looking to obtain additional rewards during their adventures. Furthermore, the encounters add to the excitement of traversing this harsh landscape by giving players more variety as they progress through the Sharandar Campaign."
We were able to get one more glimpse at the content to come when we asked Noah what his favorite encounter to make was. "The Major Heroic Encounter ‘Waking Nightmares’ has a unique boss named ‘The Keeper of Nightmares’ that was a lot of fun to build. He uses oni magic to harass players from a distance while melee creatures spawn as adds to close in the distance on any ranged players trying to pick off the boss. He also has a special ability that he uses when his health hits certain percentages that adds to the challenge." Soon enough, players will be able to jump into the second episode of the module to see The Keeper of Nightmares, Bressana, and many more frightening foes for themselves.
Neverwinter is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.