RPG veteran Josh Sawyer "threw everything I knew" at Icewind Dale, which is partly why the D&D CRPG has "a reputation for being pretty hard"

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"I designed all of that stuff to be played by super aggressive min-maxers"

A screenshot from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition.
(Image credit: Beamdog / Black Isle Studios)

RPG veteran Josh Sawyer has left his mark on loads of fan-favorite games, from Fallout: New Vegas, to Pillars of Eternity and its sequel. However, he's recently spoken about one of the first games he worked on, Icewind Dale, and how it ended up being considered so difficult – partly because he "threw everything I knew at it."

Speaking to Sector.sk, he admits that he "really didn't know anything about development" back when he first started as a designer on Icewind Dale, with his prior experience on level design in Quake editors Hammer and Radiant being "very, very different" from his work on the CRPG. 

"Initially, I was super enthusiastic, and there was a lot of, 'Okay buddy, you've got to calm down. We can't do any of this stuff,'" he admits. 

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Sawyer eventually "tried bringing in all of my D&D and Forgotten Realms lore to expand the world," and was behind Icewind Dale's "unique magic items" thanks to him being "super into the lore." On top of that, he adds, "there were so many other spells because I had all the supplemental Forgotten Realms books." He was inspired by the likes of Faiths and Avatars and Prayers from the Faithful to include "more druid spells, priest spells, wizard spells, and the spell compendiums." 

He continues: "I threw everything I knew at it, which I think is one of the reasons why Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2 have a reputation for being pretty hard. This is especially true if you played the non-enhanced edition of Icewind Dale 1, as I designed all of that stuff to be played by super aggressive min-maxers. Most players are kind of min-maxers, but it was really like pushing it. So that was a lot of fun."

Recently, Sawyer also spoke about his experience working on Fallout: New Vegas, and how despite the RPG being "criticized for playing very, very similarly to Fallout 3," he actually approached it with the philosophy of Fallout 1. "Fallout 1 was foundational for me in understanding how role-playing games should be made," he added.

If you're looking for more adventures to dive into, be sure to check out our list of the top 25 best RPGs.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.