Two brilliant, 20-year-old DnD games have just been re-released on Steam

Sure, a glitzy, top-to-bottom remake of an ageing game can really hit the spot - I've just been carving it up in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4, and it's fantastic to see it reimagined in new levels of detail. But sometimes, a light-touch remaster that brings a classic to modern platforms can land just as sweetly. A frame rate boost here. A UI rethink there. Perfection. That's exactly what two iconic DnD games from the mid-2000s just received. Remember Dungeons and Dragons Dragonshard and Forgotten Realms Demon Stone? Well, they've both just been revived on Steam.

Our list of the best DnD games is already full to the brim of amazing titles, but the re-emergence of Dragonshard and Demon Stone could see things spill over. Their pleasantly surprising remasters were announced last month, and now the time has finally arrived for them to be let loose on Steam.

If you're unaware of these games, let me give you a quick rundown. First released in 2005, Dragonshard is an RTS game at its core, but it's also spliced with dungeon-crawling RPG action. On the RTS side of things, you command large armies of units that patrol the land of Eberron. There are three factions to pick from, with bespoke campaigns tied to each one.

However, in the middle of exploration and battle, you may come across entrances to underground dungeons where you'll swap your army for a small party of characters, transforming it into more of an RPG experience. The goal is to clear out the monstrosities within each mini level, scooping up some new loot at the end as a reward.

2004's Forgotten Realms Demon Stone, meanwhile, is a party-based RPG through and through. Your squad consists of three characters. Rannek focuses on melee combat, Illius is a sorcerer with an arsenal of ranged attacks, and Zhai is the logical choice for stealthy moments as they can turn invisible. You can switch characters at any moment to suit the situation, or you can just stick with your favorite for as much of the game as possible.

The new versions of these two classics aren't ground-up remakes and don't massively enhance visual quality, which means their original charm isn't lost. However, there are some welcome, under-the-hood improvements that make them easier to live with and experience.

According to publisher SNEG, the enhanced version of Dragonshard benefits from "modern‑resolution support, localization‑friendly saves and profiles, smoother timers and physics, ASLR compatibility," and more. Meanwhile, Demon Stone features "smoother startup and gameplay, proper widescreen scaling, borderless/windowed modes, optimized shadows, full XInput controller support with rumble and hot‑plugging, adjustable audio, and a new in‑game settings menu for modern PCs."

The re-releases of Dungeons and Dragons Dragonshard and Forgotten Realms Demon Stone are live right now on Steam. There are introductory 10% discounts on both games, meaning they'll set you back just $9.99 / £7.65 each.

For more, check out some of the best single-player games on PC right now. If you're thinking of upgrading your rig sometime in the near future, be sure to consult our best graphics card guide too.

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