Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn is a role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Black Isle Studios and Interplay. The Windows version came out in North America on 21 September 2000. It runs on the Infinity Engine and supports up to six players in multiplayer.
James Ohlen and Kevin Martens designed the game, with Ohlen also serving as lead writer; Michael Hoenig composed the score, and David Warner voiced the villain Jon Irenicus. In its first 14 days the game earned $4 million in North America, a record for an Interplay computer title.
The Throne of Bhaal expansion arrived in June 2001 and won the PC Role-Playing award at the 2002 Interactive Achievement Awards. The Enhanced Edition followed in 2013 for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, and reached PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2019.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn | Windows | Sep 21, 2000 | Interplay Entertainment | 1 |
| NA | Baldur's Gate II: Throne of BhaalExpansion. | Windows | June 2001 | Black Isle Studios | 1 |
| NA | Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of AmnPort by MumboJumbo. | Mac | Oct 15, 2001 | — | 1 |
| EU | Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of AmnPAL release, also Australia. | Windows | Sep 29, 2000 | — | 1 |
| WW | Baldur's Gate II CompleteGOG.com bundle with Throne of Bhaal. | Windows | 2010 | — | 1 |
| WW | Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced EditionAlso on macOS and Linux; later iOS and Android. | Windows | Nov 15, 2013 | Beamdog | 2 |
| WW | Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced EditionAlso PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. | Switch | 2019 | Skybound Games | 1 |
Also known as: Baldur's Gate II WW1Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition WW2Baldur's Gate II Complete WW1
Box art by region
NA Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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ContentThrone of Bhaal
The Throne of Bhaal expansion (2001) concludes the saga and adds the Watcher's Keep dungeon plus new classes, items and spells.1
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ContentCollector's Edition
The Collector's Edition came with a cloth map, eight character cards, a writing tablet and a bonus CD with unique items and soundtrack music.1
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GraphicsEnhanced Edition
The 2013 Enhanced Edition by Overhaul Games uses an updated Infinity Engine and reached PS4, Xbox One and Switch in 2019.1
Translations
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Spanish Official
Beamdog2013Windows · Enhanced EditionReleased
The Enhanced Edition on Steam includes Spanish (Spain) text.2
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Russian Official
Beamdog2013Windows · Enhanced EditionReleased
The Enhanced Edition on Steam includes Russian text; full audio is listed only for English.2
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Russian Official
AkellaWindows · Original versionReleased
Russian Wikipedia lists Akella as the game's publisher in Russia.3
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
How to run it today
Buy Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition on Steam or GOG; it supports Windows, macOS and Linux without extra fixes.
Best version
The Enhanced Edition on Steam or GOG runs natively on Windows, macOS and Linux and includes Russian and Spanish text.2
Reception
Baldur's Gate II holds 95/100 on Metacritic and sold almost 1.5 million copies by December 2002 and more than 2 million overall. GameSpot, GameSpy and IGN all named it Role-Playing Game of the Year 2000.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.