A New Lease on Life for a D&D Classic
Released in 2003, Troika Games' The Temple of Elemental Evil remains a standout adaptation of the tabletop experience, staying remarkably faithful to the third edition of the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. While the game features a notoriously sprawling final dungeon, it is fondly remembered for its immersive exploration of iconic locations like the village of Hommlet and the pirate-infested town of Nulb.
Addressing Progression and Technical Hurdles
Publisher SNEG, which brought the title to Steam last year, has rolled out a significant update to satisfy modern player expectations. The primary highlight of this patch is the introduction of a long-awaited achievement system. More importantly, however, the update resolves a critical issue regarding experience point (XP) acquisition.
In the original game, reaching the level cap of 10 erroneously halted XP gain entirely. This created a major imbalance for players who rely on magic item crafting:
«A quirk of D&D's third edition was that you had to spend XP to craft magic items, and if you wanted to be scribing your own scrolls or whatever you needed a steady income of XP. Cutting that off made high-level crafter-casters a bit pointless, a problem that's now been addressed.»
Additional Fixes and Achievement Tracking
Beyond the progression fix, the developers have refined several combat and utility mechanics:
- Melf's Acid Arrow: Damage calculations have been adjusted to function exactly as originally intended.
- Curse Removal: The reliability of scrolls and spells used to break curses has been significantly improved.
Regarding the new achievement system, most progress should retroactively unlock when loading an existing save file. However, players will need to revisit specific in-game locations, such as the Moathouse dungeons or Emridy Meadows, to trigger achievements tied to exploration. For fans of classic CRPGs, these updates offer the perfect excuse to dive back into one of the most mechanically accurate D&D simulations ever made.