When The Temple of Elemental Evil originally released in 2003, it was infamous for two things: its uncompromising difficulty and its ambition. Built on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rules and adapted from one of the most famous tabletop modules of all time, it was a game that demanded patience, system mastery and a willingness to accept failure as part of the experience. More than two decades later, the new Steam release brings that same experience back, complete with years of fan-made fixes and improvements courtesy of the Circle of Eight modding community.
This new Steam version is not a remake in the modern sense. It is very much the same game, warts and all, but now stabilized, expanded and made far more playable thanks to the work of dedicated fans who refused to let it fade away. Many long-standing issues have been addressed, but some of the original quirks remain. In one amusing example, I was delighted to discover that an old character creation exploit I used years ago still works. By rolling stats with dice and then switching to a point buy, the dice values remain hidden but usable, allowing you to drag them into the point buy slots. It’s completely unintended, totally unfair and absolutely nostalgic. I was surprised and honestly a little tickled to see it still intact.
That nostalgia fades quickly once combat begins. The Temple of Elemental Evil remains brutally difficult, especially in its early hours. My first attempt to cleanse a simple spider-infested grove ended in a full party wipe when one spider cast Web and locked everyone in place. Save scumming did little to help. Even approaching the encounter from different angles resulted in the same outcome more often than not. It took nearly ten attempts before I finally managed to survive that encounter. Modern RPGs like Baldur’s Gate 3 may throw unexpected challenges at players, but The Temple of Elemental Evil treats every encounter as potentially lethal. Even random road ambushes can end your run if you are careless or unlucky.
Outside of combat, the pacing can feel just as punishing. The village of Hommlet is packed with go-fetch quests, errands and dull conversations that require careful attention. There is no fast travel, no waypoints and no quest markers. You are expected to remember who said what, where they live and what you were supposed to do next. Your journal is little help, just providing the most basic descriptions of ongoing quests. Running back and forth through town trying to recall whether it was the miller or the weaver that the farmer’s daughter wanted to marry can quickly become tedious, especially when you are doing this simply to scrape together enough experience to survive the next dungeon crawl.
Visually, however, the title has held up better than expected. This is no modern cinematic RPG, but it looks exactly like what it is meant to represent: a classic Dungeons and Dragons module brought to life. The environments, character models and spell effects still do a solid job of evoking tabletop fantasy. I was also pleasantly surprised by the amount of voice acting present. Not every line is voiced, but many key characters and villains are, which was a major selling point back in 2003 and still adds a sense of gravitas today. You will still do a lot of reading, but the spoken dialogue helps anchor important moments.
As your party gains levels, the difficulty curve does flatten slightly. The Temple of Elemental Evil never becomes easy, but it does become more manageable once you have access to better spells, feats and equipment. That said, some enemies remain terrifying regardless of level. The infamous giant frogs of the moathouse still destroyed me more than once, continuing a long tradition of ruining my day both in the tabletop version of the adventure and here in the video game. Yes, those giant frogs are loathsome, and they especially enjoy swallowing halfling characters whole.
Progress eventually becomes a rhythm of cautious exploration and constant saving. Take a step, uncover a room, save. Hear something move, save. Open a door, save. It is exhausting, but it’s also authentic to the era the RPG comes from.
That authenticity is both the title’s greatest strength and its biggest drawback. This Steam release could have benefited from additional quality-of-life features or difficulty options to ease modern players into its systems. Adjustable difficulty, more forgiving early encounters or optional navigation aids would have gone a long way. Instead, what you get is a faithful preservation of a pivotal moment in RPG history.
Once I adjusted my expectations and accepted The Temple of Elemental Evil on its own terms, I found myself enjoying it again. This was the Baldur’s Gate 3 of its day, and we accepted its harsh edges because there was nothing else quite like it. For players who want to experience a classic Dungeons and Dragons adventure as it was once envisioned, this Steam release is a valuable opportunity.
At just nine dollars on Steam, The Temple of Elemental Evil is more than worth the price of admission. It’s flawed, demanding and occasionally infuriating, but it’s also an important piece of RPG history. If you are willing to meet it halfway and embrace its old-school mindset, there is still a deeply rewarding experience waiting inside its crumbling walls.