Naudrion: Fall of The Empire
Very fun game. Exploration galore. Big world. Needs better quest notes. Needs more detail in buildings. (reminds me of Gorgon decor). Leveling is nice, but didn’t notice much progression with power on spells. Ice magic was okay, but a sword seemed more efficient. Need to have increased damage as you level or as you add mana…or just some progression spells. Love the skill books that can be bought since I like to craft too. Crafting seems not in. Couldn’t make an ingot, or make leather. Didn’t seen any Alchemy recipes or cooking etc. Runes sometimes didn’t work, found that dropping them and picking up helped.
– Real player with 25.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gothic Third Person Games.
Naudrion: Fall of The Empire is an excellent dark fantasy with an open, seamless world, with multiple crafting and interesting tasks.
I like this game that it was created by one person and is constantly updated, it is very cool on the part of the developer that he did not just put the game out and forget but continues to develop it!
– Real player with 8.4 hrs in game
Risen 3 - Titan Lords
Risen 3 is a third person open world action roleplaying game made by Piranha Bytes, the team that gave us the Gothic games and of course the first two Risen games. It’s hard to talk about Risen 3 without referring to the previous games, which I’ll call ‘PB games’ for short.
To summarize: Risen 3 is definitely a step up from Risen 2 but all in all, it is probably still a game that only fans of PB games will love and a game that only fans of the genre may learn to like.
To talk about this game more in-depth, I’ll take the list I used for my reviews of ‘Risen’ and ‘Risen 2’.
– Real player with 94.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gothic RPG Games.
This is a long review, so just read the bottom paragraph for a simple summary of my thoughts.
It surprises me that the general consensus for this game is worse than Risen 2: Dark Waters. To be fair, if you hated Risen 2, there likely are not enough redeeming factors about the end of the trilogy to be worth your while. But nevertheless, some substantial improvements to the overall experience have made this a promising step in the right direction for Piranha Bytes as a developer.
Risen 2: Dark Waters was ultimately a failure as an open world, engrossing RPG. It was extremely shallow, overall having one of their smallest and most lackluster world designs to date, with most of the islands consisting of winding pathways with few interesting landmarks leading between major locations. These locations were greatly devoid of life, as the characters were as dull and two-dimensional as wooden boards. The combat wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen in a game, but it took forever to get the necessary skills to stay on top of combat, and by then you just got used to button mashing between prayers. Beyond combat, half the skills in the game were worthless or used in only scripted situations that were easy enough to do without.
– Real player with 84.7 hrs in game
Risen
Annoying, old-fashioned and inconvenient
Graphics
-
Detailed landscapes, always something new to notice
-
Nice lighting that adds atmosphere
-
Characters barely move their body and are very stiff
-
Faces are barely animated
-
Low resolution textures
Sound
-
Brilliant background sound
-
German voice acting very good but only average English voice acting
-
Sound makes game come alive whether it is animal growling from meters away before you see them, nearby waterfalls or the chitchat of NPCs
– Real player with 93.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Gothic RPG Games.
There seem to be a lot of people reviewing Risen who are somewhere around 10-15 years old, because despite the game being only 9 years old, many have this weird impression that the game is old, dated, the graphics are ugly, and these players keep imposing retroactive standards on the game that have only really popped up in RPG gaming over the last few years. This suggests the reviewers are new to RPGs, new to gaming, and that their concepts of what an RPG should entail is informed more by the AAA games of the last 5 years than the bulk of RPG gaming history. Don’t let bad reviews deter you; Risen is a fantastic game.
– Real player with 62.5 hrs in game
DESOLUS
DESOLUS
Desolus is an atmospheric puzzle game where you explore a city of Gothic architecture torn between multiple universes. Solve surreal puzzles by twisting architecture with black holes, and travel between dimensions to navigate impossible space. Witness a cataclysm which threatens to merge past with future, and experience the final moments of a lost city.
Desolus has been awarded at numerous game festivals, including an exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, a nomination for ‘Innovation in Art and Narrative’ at the Boston Festival of Indie Games, and nominations for ‘Excellence in Art’ and ‘Excellence in Music’ at MAGFest.
FEATURES
-
Explore a hauntingly beautiful fractal-like city of immense interconnected Gothic architecture.
-
Solve surreal puzzles by manipulating black holes to send architecture between universes.
-
Seamlessly travel through portals which connect multiple universes and impossible spaces.
-
Listen to an atmospheric original piano soundtrack created by Kyle Landry.
Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods Enhanced Edition
Buy this only if you have a strong mind and a lot of willpower. The game itself still has a lot of bugs even on CRUCIAL QUESTS that the community Patch barely fix. I still had to use the console to do some stuff to end quests.
The lines and voice acting, while they put in a lot of time and work into them, some lines are much more complex than in the original game, most of them have no logic and the voice of the actors is sometimes muted (not to mention your voice isn’t the same as in the previous games, you’re more like an angry version of that guy).
– Real player with 34.9 hrs in game
Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods is the first and only expansion we got for original Gothic 3 and… and it feels like the exact opposite of everything we wanted from Gothic expansion. Do you remember the Night of the Raven expansion for Gothic 2 and how amazing it was? Well this one is absolutely NOTHING like that. First off I would love to say - there are good parts in the expansion, problem is, everything that is good on this expansion was ported over from original Gothic 3 - the soundtrack, the open world ( well, one third of it that is since you play only in Myrtana), the skill system etc, while all that was added/changed/modified has only been significantly donwgraded. Trine studios managed to prove that they are nothing like Piranha Bytes even though they have been given 2 YEARS to make ONE expansion and took basically all of the assets from G3 so only thing they could do is make at least decent storyline, add couple of new and interesting mechanics that would revitalized the combat system and maybe add a location or two and it could have at least been half decent - but no they just decided to spit in every fans face and present us with completely stupid storyline that doesn´t make any sense just so they could follow up with their second disappointment - Arcania. I cant recommend buying this even if you are super hardcore Gothic fan - go and play Gothic 3 - its bigger, packed with more content (and a better one at that) and in general much more enjoyable. This is a nasty portrayal of what sheer concentrated treason and disappointment look like.
– Real player with 21.4 hrs in game
Gothic 1
Gothic is an open world RPG created by Piranha – Bytes, and today it’s a classic cult title recommended to everyone who enjoys a role playing game, or an action title for that matter.
The player takes control of our hero, the nameless hero, who just happens to be imprisoned and sent into the colony. For those who don’t know, the colony is the king’s solution to the war with the orcs. In order to keep extracting the precious ore from the mines, but saving manpower, his highness ordered the magicians to create a dome surrounding the ore mines. Convicts are sent in, and when trying to leave the magical barrier kills anyone who dares to cross it.
– Real player with 67.8 hrs in game
Ambition unfulfilled
Disclaimer – Steam version of Gothic is flatout broken. It is likely that you will have to manually install patches just to get the game started. If you don’t mind such a thing, a little tinkering is recommended as community-made fixes greatly improve the game’s performance on newer hardware.
Gothic is an almost 20 years-old open-world RPG created by German studio Piranha Bytes and published by JoWood interactive. The game stars a classic fantasy setting with a fun little spin to it. The kingdom of man is invaded by an orc horde, and the only thing holding the line is wondrous equipment made out of magical ore. To fuel the war effort, a penal mining colony is established – no matter the crime, the punishment is mining of ore. In order to keep the convicts dedicated to the task a magical barrier is created over the mining colony. A blue dome that allows all things to enter, but no living thing to exit. Long enough a steady stream of magical ore leaves the colony, a steady stream of supplies flows inside. If you ever wanted to see a fantasy adaptation of the 1981’s Escape from New York, this is probably as close as you can get.
– Real player with 65.3 hrs in game
Gothic II: Gold Edition
The Gothic series and Gothic 2 (w/ addon) has a cult following in both Germany as well as Eastern Europe. Developed by a tiny indie studio it featured absolutely fantastic storytelling in a fantasy world without any of the usual high fantasy bullcrap. The entire Gothic series is low Fantasy, similar to the Witcher series, but not as grim. What makes Gothic 2 really shine, isn’t grittyness, but roughness. It is an unique RPG in the way that there is a difference between knocking someone out and actually killing them, meaning that bashing in a few heads is a viable strategy for many quests, without actually having to become a mass murderer. This allows for very intricate quest design and many memorable moments. It also spoils the inner child in me when I once again have the ability to verbally announce that the player character is going to plant his fist into the face of someone and most of the time, for good reason.
– Real player with 342.1 hrs in game
With most of the games what you see is what you get. But this isn’t the case. Gothic is a great game but Gothic 2 takes it on a whole new level. The amount of content, creativity and how much work the devs put into it is amazing. Another reminder that quality world building is important in games. Majority of devs don’t realize that having shit world design is a gamebreaker, so they just copy and paste same locations in a huge but empy world, make quests with obvious outcomes and no variety and dumb everything down. With this game though the bar was set so high that the devs from PB never managed to get close again. And likely they never will after Risen\Elex.
– Real player with 196.4 hrs in game
ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif
Fall of Setarrif is probably the most sorry excuse of an addon I personally have laid eyes upon. No wait, the sorriest is actually Forsaken Gods for Gothic 3, but this comes in very close.
The “addon” basically is nothing more than a 2-3hour premium priced actual ending to the absolute letdown of Arcania. While finishing the story for good, there is little to no content in this self proclaimed addon which has probably even less content than many DLC which are priced a third of the asking price. While I advise against getting Arcania in the first place, this addon should be avoided like the plague, not because it’s so terrible, it’s actually a bit better than most of Arcania, but the asking price and lack of content are outrageous. Being forced to buy this addon to be able to actually conclude the Arcania storyline is also a d*ck move from the old publisher Jowood. I don’t believe that THQ Nordic should be allowed making any profit off this either though, so do yourself a favour and steer around this.
– Real player with 31.4 hrs in game
In spite of my negative review for Arcania, my review for Arcania Fall of Setariff is positive (or at least positive enough).
My judgement probably depends on the fact that Arcania was such a huge disappointment that the small improvements that I was able to experience made this chapter partially enjoyable. Anyway…
PROs:
• At the beginning you can choose to export your old character from Arcania to this new chapter. Most of the items previously owned are available.
• The map was improved : you are still forced to follow the path without any chance of freedom during the gameplay, but, in a certain way, now this is less obvious. Furthermore, I like the fact that you need to challenge yourself with trapped/dangerous paths.
– Real player with 7.2 hrs in game
ArcaniA
I have a mixed feelings about this game. Certainly its Gothic game only by its name (sure there are monsters which look like exactly from Gothic series and they are named the same like the infamous meatbug for an example).
There is not skill system like they have in example Gothic 1 and 2. When you advance level you get 3 points where you can put into your so called skills such as Mettle, Discipline or Vigour skill lines. Each of these raise your stats in a different ways. Example if you put skill points into Precision skill line you raise your ranged power and mana by 1% every point you add (and when you put enough points into the skill lines you receive abilities such as steady hand which smoothers your aiming so it does not shake so much).
– Real player with 64.7 hrs in game
I waited I do not know how many years before playing Arcania. I remember I bought Arcania in the collector’s edition box, but I have never had a powerful enough PC to play it.
Finally, I was able to play it and finish it and I can say that Arcania is one of the worst sequels for a game ever. It is not just a saying, I really mean that. The whole story about the old hero, now possessed by a demon, and the new hero is just the transposition of the “bad” PiranhaBytes that did not join project Arcania and the new developers’ team. New hero, I have bad news for you: you suck.
– Real player with 54.3 hrs in game
Gothic® 3
Gothic 3, in its current form, is the definition of a mixed bag. While the release version was pushed out long before it was ready, the community managed to finish the job, in what I would call an unprecendented effort. The end result is great in some aspects and painfully lacking in others. Overall a decent package, but not for everyone.
First off: any of the following statements are based on the community-patched build, which is not included in Steam by default. In order to enjoy this game, I strongly recommend downloading the Community Patch 1.75 and the Humanforce Quest Pack 4. Without these, you will have a significantly worse time.
– Real player with 332.8 hrs in game
“Gothic 3 scored only 8/10 because producer JoWood ‘rushed out’ production…” that’s a funny complaint because an 8/10 from any major critic is a heavenly blessing upon a game like Gothic 3. Nobody who plays any of the Gothic or Risen games is ever on the fence about them; you either love them or wish that you could set the developer on fire.
Allow me to explain:
I love Gothic 3. I come back to it over and over even though by now the graphics are seriously dated (I had originally reviewed the game many years ago and called it beautiful) and I have discovered pretty much everything in the world that there is to discover. There are hours upon hours of quests and content in the game to keep you busy and most of them are pretty easy to figure out. Rarely do you have to trek across an entire continent (like in some other open world RPG’s out there) in order to pick up item x and then walk all the way back to drop it off. It happens… but it’s rare.
– Real player with 167.9 hrs in game