ArcaniA: Fall of Setarrif

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


Read More: Best Singleplayer RPG Games.


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: Fall of Setarrif on Steam

Gothic Playable Teaser

Gothic Playable Teaser

TL;DR

! Gothic is a timeless classic that managed to be serious competition for Morrowind, the Elder Scrolls game of its time. Offering a compelling and vastly branching storyline that encourages multiple replays, interesting characters, intricate crafting systems, multiple specialized classes and a semi-open world, it captivated millions for many years. Sadly the graphics and the controls didn’t age all that well, so THQ Nordic, who now own the rights and apparently dearly love the franchise, are trying to revive the game.

Real player with 11.4 hrs in game


Read More: Best Singleplayer RPG Games.


This isn’t the Gothic you remember, and it’s not the Gothic you deserve.

–-

This is a tech demo asking for player feedback so they can decide whether to bother making a full game. Neat idea? Somewhat, but it feels half hearted.

Rather than trying to be like the original Gothic, instead it’s a blend of Witcher with Skyrim and fails at being any of the three. You’ll find poorly implemented ideas from all of them borrowed openly and then draped over with janky combat and long drawn out unskippable cutscenes.

Real player with 7.9 hrs in game

Gothic Playable Teaser on Steam

Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods Enhanced Edition

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


Read More: Best Singleplayer RPG Games.


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 3: Forsaken Gods Enhanced Edition on Steam

Risen 3 - Titan Lords

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

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 3 - Titan Lords on Steam

Risen

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

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

Risen on Steam

Beyond the Sky

Beyond the Sky

More interesting reviews on our Fenol Baron Approves Curator Page

I fell in love with Beyond the Sky literally in the first few minutes of the game. With all that I was somewhat wary of the appearance of the main character in the screenshots, the original graphics, but when the game started, it all became clear and correct at once. Wonderful and skillful presentation of the material, a very correct approach to the presentation of the “dark” fairy tale / The last time the fairy tale so fascinated me in “King’s Quest” Chapter 1, it is very noticeable that the developers are guided by the old-school style of plotting the fairy tale, by playing around in the new fashionable trends.

Real player with 9.8 hrs in game

BRAVO! Wow, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I just finished it and started to tear up at the end. The story, art, music and puzzles work marvelously together. I am so impressed by how well thought out the entire game was. The puzzles were logical and challenging. I loved that I had to write things down with a pen and paper and really use my brain! Thank you for this breath of fresh air, please make more games like this!!!

Real player with 5.8 hrs in game

Beyond the Sky on Steam

Gothic 1881

Gothic 1881

A story with a nice twist in the end, albeit it is short.

Real player with 1.9 hrs in game

Utterly Pointless

Gothic 1881 is a very short (less than 2 hours) RPGMaker game that really fails to deliver anything meaningful. For less than $2, I did not expect much, but I have played games that are less than an hour long that have left more of an impact to me than this game does. The ideas are definitely there to be elaborated on, but the overall execution of the ideas is really lackluster and bland. If I had to be perfectly honest, this feels like someone’s college project.

Real player with 1.7 hrs in game

Gothic 1881 on Steam

Shining Hotel: Lost in Nowhere

Shining Hotel: Lost in Nowhere

Since I’ve opted to thumb this game up, I should start this review with a highly emphatic disclaimer, namely:

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME AT FULL PRICE, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. I bought it in a pack with another game for a smidgen under ten dollars, and it was still FAR TOO MUCH. This game is very, VERY short (twenty minutes, tops), and worth maybe two bucks at best. That said: I’ve never thumbed a game down purely on the basis of its price, and I’m not about to start here. You have, however, been warned. On with the review, then…

Real player with 1.3 hrs in game

nice experience, good story.. but very bad gameplay!

what is horror to these developers? seriously, is this even scary?

it’s more than a walking simulator!

I’m ok with the game length that everybody’s complaining about, but it’s not horror at all

it doesn’t worth this amount of money..

I’m sorry, but this is the truth

Real player with 0.9 hrs in game

Shining Hotel: Lost in Nowhere on Steam

The Land of Crows

The Land of Crows

One of the best portrayals of Cthulhu Mythos and Poe out there. Definitely a perfect lovecraftian game in my opinion. The game offers an amazing atmosphere of a desperate land full of polish culture. In fact, one can learn so much from playing this game. Inspirations are very promising and the game provides everything it claims. A really well-written and grim interactive book to read, so to speak.

The somber tale of a very romantic and “curious” polish nobleman filled with a lot of suffering and sorrow for melancholy fans. The most underrated game, I would say.

Real player with 10.1 hrs in game

An interesting adventure game that’s filled with Polish history, strange entities and ghosts, but there are a few areas that could be improved upon.

Intro

The Land of Crows is an indie side-scrolling horror adventure game that’s heavily inspired by gothic writer’s of old, such as Edgar Allen Poe and Goete. It was also inspired by classic thriller adventure games of the 90’s, which is why it utilizes an old school art style. When I first discovered the game it immediately reminded me think of games like Downfall or The Cat Lady due to its art style but this is a very different entity in its own right. Do read on to see what I thought of the game.

Real player with 8.8 hrs in game

The Land of Crows on Steam

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Oh Rats! No I’m serious actually…and bats as well. Just like a bat out of hell Dracula has furry friends in both low and high places. Awaken from an extremely long eternal night and find some nice necks to chomp on. Whip your blood back and forth (Whip it real good). Explore Dracula’s back to the future adventure. Talk about a miserable pile of secrets. You are the prince of darkness! The dragon Dracul! What a terrible night to have a curse.

This is the direct sequel to Lords of Shadow 1, which was one of my favorite Castlevania games. It feels like you are playing a medieval version of God of War. If you liked the GBA/DS SoTN style Metroidvania ones you might not enjoy this one.

Real player with 62.1 hrs in game

I think I need to add this to the “games that most people hated which I actually enjoyed” list. Admittedly, I’m biased because I really dig Castlevania, enjoyed the first Lords of Shadow and Mirror of Fate, and am a sucker for the idea of playing as Dracula himself. But even at its most frustrating moments, Lords of Shadow 2 isn’t nearly as bad as Edge Magazine (which gave it a 4/10) or any of the other mainstream reviews would have you believe.

Bloodsucking awesome stuff:

  • I feel like combat’s speedier and more responsive than it was in the first Lords of Shadow, and there’s less reliance on quicktime events. This might have to do with the fact that I’m just more experienced with the combat system after playing through the first game and Mirror of Fate, but I had a lot of fun beating up some of the bosses, which leads me to the next point…

Real player with 42.0 hrs in game

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 on Steam