Gothic

Gothic is a single-player action role-playing game for Windows developed by the German company Piranha Bytes. It was first released in Germany on March 15, 2001, followed by the English version in North America eight months later on November 23, 2001, and the Polish version on March 28, 2002. Gothic was well received by critics, earning an average score of 80% and 81/100 on Game Rankings and Metacritic, respectively. Critics praised the game for its story, complex interaction with other game characters, and graphics, but criticized it for difficult controls and high system requirements.

Story

The main character has to complete quests and hunt down wild animals and monsters to earn skill points that can be used to increase their basic attributes, improve skills and learn professions. They are spent by finding the corresponding teacher. Some skills have only one "level" (sneaking, acrobatics), while combat skills (one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, bows and crossbows) have two power levels. If the hero decides to become a mage (or joins the swamp camp), he can learn magic circles, of which there are 6. The main attributes are increased in increments of 1 or 5 points, starting at 10 and ending at 100. The upper limit can be exceeded with potions. The game puts a special emphasis on the interactivity of the environment. For example, when you hunt wild animals, you get raw meat. This heals damage and can be sold. However, with a stove or a frying pan, the player can turn this meat into grilled meat, which heals much more effectively. Also, most activities that feature other characters (playing musical instruments, stirring soup pots, urinating, etc.) can be performed by the main character (with the exception of forging weapons, however, these activities have little impact on the game). The player can choose which camp he/she wants to join, although the quests become more linear and the differences between the various factions decrease later in the game. The biggest difference is that members of the swamp camp cannot become mages because they only have 4 (out of 6) magic circles. However, they do get access to magic sooner.