Gothic 3

 PC
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 898 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 552 out of 898
  2. Mixed: 234 out of 898
  3. Negative: 112 out of 898
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. XMightyMx
    Sep 10, 2023
    7
    A totally mess when released and after that no support of the dev team since they literally lost the license of their own game. But the gothic community saved the game: Fan made patch (community patch) and mods (like the quest package) finished it. Today its a good game, with still nice graphics, a large open world and a wonderful soundtrack. But never play it without the fan made mods orA totally mess when released and after that no support of the dev team since they literally lost the license of their own game. But the gothic community saved the game: Fan made patch (community patch) and mods (like the quest package) finished it. Today its a good game, with still nice graphics, a large open world and a wonderful soundtrack. But never play it without the fan made mods or every wolf will kill you while youre wearing the paladine armor at level 50.… Expand
  2. PenetratorGod
    Aug 20, 2023
    6
    I'll start my review of Gothic 3 by saying that I found it to be a huge improvement over the first two games. The pace of the game is now much faster, and it has much better voice acting and controls. It's also much better at immersing the player because it gives you a huge world and encourages exploration, something I complained about a lot in the first two games.

    There are tons of    I'll start my review of Gothic 3 by saying that I found it to be a huge improvement over the first two games. The pace of the game is now much faster, and it has much better voice acting and controls. It's also much better at immersing the player because it gives you a huge world and encourages exploration, something I complained about a lot in the first two games.

    There are tons of side quests to do in different towns and villages and you don't even need to do them all. You can take your time and do them in the order you want, or even ignore them completely.

    Gothic 3 definitely managed to capture me in this regard. There's a certain amount of freedom, but at the same time the game doesn't lose its sense of direction. There's still the main story going on in the background, which you can go back to if you want, but towards the later stages the difficulty starts to escalate and so you may be forced to do side quests to level up more and improve.

    The combat system is not as bad as in the first two games, but it's quite problematic. You get used to it though, so I don't think it's much of a drawback. The game also has a really great soundtrack that definitely creates a nice atmosphere while exploring. The whole continent is divided into 3 main regions, Myrtana, a beautiful grassy area with lots of forests and open spaces, Nordmar, a snowy region in the north and finally Varant, a hot, desert region in the south.

    Now, even though I consider Gothic 3 to be a better game compared to the other two games, there are still a lot of little issues that I haven't mentioned. One of the things I really want to criticize is the lack of character customization. I think the game could have greatly improved my view of the game if it allowed the player to create their own character.

    Other drawbacks: Some parts of the game are very frustrating, some of the map is confusing and disorienting, and there are occasional problems with the AI of the NPCs.

    For example, at the entrance to one of the villages, there was a tamed Ice Golem that kept trying to attack me every time I walked past it, even though it wasn't aggressive and I don't recall ever making it aggressive or anything like that. As soon as I approached it, it senselessly literally saw me as an enemy.

    Other than that I didn't encounter any major bugs and the game never crashed. Overall, Gothic 3 is enjoyable and I think it surpasses Gothic 1 and 2 in every aspect. Anyone who thinks otherwise is probably a fan of Gothic 1 and 2 and has nostalgic memories of those games.

    Nostalgia is a big weapon for game companies and some gamers can be blinded by nostalgia. They can't see reality. As an objective eye, even if I played the first two games in today's conditions, after what I saw, if I had played the first and second games in their release years, my opinions would be more or less the same.

    The Gothic series isn't as good and polished as the Elder Scrolls games it's trying to be, but they can be fun in their own way, and if you really want to get into the series you can skip 1 and 2 and start straight from game 3.    … Expand
  3. Renat20
    May 6, 2023
    7
    The game disappointed me and not only me. I was expecting the game to be better than Gothic 2, but it is better only in some minor things. Overall it is worse.
  4. Vzhik
    Nov 25, 2022
    7
    Коммьюнити сильно хейтит игру, что меня останавливало от прохождения. Исправлены ли модами претензии, я так и не понял, но похоже что нет. Но по порядку.
    Хотел просто глянуть "что там" и прошел, в отличии от кучи заброшенного.
    Накатил Альтернативный баланс и фиксы все сущесвующие - Parallel Universe и Gothic_3_EE_Patch . Стартанул магом (как всегда), и через несколько часов просто    Коммьюнити сильно хейтит игру, что меня останавливало от прохождения. Исправлены ли модами претензии, я так и не понял, но похоже что нет. Но по порядку.
    Хотел просто глянуть "что там" и прошел, в отличии от кучи заброшенного.
    Накатил Альтернативный баланс и фиксы все сущесвующие - Parallel Universe и Gothic_3_EE_Patch . Стартанул магом (как всегда), и через несколько часов просто застрял. Урона не хватает, мана заканчивается, противники ложат с двух ударов. Выяснилось что в игре есть уровни сложности, переключил на легкий и пошло дело! Магия, мечи. сеттинг отличный, история продвигается. В один момент понял что Сосуды для создания Зелий маны в игре не бесконечны, и где я их столько буду брать непонятно. Но оказалось все пороше. Реген маны. Куча интересных решений, чуть не угробил всех учителей для себя. Но как и первой части, самые мощные заклинания так и не дали. Игра закончилась. Пошел по пути мира за Ксардосом.
    Теперь объективно. Открытий мир? Отлично во второй части он тоже открытий, хоть и не такой большой. Куча квестов - шикардос, половина сами выполняются ничего делать не надо. Есть которые надо попотеть что выполнить? Да, есть.
    Ну а субъективно - вторая часть казалась чем-то завязанным в один тугой клубок, который надо распутывать очень старательно дергая за ниточки квестов, прокачки, фарма и вырезания врагов. Тут же простор для действий и делай что хочешь - три концовки, куча фракций. Минус ли это? Хз.
    Но для любителей жанра, стоит глянуть.    … Expand
  5. WhiteAndromeda
    Nov 21, 2022
    5
    5 - Mediocre game.

    Advantages: +still good graphics and design of locations is also nice. +great OST. +exploring can be pretty interesting +there are still some entertaining quests in game (but amount cannot be compared nor to Gothic 2, nor to Oblivion, nor to excellent modern games). +plenty of options to develop character and open new skills (but*). Disadvantages: -terrible    5 - Mediocre game.

    Advantages:
    +still good graphics and design of locations is also nice.
    +great OST.
    +exploring can be pretty interesting
    +there are still some entertaining quests in game (but amount cannot be compared nor to Gothic 2, nor to Oblivion, nor to excellent modern games).
    +plenty of options to develop character and open new skills (but*).

    Disadvantages:
    -terrible technical issues across all the game (lags, stuttering, crashes and other minor problems)
    -no plot at all, no unique scenes, enemies and situations for story quests.
    -removed all immersive functions like creating runes, smithing with more interaction and etc.
    -combat system is a bit clever, but not enough, so it's still boring and NOW it takes more of the gamer's time, but don't deliver pleasure from the fight.
    -(but*) feeling of game progression is BROKEN AT ALL, character can defeat almost everyone at the start of the game without real problem and the most dangerous enemies are the one with swift attacks like GOBLINS and BOARS.    … Expand
  6. IdleSpace
    Oct 27, 2022
    6
    Худшая часть серии.
    Яркий пример того, что больше - не значит лучше.
    Игра стала гигантской, но этот гигантизм не наполнен ничем интересным (за редким исключением). Куча предметного мусора, рандомная генерация предметов 99% сундуков, перегруз по врагам (местная боевка не настолько увлекательна, чтобы к середние игры не начать избегать стычки), однообразная зачистка городов и решение    Худшая часть серии.
    Яркий пример того, что больше - не значит лучше.
    Игра стала гигантской, но этот гигантизм не наполнен ничем интересным (за редким исключением).
    Куча предметного мусора, рандомная генерация предметов 99% сундуков, перегруз по врагам (местная боевка не настолько увлекательна, чтобы к середние игры не начать избегать стычки), однообразная зачистка городов и решение проблем населения, 2/3 квестов типа "убей Х врагов, принеси У предметов" (причем Х и У могут быть очень большими числами).
    От игры можно получить удовольствие, но только если ограничиться первой третью прохождения. Дальше будет сложнее с этим.    … Expand
  7. GuidoTheHare
    Jul 19, 2022
    5
    Rendimiento malo, combates sosos, y una historia que no te engancha. Este videojuego debería haberse acabado ya la saga si se les acabase las ideas en como seguir la trama. La jugabilidad esta bien y la banda sonora lo mejor.
  8. Izoeros
    Jun 5, 2022
    5
    ййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййййй
  9. Amorph0us
    Jan 12, 2022
    7
    They say that the story was worse than the 2 previous titles. I did not found out so and I would say that gameplay was better by far... The problem was that it was too repetitive and felt like grinding at some times.
  10. kolarz3
    Oct 7, 2021
    7
    Nice game in the Gothic universe but it's far less enjoyable than Gothic 2,1. The graphic is nice but the fight system is not so much interesting. Nice story but without fireworks
  11. Le0nidas
    Sep 25, 2021
    7
    It was a huge disappointment since Gothic I and II were truly masterpieces. But with some community patches this game will still bring you a lot of fun. Its sad that developers didnt have the time to produce a better quality game.
  12. Torgall
    Dec 12, 2020
    6
    Big step down. Incredibly buggy release combined with poor optimization that made even good PC struggle. World is insanely big if you compare it to Gothic 2, but it luck the polish that the previous game. You have a lot of cities, camps and NPC but most of them are just bland, even the plot is really weak.
  13. Kai82
    Oct 19, 2020
    5
    Gothic 3 does not live up to the prequels. It has even more bugs and the producer Mike Hoge said in an interview it was unfinished at the release date. You can see that it was rushed but luckily the community patches helped a lot. The story continues after the events of Gothic 2. The nameless hero (running gag as he is interrupted every time he wants to introduce himself) returns to theGothic 3 does not live up to the prequels. It has even more bugs and the producer Mike Hoge said in an interview it was unfinished at the release date. You can see that it was rushed but luckily the community patches helped a lot. The story continues after the events of Gothic 2. The nameless hero (running gag as he is interrupted every time he wants to introduce himself) returns to the mainland. There he immediately noticed that the war with the orcs is gone bad and nearly all of Myrtana is conquered. However it is not that black and white. He has to solve the crisis and restore the country. I am vague on purpose because there are many fractions you can support. The orcs are not that evil and maybe hard but fair is a valid description (you meet the more uncivilized once in the previous games). Also the human king Rhobar was the one who forced you and everyone even suspected of a crime into working at the ore mine, ordered the creation of the deadly barrier and ruined his country or to be fair could not avoid this situation. The story is engaging but often you are overwhelmed by the size of the world and fractions. It is painful to get the highest approval from all factions and restart in all cities at low approval rating. The world is huge and separated into 3 big parts. Myrtana where you start, the Northlands (Viking themed) and Varant (Dessert and Assassin themed). There is a lot to explorer. Nearly the whole world is open for you at the beginning. Same warning as always. While you are not completely weakened as before there are enemies that will kill you faster than you can react especially in groups early on. The level up system is the same as before. Gain experience points, level up and improve or learn new skills (trainers needed). You can even learn more than ever. For itself it sounds and described as the other games. But it feels uneasy. I struggled to get into the game and it is overwhelming at some points. There are also the bugs that plague the game and exploits you can use. I think 1 or 2 years of additional development were needed. The graphics were praiseworthy at its time but demanding as hell back then. The soundtrack was really good. Overall it lacks the immersion and emotional attachment of the prequels. It is a shame as I see the great potential. If done right this could have been the crown jewel of the franchise. It is somehow enjoyable but nothing to write home or to remember. It is an unfinished masterpiece that you barley recognize as potential masterpiece. Use the patches as it is a mess without them (As before you can read the descriptions what was fixed to get an understanding).… Expand
  14. MatikTheSeventh
    Oct 10, 2020
    7
    While the game is buggy and not very well thought out and the story was taken through some weird moments, it has a certain likeability that I cannot shake off. Sure, it looks dated even more than its sequel and sometimes doesn't respect its predecessor's plot, it is an awesome culmination of the Hero's story.
  15. Grdnfreeman
    Jul 26, 2020
    5
    Gothic 2 en sevdiğim rpg ler arasında ilk 5 e giriyorsa, gothic 3 te en sevmediğim rpgler arasından ilk 3 e girer. Oyunu 62 saat oynadım ve çözümü olmayan bir bugla karşılaştım internette çok araştırdım sorunu çözemedim ve oyunu bırakmak zorunda kaldım. 5 puan vermemim sebebi tabi ki sadece bug değil.
    1_Combat sistemi; combat sistemi o kadar kötü ki hiç üzerine düşünülmemiş, hiç    Gothic 2 en sevdiğim rpg ler arasında ilk 5 e giriyorsa, gothic 3 te en sevmediğim rpgler arasından ilk 3 e girer. Oyunu 62 saat oynadım ve çözümü olmayan bir bugla karşılaştım internette çok araştırdım sorunu çözemedim ve oyunu bırakmak zorunda kaldım. 5 puan vermemim sebebi tabi ki sadece bug değil.
    1_Combat sistemi; combat sistemi o kadar kötü ki hiç üzerine düşünülmemiş, hiç uğraşılmamış, özensiz, sadece mouse spamlayarak düşman öldürüyoruz bundan kötüsü var mıdır?
    2_Dengesiz düşmanlar: öyle bir oyun düşünün ki güçsüz olması gereken kurt ve domuzlar oyunun en güçlüleri , ama güçlü olması gereken troller, shadowbeastler en güçsüzleri. Oyunu 30 saatt zorda oynadıktan sonra normal zorluk ayarına almak zorunda kaldım sırf bu dengesiz güç dağılımı yüzünden. Alt tarafı kurt kesecez toplu dalıyorlar şansın yok.Zombi kesecez çöle 100 tane zombiyi salmışlar kes babam kes sabaha kadar uğraş mouse spamlamaktan yoruldum eski gothiclerde 3-4 düşman olurdu burada kopyala yapıştır misali basmışlar düşmanları saatlerce uğraş.
    3_ Tekrar eden görevler ve hikayesi olmayan görevler mmorpg misali şunu topla şunu kes şunu getir lan bi ara hikaye olsun bi görevde. Hepsi aynı, yok post getir, yok ore getir vs.
    4_ Gelişememe sorunu: o kadar paladin zırhı amulet ring kılıç çektim tamam dedim güçlendim yine aynı hasarı yi kurtlardan yiyorum değişen birşey yok meğer bu zırh puanlarının bir önemi yokmuş önemli olan sağlığı geliştirmekmiş saçmalığa bak.
    Daha da yazılır saçmalıklar şuan aklıma gelen bunlar bu oyuna 9-10 puan verenler muhtemelen nostalji damarları kabardığı için vermiştir çocukluk oyunu olduğu için yoksa gerçekten bu puanı vermelerini anlamak mümkün değil    … Expand
  16. kabskannar12
    May 16, 2020
    6
    I just couldn't like this series. Not that I play in comparison to the 2020 period. I don't even have any expectations. But I couldn't finish the game. After 2 or 3 hours of play, 10 or 15 hours, the game gets so boring that it doesn't come. The story is very messy and untidy. The gameplay is repeating. There are bugs everywhere.
  17. GraysonUA
    Mar 31, 2020
    6
    Ехх, таку гру про**и. Гра, яку стало можливо грати через кілька років завдяки фанатам. Але всеж ніхто не відібрав у неї цікавих персонажів і ситуацій. Ну це точно не те завершення трилогії, яку вона заслужила.
  18. zbysiek123456
    Sep 13, 2019
    6
    Good game but I don't feel spirit of classic Gothic I i 2 and Night of the Raven. Still can be played and enjoyed.
  19. ErtYwek
    Jan 30, 2019
    7
    Glitched but still very good game. I would tell the game has most beautiful map from all Gothic Saga.
    Music great but don't have this 'magic touch' like in Gothic II. Still waiting for next Gothic :]
  20. Caerleon
    Dec 15, 2018
    5
    I can't call "It" Gothic. Yes, there are recognizable characters, but this is not enough. This is a real failure. Terrible twin brother.

    I remember those times. When Piranha Bytes laughed at Elder scrolls 4 because of the unplayability of a bunch of bugs. However, When Gothic released it was terrible in every sense: low fps on powerful computers, broken quests, a large number of bugs.    I can't call "It" Gothic. Yes, there are recognizable characters, but this is not enough. This is a real failure. Terrible twin brother.

    I remember those times. When Piranha Bytes laughed at Elder scrolls 4 because of the unplayability of a bunch of bugs. However, When Gothic released it was terrible in every sense: low fps on powerful computers, broken quests, a large number of bugs.

    Let's start with a terrible combat system. No more combo attacks. Only three actions: fast attack, strong attack, block. Any fight boils down to a quick spam light attacks. Magic has become much worse. The most boring gameplay for a magician.

    Yes, there was an open world, but what's the point? Was crowded locations, where given a trivial and boring task, and next to them an empty area.    … Expand
  21. Gelaos
    Sep 20, 2018
    5
    The worst game from Piranha Bytes, it's not Gothic in any way. I almost regret finishing this game...

    Story is nonexistent, combat is stupid clickfest (Actually, "stupid" can't express how much bad, bad the combat is.), character development useless (e.g. it doesn't matter what skills you have, everything's clickfest all the same), absolutely horrible quests (99 % is like "bring me 5    The worst game from Piranha Bytes, it's not Gothic in any way. I almost regret finishing this game...

    Story is nonexistent, combat is stupid clickfest (Actually, "stupid" can't express how much bad, bad the combat is.), character development useless (e.g. it doesn't matter what skills you have, everything's clickfest all the same), absolutely horrible quests (99 % is like "bring me 5 flowers", "kill 5 wolves"). I could go on and on describing how much shallow this game is.

    However, I liked first 5-10 hours, graphics and music is nice. But Gothic 3 is 50-80 hours long and not in a single moment did I feel any sense of actually achieving something in this game.    … Expand
  22. Kaszmiro
    Nov 1, 2017
    7
    After patching this game and istalling fan mods like content mod and quest pack. I can easily say that it's one of the best rpgs.
    Pros
    + Giant open world with a lot of cities + Good immersion through working for certain factions + Interesting plot of human and orcs war + Complete freedom + Crafting system + A lot of fractions COns - Combat system is awful, when u get hit u are    After patching this game and istalling fan mods like content mod and quest pack. I can easily say that it's one of the best rpgs.
    Pros
    + Giant open world with a lot of cities
    + Good immersion through working for certain factions
    + Interesting plot of human and orcs war
    + Complete freedom
    + Crafting system
    + A lot of fractions
    COns
    - Combat system is awful, when u get hit u are basically dead because enemy just keeps wrecking you till you are dead
    - Character development isn't very significant
    - Side quests aren't a masterpiece
    - Enemy mages are so powerful    … Expand
  23. KayVen17
    Jan 4, 2017
    5
    Deutsche Review - Kritik

    Der folgende Test ist in 5 Kategorien zusammengefasst. Diese 5 Kartegorien ergeben die Gesamtpunktzahl von 0 - 100 Punkten. Um einen passenden Userscore zu geben wird auf oder abgerundet. Bei 84 Punkten ergibt das einen User Score von 8. Bei 86 einen von Userscore von 9. Falls eine 85 kommt entscheide ich ob ich es eher positiv oder negativ nehme. Regeln    Deutsche Review - Kritik

    Der folgende Test ist in 5 Kategorien zusammengefasst. Diese 5 Kartegorien ergeben die Gesamtpunktzahl von 0 - 100 Punkten. Um einen passenden Userscore zu geben wird auf oder abgerundet. Bei 84 Punkten ergibt das einen User Score von 8. Bei 86 einen von Userscore von 9. Falls eine 85 kommt entscheide ich ob ich es eher positiv oder negativ nehme. Regeln verstanden?
    Dann sind hier meine Punkte.

    Mein persönlicher Score = 47/100
    Mein User Score = 5/10    … Expand
  24. ljt2000
    Dec 1, 2016
    6
    This game had the potential to be good, but publishers forced this game to be released before it was finished to compete with games like Oblivion, and it shows. You expect bugs in big open world games, but no where near as frequently or game breaking for that matter, the voice acting just stops working at a certain point and you have to rely on the subtitles. I know all of this was fixedThis game had the potential to be good, but publishers forced this game to be released before it was finished to compete with games like Oblivion, and it shows. You expect bugs in big open world games, but no where near as frequently or game breaking for that matter, the voice acting just stops working at a certain point and you have to rely on the subtitles. I know all of this was fixed in a patch, but relying on the community to fix the game is unacceptable, the community's job is not to finish the game-it's to play the game. And yes most games have unofficial patches but most games are also playable before you install the patch.… Expand
  25. johnnybgood8
    Jun 18, 2016
    6
    Ok Ill will review this game and I will compare it with Oblivion-the concurent at that time when they are released.

    I was playing this game on 1.75 community patch. First I will start with Pros: Pros: -Graphics. They are pretty good for that time and now they are ok. Vegetation is very nice, models also. Cons: 1. The worst engine ever created. Ok-at the release this was bug fest.    Ok Ill will review this game and I will compare it with Oblivion-the concurent at that time when they are released.

    I was playing this game on 1.75 community patch. First I will start with Pros:
    Pros:
    -Graphics. They are pretty good for that time and now they are ok. Vegetation is very nice, models also.

    Cons:
    1. The worst engine ever created. Ok-at the release this was bug fest. Its not only bugs and glitches in game but CDT so many times. Now its fine but stuttering is still there. Also, there isnt loading screen in game but you will feel stuttering when zone loading in the background. I was playing this game on: Athlon x2 5600+ (way over the spec), 2gb ram ddr2 (512 required), hd4650 512mb (128-256 required). How someone played this game at the release I guess cuz now on this PC I had 20-30fps???
    2. Dialogues-they are basic and poor. Worse than in oblivion. But, voice acting is little better than in Oblivion. Still actors sometimes read lines without any feeling or motivation.
    3. Combat system-one of the worst ever. You just spam clicks and thats it. I didn't try magic but archery is kinda fine. You can still get stunlock and die. Oblivion>Gothic 3
    4. Animations-poor animations.
    5. Quests!!! Main story isn't that good just like in Oblivion. But in the Oblivion you have epic side quests in many of the guilds, dark brotherhood, thieves guild etc...Here you only have quests like-kill this, kill that, steal that, bring x ammount of...kill this npc...99% of quests. Oblivion>Gothic 3
    6. Armor and weapons-where are they??? I mean you can loot some weapons but you are buying armor for a lot of gold coins. And there are only few types of armor. Compared to Oblivion, its tiiiiny.

    Now about some subjective things.
    -Useless map and compas. Yes I like to have marker on the map and know where Im going. Here you are forced to explore the world. The only problem is lot of stuttering while doing that and its not fun!
    -LOOOOOOOOOOADING TIMES. Loading a quick save is like 45+sec.... don't die!!!
    -No memorable characters.
    -I didn't like character building and learning new things. U need to go to special NPC and that learn different things. I didn't like that.
    For the Gothic fans-you should play this game. And also some hard core fans too. Try it ofc, but with community patch!!!
    In the end-for me, Oblivion is a much better game overall.    … Expand
  26. Dobian
    Jul 15, 2015
    7
    I finally got this game cheap on Steam after all these years. I had played the first two in the series and always wanted to finish the story of the nameless hero, but I had heard what a buggy mess Gothic 3 was. I played this on version 1.75.14 of the community patch. Even with the patch and playing on a modern computer, the game still lags. The good news is that when I wasn't hitting thoseI finally got this game cheap on Steam after all these years. I had played the first two in the series and always wanted to finish the story of the nameless hero, but I had heard what a buggy mess Gothic 3 was. I played this on version 1.75.14 of the community patch. Even with the patch and playing on a modern computer, the game still lags. The good news is that when I wasn't hitting those lag spikes, the frame rate was mostly very smooth at high settings. The game was also pretty stable, it only crashed maybe five times the whole time I played, and always when I created a bunch of mayhem in a town. And this was in 120 hours of playing. There were some other noticeable bugs, though. On a couple of occasions, npc's somehow got ten feet in the air, or disappeared under the ground. When sneaking sometimes the camera would switch from my character to a nearby npc and I couldn't get it back. When standing on a boulder to shoot at animals attacking me, they sometimes clipped inside the boulder and actually bit me through the rock from below. And I had to spawn King Rhobar with a console command because he did not appear in his throne room. None of this made the game unplayable, but it's very noticeable after playing much more polished games like Skyrim.

    Gothic 3 differs from the first two in that it follows the open world model of Elder Scrolls. Personally, I prefer the narrative structure of the first two games to the sandbox approach. There is a story that slowly reveals itself as you travel across Myrtana, and you meet several old friends from the earlier games like Diego, Milten, Lares, Vatras, and Lester. The short of it is, the orcs rule Myrtana, the remaining free human settlements are in the mountains of Nordmar, and the Hashishin rule the desert in Varant. You have the freedom to choose who you want to side with: orcs, humans, Hashishin, nomads. Or you can just ally yourself with your old friend Xardas, who is squirreled away in a tower in the mountains. One thing I've always liked about the Gothic series, similar to Witcher, is that character and plot development is driven by actions and consequences over the abstract concept of good versus evil. That said, the weak narrative structure of Gothic 3 makes it hard to get really invested in the story. I literally only had one meaningful interaction with Xardas in my whole game that lasted all of two minutes. And the ending of the main story was completely underwhelming. No epic final boss battle, just perform a certain task and report back. The End. When you play a game for over a hundred hours, you expect something a little grander.

    The world of Gothic 3 is great. It's huge, and varied, and visually it still looks good nine years after its release. It's also very much alive, with wildlife that behaves like wildlife. They sleep, they hunt, they even leave you alone if you keep your distance or move past them quickly without loitering. Humans and orcs live their daily lives, eating, drinking, reveling. The game has tons of dialogue, and while the voice acting has been criticized, I enjoyed that pretty much everyone you meet in the game actually talks. Characters are believable as well. No black-and-white good or evil like in other games. The orcs are occupiers, but have a complex working relationship with the enslaved humans. They are for the most part noble and honorable. I even came to like them, though ultimately I betrayed them.

    Playing with auto balancing turned on in the community patch version made character development choices much more meaningful. With a limited number of learning points to spend, I made my guy a hunter/fighter with absolutely no magic abilities. He also was skilled as a thief and an alchemist, with a little bit of smithing. This made the game much more enjoyable from a role play aspect, and made it challenging throughout versus having some uber god character at the end. The combat itself was horrible, and I didn't even bother swinging my sword until I finally saved up for some paladin armor. My character's movement and reaction time in melee combat was so slow and clunky that taking on more than one enemy at a time was serious trouble. Even in the later levels, my master duel wield swordsman still had to resort to whittling enemies down with arrows before moving in with his swords.

    All-in-all, I had a lot of fun with Gothic 3, but the bugs, weak narrative, and combat keep it from being great.    … Expand
  27. smilzoboboz
    Apr 24, 2015
    7
    Let me start this review by thanking all the people who completed the game, with the so called Community Patch, from where the original developers left it. This game without the Community Patch was just a game in beta phase with a bunch of objectively wrong decisions, a lot of gamebreaking bugs and crashes.

    After this needed introduction, I have to say that there's a reason why the    Let me start this review by thanking all the people who completed the game, with the so called Community Patch, from where the original developers left it. This game without the Community Patch was just a game in beta phase with a bunch of objectively wrong decisions, a lot of gamebreaking bugs and crashes.

    After this needed introduction, I have to say that there's a reason why the community wanted this game to be actually playable and enjoyable: the premises and the general realization was (is) awesome.
    Gothic 3 is a open-world game that really makes you feel what world means. There are huge snowy mountains, with cliffs and such on the north, there are hills, swamps, lakes, plains up to the mighty desert on south. All this awesomeness filled with a glorious soundtrack and stunning cities.
    So, what can possibly go wrong? Bugs, crashes, bad UI choices.
    Of course Gothic 3 is not just a nice world, there's also complete freedom to do whatever you want and become whoever you want.

    I'd like therefore to recommend this game to RPG fans, not only because of the "historical" importance of this game, but also because even today it's fun to be played. The value you see on this review is intended for the "base" game only, community patch is almost a brand new game.    … Expand
  28. AbusBambus
    Mar 9, 2015
    6
    If you're new to the series, better get the first two games. Unfortunately, this game is largely being overshadowed by the excellent predecessors. While the game is mostly playable now, thanks to the help of some community patches, the game wasn't really released in a feature-complete state, which you can see in many aspects. A lot of CORE game features either weren't really finalized, notIf you're new to the series, better get the first two games. Unfortunately, this game is largely being overshadowed by the excellent predecessors. While the game is mostly playable now, thanks to the help of some community patches, the game wasn't really released in a feature-complete state, which you can see in many aspects. A lot of CORE game features either weren't really finalized, not well though-out, or just badly imlemented, that's something no community patch can ever fix.… Expand
  29. Thothistox
    Jun 22, 2014
    6
    I played with the community patch, and a high-powered rig (GTX 780, Intel i7). The game is built on an engine without any occlusion capabilities, and it has only one resolution distance threshold, which means the graphics look like you're in a "resolution bubble" -- hideous. The game ran well on my rig, but the engine is so bad that I have no idea how anyone managed to run this on aI played with the community patch, and a high-powered rig (GTX 780, Intel i7). The game is built on an engine without any occlusion capabilities, and it has only one resolution distance threshold, which means the graphics look like you're in a "resolution bubble" -- hideous. The game ran well on my rig, but the engine is so bad that I have no idea how anyone managed to run this on a playable frame rate back when it was released. It's truly a monument to poor engineering for a graphics engine.

    The game itself feels like a Gothic game in the spirit of Gothic 1 and 2 and it has a few moments when it is genuinely fun, but a lot of the magic has faded. Gothic 3 is thin on everything except exploration. C&C comes down to an opinion score for each faction. You don't change the world a whole lot except for wiping out entire towns, which is what you have to do to finish the game. (It feels awkward to have to kill people who were sometimes your earlier quest givers.) The plot fizzles out suddenly and the game ends abruptly and is unsatisfying.

    Questing consists of too many fetch and fedex missions, and not enough C&C between quests. Still, a few quests were interesting and managed to captivate me.

    I only finished the game once, but I get the impression that there comes a point when you can't do some of the quests anymore and the game doesn't bother to tell you that and fail them. Instead, you're expected to pick a side and start wiping out entire villages. The discontinuity is a bit immersion-breaking, a relief though it may ultimately be.

    Combat is very difficult at first, and then it suddenly becomes very easy. I became a mage and had a lot of trouble until I learned the fireball spell, which is what I used to kill almost everything for the rest of the game. I finished the game with well over 100 unspent talent points, and the second half of it lacked any challenge. Because your character cannot aim spells, they made it easier to hit targets by making your projectiles seek them. It's like having an infinite supply of heat-seeking missiles that destroy everything.

    As you might have guessed, the variety of spells (and other talents too) is much smaller in this game.

    Most of the game seems to consist of looting, and you end up with an overabundance of everything. I finished the game with hundreds of thousands of useless gold pieces and hundreds of unneeded potions that I saved up for that big final fight that never came.

    The variety of armors and weapons is lacking compared with earlier versions of Gothic. My mage wore 3-4 armors for the whole game, and spent 50% of the game wearing one set, which wasn't even appropriate for his class. I used roughly 3 weapons the whole game.

    Level design can be quite pretty in points. The desert and grasslands are pretty, even if they overdo it with the waterfalls. The transition to the wintery Nordmar part is atmospheric, but unfortunately the level design in Nordmar is annoyingly labyrinthine, and it becomes a long boring maze after all the enemies in it have been wiped out.

    The music is good in some areas, such as the desert, but in others it is inappropriately sentimental and sometimes outright jarring. The lack of variety in music for such a huge area really wore me out after a while. My girlfriend said I must be watching Lassie re-runs.

    Over all the game still feels unfinished, like there isn't enough of anything and as if the C&C is too shallow. On the other hand, Gothic 3 does (barely) maintain world consistency, which is more than can be said of modern titles like Skyrim, which don't really have C&C and are essentially a modular bundle of fetch quests.    … Expand
  30. juricasaravanja
    Oct 31, 2013
    6
    I got this game as a gift. I am not a huge fun of the series, but it has a few bright moments.
    The amount of bugs in this game instantly ruins whatever experience it aimed to achieve. Anyway I got to the end and it is not so terrible as you may think.
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Most Discussed PC Game of 2006
10
#10 Most Shared PC Game of 2006

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
63

Mixed or average reviews - based on 39 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 39
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 39
  3. Negative: 7 out of 39
  1. PC Zone UK
    85
    The game manages to blend just the right amounts of combat, NPC interaction, character development, exploration, and epic save-the-world storytelling into the sort of potion that your typical beardie will gulp down with wild-eyed abandon. [Dec 2006, p.94]
    Read full review
  2. Eurogamer
    80
    At times gorgeous, at other times frustrating, it's worth persevering with just to bask in its snug atmosphere.
    Read full review
  3. PC Format
    65
    Ditch your standards and enjoy shaping a mediocre world to your will. [Dec 2006, p.105]
See all critic reviews »