Arcania: Gothic 4

 Xbox 360
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 73 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 73
  3. Negative: 29 out of 73
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  1. DanoDB
    Oct 21, 2010
    8
    I will start by saying that I am enjoying this game. I think that comparing this (or ANY other RPG) to Oblivion isn't a fair comparison. Oblivion was a remarkable game that set THE standard for an open-world RPG, but using it as a benchmark for any game even -remotely- in the RPG genre is misleading. There is far more to the RPG experience than stunning graphics and/or control schemes.

    I    I will start by saying that I am enjoying this game. I think that comparing this (or ANY other RPG) to Oblivion isn't a fair comparison. Oblivion was a remarkable game that set THE standard for an open-world RPG, but using it as a benchmark for any game even -remotely- in the RPG genre is misleading. There is far more to the RPG experience than stunning graphics and/or control schemes.

    I enjoy RPGs that allow me to explore a fantasy world, be part of an engaging story, and watching my character progress. Arcania does that very well. For some, the graphics may seem unpolished, but the game drew me in...and suspended my disbelief. I guess I don't mind my imagination filling in some gaps that the developers may have left.    … Expand
  2. RavenWolfx
    Oct 22, 2010
    6
    Unfortunately, there are more than a few issues with this game that knocked the game down from a higher score. The graphics are about average at best, with the female characters in the game being pretty fugly in the facial area. By design, foliage disappears as it is near you so you can see any items on the ground, but this actually makes the game look worse since you have constant pop-inUnfortunately, there are more than a few issues with this game that knocked the game down from a higher score. The graphics are about average at best, with the female characters in the game being pretty fugly in the facial area. By design, foliage disappears as it is near you so you can see any items on the ground, but this actually makes the game look worse since you have constant pop-in and fade around you. The enemies are really standard without much variety. The quests are run-of-the-mill affair, with the plot quests having the annoying "do this for this guy, but you can't until you do this other thing for this other guy, but oh wait you have to do this first, etc." There is not any character customization so everyone gets to use the same guy, though different armor and weapons make your character look different. There are several glitches, usually involving the clipping with area walls. There is just too many flaws and not enough good qualities to offset buying this game. I do recommend a rental (my endgame time was less than 12 hours) just not a $60 buy.… Expand
  3. Nosradna
    Mar 30, 2011
    5
    Arcania Gothic IV is a generic and AVERAGE RPG. First everyone starts as the same male character. The leveling system is very basic with only a few ways to differentiate characters. The achievements are impossible to attain in one play through. Three are collections based (the collectibles are impossible without a cheat book) and another achievement is based on selling every possible itemArcania Gothic IV is a generic and AVERAGE RPG. First everyone starts as the same male character. The leveling system is very basic with only a few ways to differentiate characters. The achievements are impossible to attain in one play through. Three are collections based (the collectibles are impossible without a cheat book) and another achievement is based on selling every possible item in the game. Combat is intuitive but switching between weapons is a bit clunky. NPC interaction is generic with no variable conversations and the voice acting is bland. The game is also very LINEAR and short in content (I completed all the quests and finished the game in 20 hours). I have come to expect an open world to explore however this game allows you to unlock small areas once you have completed the prior quest. DON'T BUY!! RENT this game… Expand
  4. czaczi87
    Oct 25, 2010
    5
    I'm very sad to say this, but the game is a dumbed-down Gothic. No, scratch that. This is not a Gothic game though you can find the same characters and plot reference from the previous installments.

    To begin with, Arcania is linear as hell. The game is constructed in such a way that you cannot visit the areas which the authors didn't intend you to visit - there's always a boulder blocking    I'm very sad to say this, but the game is a dumbed-down Gothic. No, scratch that. This is not a Gothic game though you can find the same characters and plot reference from the previous installments.

    To begin with, Arcania is linear as hell. The game is constructed in such a way that you cannot visit the areas which the authors didn't intend you to visit - there's always a boulder blocking the way, a permit to pass the bridge, a closed door to which you must be given the key. It is a real letdown, especially when you remember the vast landscapes from G2 or G3.

    There are a lot more things that you are not allowed to do. You cannot sleep (so you won't be able to wait through the night or heavy rain). You are not able to attack any NPC. Also, you cannot pick-pocket them, though no one reacts when you steal stuff from their houses, chests, etc., whereas in the previous games you had to be very clever to be a burglar. You don't need to find teachers to learn new skills and you actually don't fell any stronger when you reach a new experience level.

    The combat system is that of a typical slasher - you mash the attack button, evade blows, but blocking them with your shield makes no sense. There is a glitch with the ranged weapon system. You can kill every monster just by shooting from your bow/crossbow and walking backwards. The enemies go forward with the same speed as you go backward. I had to use this bug a lot, because when I was playing on the hard difficulty I had little chance of survival when fighting a large group of enemies. Btw. Every spell caster in this game is a pain in the ass.

    The graphics on the Xbox 360 are average at best, most of the time they just suck. Throughout the game you will notice that the characters use 4-5 face patterns and the enemies from the same group use the same models (wolf, black wolf, lurking wolf etc. they all look the same). The game has huge framerate issues. Most of the time you get 20 fps, but when you fight larger groups of enemies it's much worse than that. The music is fine, I guess, but the voice acting is rather poor and I can't find any memorable performances.

    The story is a typical from zero to hero, chosen-one bullcrap. They killed my wife - Revenge!!! Nothing worth mentioning, but then again the story with paladins and dragons from Gothic 2 wasn't better. Oh, and you can forget about interesting quests like the ones from Oblivion. Most of the time it's your standard MMORPG package. Go fetch me 5 mushrooms, kill 6 boars, activate 3 magical stones etc. Boring as hell.

    Okay, the good stuff: I guess there is a lot of loot to plunder, the combat isn't that bad, there is a item crafting system and... That's all. Every other aspect of the game is either poor or mediocre. You feel that the game needs some serious polishing and most of the mechanisms should be built from scratch.

    I seriously don't know how I made it to the end. Oh, and it took me about 19 hours to finish it. I hope my review will be of some help to those who are not convinced whether or not to buy it. My advice? Wait for Two Worlds 2. I give it a 5/10    … Expand
  5. Levardos
    Mar 25, 2011
    3
    When I played it for the first time, I was more disappointed than I thought I will. Spellbound did really bad job on that one.. It is a merely a continuation of previous Gothics. Only two good things that I am able to come up with are the graphics and improved fighting style (Compared to Gothic 3). Improved doesn't mean good though.. Most of opponents we face during the game we won't haveWhen I played it for the first time, I was more disappointed than I thought I will. Spellbound did really bad job on that one.. It is a merely a continuation of previous Gothics. Only two good things that I am able to come up with are the graphics and improved fighting style (Compared to Gothic 3). Improved doesn't mean good though.. Most of opponents we face during the game we won't have any problems with. Character faces not only repeat often, but people all seem the same even when talking to them. I must admit I didn't beat the game, but I've played it for plenty of hours and I must say it is really monotonous.. The quests we do are boring and nothing we never seen.. "Go there, collect this.. kill him/it/them.. bring me that.. find me some of these.. talk to him.." As far as I've seen the storyline, I completely didn't like it. Bringing up some characters from old Gothics is only as much as it relates to previous series. Oh, this, and creatures from Gothic series. The world isn't really interesting to explore at all. We often are forced to visit caves and all of them look a lie and have the same schematics. We enter the cave, do a circle and come out just where we entered, only that we need to jump down. They made exits high so players wouldn't be able to go this way after entering the cave. And in each damn cave it's the same story. The world isn't open anymore, we unlock locations. We don't have NPC as teachers to increase our stats, we just choose what we want to improve after leveling up. Bah! We don't even need a smithy to make a sword. We can forge one standing in the middle of swamp. Same for potions any anything else. Makes the game way too simple, and makes it seem like developers made this game for little kids, for which previous Gothics were too complicated. One thing I also don't understand is that we are able to choose "American" version of colours and textures which make game to seem.. More.. Friendly.. Less.. Dark and evil. This really is ridiculous.. Well.. I played the game for a bit.. I was forcing myself to play it, hoping that it will get more interesting later down, but it didn't. This game disappointed me greatly, and is nothing like previous Gothics. I didn't like Gothic 3 when it was out to begin with, but Arcania... Arcania made me appreciate Gothic 3 now. Arcania made me realise how great continuation of Gothic 2, Gothic 3 is. After I seen how bad can continuation of Gothic 3 be. Gothic 4 just isn't fun. I am giving it 3, since I enjoyed it a little slightly bit at the very beginning. But the more I've played my hate for this game started to grow and grew more and more. It's just a waste of time. Let me do a quick summary.

    Pros:
    -Umm.. Graphics?
    -Soundtrack isn't bad..

    Cons:
    -Monotonous.
    -Too easy, even on hardest difficulty.
    -It just isn't the same anymore... I rather call it Arcania, than Gothic.    … Expand
  6. Larux18
    Dec 19, 2011
    7
    A lot of people seemed to hate this game, maybe because the beginning really sucks and the story doesn't really evolve until the last 6-7 hours but Arcania: Gothic 4 was still enjoyable despite having a lot of problems. There are many good things about this game, the graphics look amazing for a console game and I really appreciate that, the world is huge and fun to explore, and there is aA lot of people seemed to hate this game, maybe because the beginning really sucks and the story doesn't really evolve until the last 6-7 hours but Arcania: Gothic 4 was still enjoyable despite having a lot of problems. There are many good things about this game, the graphics look amazing for a console game and I really appreciate that, the world is huge and fun to explore, and there is a good amount of side-quests to keep you busy meanwhile you play this game. Even though there is a good amount of positive things there is always the bad, the voice acting deeply sucks, the facial design is horrible, the difficulty passes from really easy to balls hard near the ending, the controls are not good enough, and the problems go on and on. This game isn't just for everyone and long-time fans of the Gothic series may be really disappointed but however, RPG fans may just wait and buy it at twenty dollars or simply just rent it to see if they like it, there is still a chance that this game may be good for some and that's why you should try it.… Expand
  7. Robbaz
    Oct 12, 2010
    8
    I really enjoyed this game, probably due i like the concept. This is pretty much like Risen slightly less polished but the game really picks up after a hour. Big world with decent graphics and decent gameplay. But the atmosphere in dungeons and lightning is pretty amazing.

    If you like games with a unamed hero on a island, go ahead. It isn't perfect but you can't stop playing.
  8. paddystudmuffin
    Mar 8, 2012
    8
    Really under rated game. Starts of really slow but does get going. Was surprised just how much I enjoyed this cos the reviews where so so. Give this game a few hours of your time people.
  9. LordArticus
    Nov 28, 2010
    5
    This being the first game i have played of the Gothic series, i think i have a non bias opinion on this game... The story is not compelling, the game is way to easy even on the hardest mode, the crafting would be great if the difficulty of the game was harder, but because you can defeat every enemy just by sidestepping most of the items go unused and are only worth the points they add toThis being the first game i have played of the Gothic series, i think i have a non bias opinion on this game... The story is not compelling, the game is way to easy even on the hardest mode, the crafting would be great if the difficulty of the game was harder, but because you can defeat every enemy just by sidestepping most of the items go unused and are only worth the points they add to your gamer-score… Expand
  10. TheQuietGamer
    Feb 11, 2012
    9
    It may not be the most polished RPG, but it is addicting and fun, and as many of the critics have said if you want to get into the open world RPG games then this is a good place to help you get acquainted with these kinds of games as it is simple without being overly simple, easy to figure out, also it's the perfect difficulty for those just starting out, and it's just a lot of fun, itIt may not be the most polished RPG, but it is addicting and fun, and as many of the critics have said if you want to get into the open world RPG games then this is a good place to help you get acquainted with these kinds of games as it is simple without being overly simple, easy to figure out, also it's the perfect difficulty for those just starting out, and it's just a lot of fun, it does have some polish issues though, the graphics are bad, and the voice acting is horrible for the most part (you'll be able to find one or two decent voice actors) and the story isn't really all that interesting or well written, but the gameplay is (for the most part) smooth, combat flows very well do to excellent controls, menus are very well done, and leveling up is easy and really makes you feel extremely powerful when you can slaughter hoards of enemies without taking any real damage, it took me about a little over 12 hours to complete, and if you do all the side quests it will probably take you about another 2 to beat, so if your a beginner to the open world RPG and are looking for some practice before you tackle the more challenging and deep RPGs out there, or are a hardcore open world RPG player and are just looking for a good one to play I recommend this game, because even with it's issues it's an addicting and fun RPG, and isn't that why we play games? not because they have the best graphics, but because they're fun, and this game is a lot of fun and that is why I recommend it to RPG fans everywhere.… Expand
  11. Untelo
    Mar 8, 2011
    4
    First of all Arcania should not be called Gothic, quite simply because it is nothing like the three original Gothic games. This game shouldn't be classed as an RPG either, because frankly the only choice with any impact on the game world the player gets to make, is whether they want sunshine or rain in a certain area. The original Gothic games excelled in their freedom and the impact theFirst of all Arcania should not be called Gothic, quite simply because it is nothing like the three original Gothic games. This game shouldn't be classed as an RPG either, because frankly the only choice with any impact on the game world the player gets to make, is whether they want sunshine or rain in a certain area. The original Gothic games excelled in their freedom and the impact the players choices had on the game world. In addition Arcania is NOT and open-world game (i refuse to call it an RPG). Once you have visited and done the quests in a certain area you can no longer come back to it. The story in Arcania is very linear and poorly written. The characters are boring and add no depth to the game. Graphics in Arcania are very well done for the most part. One thing that really bothered me about the graphics were the absolutely horrible human faces. The village you start in literally has three people with the exact same face, and the village isn't big. As for the bad graphics on consoles, this game was meant to be played on the PC. The combat system is mediocre at best, it's better than Gothic 3, but much worse than Gothic 1, Gothic 2 and Risen, which is the spiritual successor to Gothic 3. Character creation in Arcania is very linear and boring, with no depth to it, unlike in the original Gothic games. All in all Arcania is extremely dumbed down. If you like this kind of games and need to waste twenty hours of your life, go ahead and get Arcania. But if you want to play a deep, engaging RPG, go with either Gothic 2, Gothic 3 or Risen.… Expand
  12. marzippan
    Jan 21, 2012
    8
    One of the most beautiful action rpg on xbox. The combat system is dynamic, environment, vegetation and characters are beautiful.bad points : too linear, too much aliasing, crap cinematics.
  13. 1000
    Jun 23, 2015
    2
    There has never been a gaming series so schizophrenic as the Gothic series. It started strong with a solid first two games, trailed off to rubbish for the third, now we have this mess. There is no excuse to release a game on XBOX 360 that runs so poorly that just getting around in the world is a chore. I swear that the frame rate is mostly around 15-18fps and it ruins any chance the gameThere has never been a gaming series so schizophrenic as the Gothic series. It started strong with a solid first two games, trailed off to rubbish for the third, now we have this mess. There is no excuse to release a game on XBOX 360 that runs so poorly that just getting around in the world is a chore. I swear that the frame rate is mostly around 15-18fps and it ruins any chance the game has at being entertaining right out of the gate. There are so many other RPGs to play on 360 that do everything better - so why anyone would bother with this mess is beyond me… Expand
  14. Broyax
    Apr 16, 2017
    2
    Voilà une daube qui cache bien son jeu, car en effet le doublage français est de fort belle facture, la musique correcte (le thème du menu est très réussi contre toute attente) et la jouabilité à la manette fort bien pensée également. En outre, le système de combat à base de roulades et de magie n'a rien d'original mais se laisse jouer sans peine.

    La réalisation est hélas atroce.    Voilà une daube qui cache bien son jeu, car en effet le doublage français est de fort belle facture, la musique correcte (le thème du menu est très réussi contre toute attente) et la jouabilité à la manette fort bien pensée également. En outre, le système de combat à base de roulades et de magie n'a rien d'original mais se laisse jouer sans peine.

    La réalisation est hélas atroce. Arcania est laid, parfois hideux même (les personnages mon dieu !) et se permet de ramer fortement et cela sans arrêt, à toute heure du jour ou de la nuit (les transitions météo sont trop brutales d'ailleurs). En vérité c'est un supplice constant (c'est programmé avec des moufles).

    Le personnage imposé a le charisme d'une baignoire et l'histoire a l'intérêt d'un épisode de Derrick. Dans ce triste monde générique les innombrables quêtes dignes d'un MMO de Prisunic (va chercher, rapporte, bon chien) n'arrangent rien, on souffle et on souffre d'ennui assez rapidement. Las, on désinstalle, on éjecte et on balance.    … Expand
  15. pirokar1
    Oct 27, 2017
    0
    Cóż wydaje mi się, że twórcy chcieli zrobić wszystko by ArcaniA z wyjątkiem fabuły nie miała nic wspólnego z pozostałymi Gothicami. I niestety im się to udało... Może kiedyś na siłe przejdę tą grę ale póki co bardzo mnie do tego zniechęca. Zalety produkcji to bardzo ładna grafika oraz całkiem fajna opcja przewrotu w walce. Niestety na tym się kończą.
    Produkcja ta jednak posiada bardzo    Cóż wydaje mi się, że twórcy chcieli zrobić wszystko by ArcaniA z wyjątkiem fabuły nie miała nic wspólnego z pozostałymi Gothicami. I niestety im się to udało... Może kiedyś na siłe przejdę tą grę ale póki co bardzo mnie do tego zniechęca. Zalety produkcji to bardzo ładna grafika oraz całkiem fajna opcja przewrotu w walce. Niestety na tym się kończą.
    Produkcja ta jednak posiada bardzo istotne wady:
    - brak nauczycieli/punktów nauki (jest dostępne jedynie nieco dziwaczne drzewko umiejętności)
    - nie jestem pewien czy w grze można rozwijać takie zdolności jak alchemia, kowalstwo, a nawet siła. zręczność, witalność itd.
    - niby "otwarty świat" przypominający ten z Wiedźmina 1/2 (możemy chodzić jedynie ścieżkami wyznaczonymi przez twórców, jeśli uznamy, że chcemy przejść jakimś lasem lub małym wzniesieniem nasza postać się zbuguje i prawdopodobnie zginie z nieznanego powodu)
    - wiele glitchy graficznych (najmniejszy problem, ale dość denerwujący, przykładowo kałuża zmieniająca barwy na białą lub pomarańczową za każdym poruszeniem myszy)
    Moim zdaniem "Gothic 4" ArcaniA nie jest godna polecenia.    … Expand
  16. atyoukha
    Jul 26, 2022
    10
    I know this game has mixed reviews but I would myself enjoying it. It does its job of giving you that RPG experience. That being said I never played any of the previous Gothic games so I do not have those games to compare this to.

Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2010
45
#45 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
64

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. Cynamite
    Jan 16, 2011
    75
    On the PC, Arcania: Gothic 4 is a good action-rpg for inexperienced players. But the graphics on the Xbox 360 are this horrible, that you can't really enjoy the quests or the fights.
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  2. MondoXbox
    Jan 11, 2011
    50
    An underwhelming RPG with a shoddy story and poor techincal side. There's much better around.
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  3. Console Monster
    Jan 11, 2011
    60
    Arcania turns out to be a passable RPG, it has pleasant enough locations and plenty of quests to get stuck into, even if they do feel a bit similar to each other. The timing of such a generic release couldn't have come at a worse time however, and with Fable III and Fallout New Vegas also vying for attention, Arcania is a pretty hard sell.
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