ELEX

(This is a review from someone that hasn't played the gothic games, but has finished the main story and most of the quest, including two factions quests) There is one thing only that is good with this game and that is exploration. Interesting landscape and world, but the rest of the entire game is awful. The animations are wonky, tons of bugs (i found at least two broken quests which i'm sure of, also i found a way to do lockpicking without doing the puzzle), the difficulty goes from too hard to the easiest game in the world once you join a faction. The story is the most basic fantasy/sci-fi story and drags on for waaaaay too long, to the point of it being ridiculous and on top of that, the game is not self aware (in my opinion at least) AT ALL. There are also tons of tropes in the game like: * A Yoda with super magical powers who lives alone in the forest * Main character has lost some of his memory and has Flashbacks * Stereotypes and factions where every stereotype is gathered, to make it easier to find out what sort of b-hole you want to be. * Plot characters that exist solely to move the plot and has no personality at all Combat is clunky. Your biggest enemy in the beginning is a small enemy and a slighty slanted ground, and late-game it is hitboxes and controls. If you join one specific faction (to my knowledge, didn't try the outlaws) you can literally stunlock an entire army without being hit, so i suggest doing that to avoid combat as much as possible. Once the veil of mystery is gone, you will realise that the game is just a bunch of other games, but done worse in every aspect. To me, a good game to compare this with is Nier:Automata which in my opinion was almost everything ELEX is but better. Most of all, it had an actual sci-fi story and not a fantasy disguised in a sci-fi setting. However they are very much apart from eachother in terms of scale and gameplay, to which i would suggest witcher 3.

PB is back! After a dismal period of Risen 2 and Risen 3 we finally have our beloved PB back with another red-blooded open-world RPG. It's not without problems, I really disliked the difficulty curve, where in the beginning you can't kill almost anything and the only way to level up is by doing quests, and later on, once you find a powerful weapon, you're suddenly unstoppable and the game turns into a faceroll. Oh and it sucks when you fulfill a game-long quest and the reward is laughable - that's also the old PB for you by the way. Other than that the glorious exploration, interesting world and story and fun combat more than make up for the flaws. Here's hoping PB made enough money for a sequel.

A late buyer, I was somewhat pessimistic because of all the reviews I read. Now, 20 hours into the game, I can say this is a very decent heir to the Gothic series. The world is so typical for the Gothic games, old Gothic players will immediately feel at home. Default controls are very similar, too. The game is very hard in the beginning. Very hard. You will die often, very often, unless you avoid basically everything and everyone. The world is hostile and very dangerous. Fight is not much different than other Gothic games, only enemies are overly stronger. You need to just keep a low profile, sneak and run away from fights. Start with the go-and-fetch quests to gain some experience, money and access to better weapons and armor. Try to get a companion, that helps a lot. Be patient, don't rush into the game and the wilderness. Pick your fights carefully. Learn to dodge attacks. Quests often have multiple resolutions and it is not clear what action will bring you what. You need to decide for yourself and then get what you deserved. Some quest options require certain skills, so do not rush to solve all quests before you shape your character the way you like it. The fractions are interesting, each with their own weapons and perks. They are realistic in terms that all of them have their serious drawbacks and you always need to make a compromise when you join one, which you must in order to progress. Story is mediocre, nothing impressive. The game also features the dumbing-down instructions and hints, so typical of modern games. Fortunately, you can turn-off markers on your map to make the game slightly more interesting.

Game is good, i find it better then Risen. Playing feels like in Gothic but in another interesting world. I was enyoing it, and would play it again. Actually i like everything, the only con: Long beginning and a very short end.

Within a few hours of release there were plenty of gushing reviews proclaiming this to be a "spiritual successor" or otherwise on par with the original Gothic games. Let me assure you that is not the case at all, unless you are referring to Gothic 4 Arcania, in which case you would be spot on. This looks and plays like a 10 year old console game, and has all the issues one would expect from one. Awful UI, bad graphics, clunky controls and animations, simplistic 1click combat with "zomygawd combo!!!", tiny maps etc, etc. The voice acting is horrible but that is almost a none issue as no voice actor could make this atrocious writing bearable. I seem to recall an interview with some developer boasting about hundreds of quests, but when those largely consist of poorly disguised and badly written fetch quests, i hardly consider that a point in the games favor. In short, this is following the trajectory PB has been on since the first Risen failed to meet their sales expectations, with each new installment getting progressively worse.