Gothic 2 Gold Edition

Still great atmosphere and immersion, but better graphics, bigger world and more quests. Unfortunately Night of the Raven increased difficulty a little too much compared to base game and Gothic 1 IMO. The main story is a bit worse than G1 but OK. Controls are still strange but a bit better than in the first game, too. Works out of the box for me but I really recommend adding Union (SystemPack 2.0) and D3D11 Renderer for even better experience.

I like this game better than Skyrim. Game narrative is great, a strong follow up from Gothic 1, so having played through Gothic 1 at least once enhences Gothic 2 experience for sure. The combat can appear to be very janky at first, but once you become familiar with it, it really is dark souls before there was dark souls. The most impressive feature is the fact there is no loading screen at all, most if not all buildings have fully modelled interior and you can just explore anywhere seemlessly if NPC doesn't stop you. The game world is handcrafted, it's beautiful and intricate, and not having quest markers to tell you where to go makes you learn and remember every little bit of the map. This game is old, more than 20 years, so running on modern PCs is not trouble free. Of course you can install various mods to address issues, but I had my playthrough with vanilla game without any game breaking bug. The only mod I used was GD3D11 which makes the game so much prettier. Overall I would say this game is not for everyone. If you can get through the jank and the age of this game, then you will have one of the best RPG gaming experience.

Gothic 2 Night of the Raven is the best 3rd person RPG and simultaniously the most underrated because for some mysterious reason it did not get enough presence to the West (propably weak marketing reasons - remember that Piranha Bytes & Jowood were small companies without enough funds) however they put to shame many other AAA gaming studios in their time with this masterpiece! Furthermore I really like its strong community and the hundreds of succesful mods that were made by the community!

This game, that came out in november 2002, was absolutely marvelous, lush environment, vast world, everything in this game is briliant, granted, it's over 20 years old, bu it is still a fantastic game, the world, the characters, the side-quests, the main story, it's just perfect, I keep replay the game because there are very few games nowadays that encapsulate this feeling you have when you play, the world is unforgiven, at first, you don't stand a chance anywhere, without some kind of help, on way or another, you quickly learn that this world it's not centered arround the player, it is centered arround itself, it can and exists without the player as well, you don't have the waypoint, you have to buy a map, to navigate, the Lore is absolutely flawless, and the fact that you get to choos one of 3 factions to join, which this is one of the traits that made Gothic great, night and day cycle, and I could go on for ours about this game, this game is the corner stone and the reason for the other great RPGs that we now have.

Gothic II shifts away from the unique prison colony of its predecessor to a more typical fantasy setting with green meadows, towns, farms, forests, and of course dragons. While visually improved and technically more ambitious, it lacks much of the oppressive, distinctive atmosphere that made the first game so memorable. Controls remain clunky, though a modernized scheme was added. Combat is still rhythm-based, requiring timing and awareness. It can feel awkward and punishing at first because enemies block too precisely, and critical hits from NPCs can kill you instantly but with practice, most fights become manageable or even easy. It's a system that demands patience but doesn't always feel fair. The game expands role-playing with trades like smithing and alchemy, offering simple but useful crafting. The world of Khorinis is great: NPCs follow daily routines, laws are enforced with fines and punishments, and the city feels alive. The familiar three-faction system returns, with more unique quests and combat styles, while pacing is improved compared to the first game, with new content spread across later chapters. Progression is rewarding as enemy levels are fixed, so exploration is open but dangerous. Venturing into the old penal colony is intimidating early on, but returning stronger later delivers a real sense of growth and achievement. The Night of the Raven expansion, included in the Gold Edition, adds a large new region, quests, and factions. It's notably harder, with a reworked skill system and stricter experience management. The lack of respec makes mistakes costly. Careful planning or lots of saving is essential. Gothic II is a great old school PRG from a time where there were no RPG standards and delevoper had to be creative. It has some awkward mechanics, especially in combat but in exchange you get a memorable adventure rpg, which is absolutely worth checking out.