After 30 minutes of struggling with the most ridiculous controls I've ever come across in a game, I deleted Gothic from my computer never to be played again. That a game that's supposedly one of the best RPGs out has this abysmal of a game controls is unpardonable, IMO, and for a seasoned gamer just not something I'm willing to struggle with. Unfortunately, I have all the other Gothic games too -- but they are going to be given away to some poor unsuspecting soul very soon :) Awful game. I see now why JoWood went out of business.
I played Stonekeep when it first came out and loved it so much I played it back to back 3 times. Now, 17 years later, I picked it up again on GOG and, yes, it's just as addictive as ever. Sure, the graphics are pixely (how on earth did they seem that good way back when??) and the gameplay requires a LOT of walking backwards and forwards, but ignore those two minor things and this is still one of the best games ever made. I can see, in 30 years time, still picking up Stonekeep now and again for a quick whirl around the dungeons. And, let me tell you, those spiders and other creepy crawlies might be nothing but lots of big pixels, but they still creep me out! Buy this if you haven't already. Awesome game.
Before I continue, I have to say I played about 5 hours of this awful game and couldn't handle any more of it so deleted it from my computer. Endless hours trudging around trying to find places and, as there's no map, that's just about impossible. The camera keeps moving so it's difficult to keep things in frame, the AI is terrible, graphics sub-par and dark, and simply lots of boring, boring nothing. Add onto that ridiculously difficult enemies in just the first hour of the game, and there was no fun in this whatsoever. I see now why it got terrible reviews when it was released. Worst thing I've bought on GOG unfortunately. I got pulled in my all the stellar reviews but, honestly, were they playing a different game?
I played this game I think the week it came out, and played it through again as soon as I'd finished it. At the time it was the best of its genre and, today, is still right up there with the Top 50 best computer games ever made. This is definitely going on to my Wish List to buy in the next few weeks I highly recommend it to anyone who's hesitating. It's very, very creepy and so much fun!
