Never played this before, but Nox holds up well if you like Diablo-style hack'n'slash games. Though really, it's only superficially like Diablo. For one, dungeons in the campaigns aren't randomly generated, and there's a lot higher emphasis on secrets and traps. Leveling is even more straight forward, so don't expect much in the way of build variety. That being said, each of the three classes plays very differently from one another, with their owns strengths and weaknesses. I suggest beginners play as a warrior or conjurer to get a feel for the game, as the mage is a bit trickier to master. Regardless, the game is fun and easy enough to pick up and play without reading the manual. Regarding stability, as of this review's date it worked straight "out of the box" on my Windows 10 desktop. The only caveat is that there was a constant 'flickering' of the UI elements, and music would sometimes glitch in the menus. To fix this, I had to play the game from 'GAME.EXE' and not GOG's default, which is 'NOX.EXE'. If you're having issues, try making a shortcut from the 'GAME.EXE' and use that instead. This fixed all issues for me.
Pros: The interface and controls are surprisingly user friendly. WASD! Fully voiced by professional actors, a rarity in 1995! Great audio design, with atmospheric use of sound effects and music (open SETUP.EXE in DOSBox to change the music to Roland Sound Canvas for higher quality!). Charming FMV based graphics. Has a fun story with memorable characters (read the included novella, Thera Awakening, for added immersion). Creative rune-based magic system. Rewarding progression. The automap is handy and can be annotated to your heart’s content… …In fact, the entire journal system is great, as you can write down your own notes alongside clues the game keeps track of for you. Infinite inventory space… Cons: …but the inventory system is a mess, as everything is placed in one long list. Pro tip: to scroll faster, use the right mouse button, and to scroll even faster, use Page Up/Down on the keyboard. Somewhat shallow stat system. Thanks to a very limited tileset, there’s not much visual variety in the environments. Expect to see the same wall textures for hours at a time. Lots of backtracking, especially early on. No strafing means scanning walls for secrets is a slow and tedious process. Some of the puzzles are too obtuse for their own good. Possible to soft-lock yourself into an unwinnable state. Save often and in multiple slots, and back them up just in case! I learned this lesson the hard way… Overall: Realistically I would rate Stonekeep somewhere around a 3.5/5. It’s fun, has good ideas and great presentation, but is let down by a few irritating flaws. But in the end its charm won me over, and the game’s playability and atmosphere made it undeniably addictive, bumping it up to a 4/5. There are certainly better examples of the genre out there, but Stonekeep is a solid dungeon crawler all around, and worth your time if you can forgive its shortcomings. An easy recommendation for both novice and experienced dungeon crawler fans.
After just over 100 hours I finally finished this masterpiece. Without a doubt, CoM: Archolos is the best thing to happen to Gothic since Gothic 2 itself. The amount of quality content here is nothing short of breathtaking, and puts many full priced AAA games to shame. The fact that it’s free makes it feel as though I’m stealing. The sense of progression is classic Gothic on steroids, and the numerous quality of life enhancements make it feel as though I’m playing Gothic 2 for the first time again. No longer do you need to min max in order to stay afloat, but you can and will be rewarded if you choose to. Still, what really sets Archolos apart is the storytelling, especially with its many characters. By the end I felt really attached to the world and the inhabitants the team created, and it all ties wonderfully into the larger Gothic universe without too much fan service. I encountered a few minor bugs here and there, but nothing game breaking. Honestly, there’s more polish here than in many recent AAA titles. It’s insane what the developers accomplished. If you’re a fan of Gothic, you need to play this. If you’re a fan of open world RPGs, you absolutely should play Archolos, as well as the original Gothic games of course. It’s a prequel, so you technically can play it without having played Gothic first, but you will likely get more out of it with some familiarity with the setting. Either way, CoM: Archolos is a must play!
Rune Gold (the original release which is included here) ran perfectly fine on my Windows 10 rig, but I had to install dgVoodoo 2 to get the brightness slider working. By default the game is pretty dark. I didn't play the rereleased "Classic" version, but Rune Gold is good fun. It's a pretty straightforward hack and slash action adventure game with a cool Viking aesthetic and brutal combat. Combat mechanics are simple but satisfying to master, and the level design is solid. Visually it's still appealing as well, as it makes great use of the Unreal engine's colored lighting. My only complaints are that the game can get a little repetitive after a while, and as a result feel longer than it actually is. The early levels in particular can drag at times. Also I wish the game featured more music. Still, Rune is an easy recommendation if you're craving old school Viking fun!
If your game won't run (which is likely if you're on a modern OS), you need to patch it. Here's what you need to do. 1. Install game. 2. Download SoFplus client version (as of this review the latest version is called sofplus-client-patch-20140531-gog.zip) 3. Extract it into your game's directory. 4. Find "sofplus-client-patch.cmd" in your game's directory and run it. 5. Press any key. 6. Find "sofplus-client-20140531.zip" in your game's directory and run it. 7. Extract it into your game's directory (same location as SoF.exe) and hit "yes" when it asks to overwrite any files. 8. Now find "SoF.exe" and make a copy of it in your game's directory. 9. Rename the copied exe (don't rename the original exe file!) to mohaa.exe. 10. IMPORTANT: You must run the game from mohaa.exe from now on, so make a shortcut to it if you like. 11. Enjoy :)
Calling this an “expansion” is a severe understatement. No, Blood and Wine is a game unto itself, and puts many full priced AAA titles to shame. You get a gorgeous new region filled with exceptional, high quality content that rivals that of the base game, which was already a masterpiece. It’s also much more challenging, thanks to improved encounter design balanced for high levels. The new monsters are a delight, especially if you played the first Witcher game… If you already own TW3 and don’t have Blood and Wine, you’re missing out on some of the best content CDPR has ever created. The story is fantastic as well, and was an absolute delight to experience. Get Blood and Wine now!
The default keyboard-only controls are unsurprisingly a tad clunky by modern standards, so I tried it with my 360 controller... and much to my surprise it works flawlessly, making Blood Omen truly feel like a "Gothic Zelda"! Anyways, the game itself is fantastic! Great atmosphere. Fantastic voice acting and story. Fun gameplay. Think Zelda: A Link to the Past meets vampires and lots of gore and you have Blood Omen. For years and years this classic was stuck in Limbo, seemingly forever buried under a mountain of red tape, so seeing it here at long last was a wonderful surprise. Bravo! Blood Omen is well worth the meagre cost it's being sold for and I highly recommend it!
