A lot of people complain about the fact this game is not like other Gothic games. That is not a very fair assesement of a game. I havent played the Gothic series, but played Risen, which is very similar to Gothic since it was made by the same developers.
And I am glad it went a different route from Risen in terms of combat. However, it has plenty of issues on its own.
Disclaimer, I only played through the starting area, but judging by some other descriptions I think I know what to expect.
In regards to Graphics and audio I can say its pretty decent. It goes for a more realistic look, which I enjoy. Some things may look bland, but overall the view was nice.
The general idea for the main quest was pretty simple - a revenge arc. And its fine. However the presentation of the quests/stories can be very dull, have inconsistent tone and is too linear. The voice acting can range from alright to weird. The quests themselves are very basic.
Gameplay is much more streamlined from Risen. You have the same melee weapon, ranged weapon and magic, but the enemies are easier to handle. They can still block and have strong attacks, which you need to evade with rolls, yet its no longer a duel to the death with each low level enemy you encounter. Attribute wise enemies are suited to the players level. Probably due to the linear character of the game. Using the bow here is much more enjoyable than in Risen.
However, the balance here is now way off toward the easy spectrum. Nothing really presented a challenge and when the game tries to make enemies use unique features it is very clunky.
Like a bug that hides in its shell to regenerate if you damage it too much. You can get it out with the use of lightning, but it then makes a knowckback and quickly hides again. Turns into a grind situation.
There are some small technical glitches as well.
The game isnt bad, its just not that good in anything. You can play it, but Im pretty sure there are better things to try first.
