Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Uninspired"

I've been a fan of the Gothic franchise since day-one, and despite the series' glaring flaws, underneath the bugs and insane difficulty one could always find a deep, engrossing world. That's precisely what kept me coming back each iteration. Gothic III was probably the least inspired product of the series, but it still kept me hooked well into the night.

Forsaken Gods, on the other hand, couldn't keep me hooked more than an hour at a time. It looks and feels like a fan-made add-on. The first thing to note is that Piranha Bytes did not make this expansion. In fact, Piranha no longer holds the rights to the Gothic franchise - could be good or bad; we'll have to wait and see when Gothic IV hits shelves. All I know is, the group who made this expansion had better not be in charge. If Forsken Gods is an indication of what the series will look like, I think the Gothic line has just seen its inevitable demise.

The expansion uses all the assets from Gothic III. It is a stand-alone package; you don't need Gothic III to install or play it. The only assets that have been replaced (from my limited experience) are the title and load screen backgrounds, the world map, and the main character's default texture. If you're hoping for major enhancements like Night of the Raven gave to Gothic II, you'd better look elsewhere.

Most of the the dialog is new; common sound bites are straight from the original, which feels out-of-place considering the new voice talent - and yet I found them to be a breath of fresh air, a reminder of what Gothic III used to be. The quests are rather inane (e.g., one of your first objectives is to follow a trail of bread to find an insane man who thinks he's a bird and persuade him to stop putting seed on a fellow residents roof). Much of the dialog does not match the displayed text; in one case, the spoken line was a few words, while the displayed text was two full lines. In some cases, voice overs are completely missing, and in the worst case they're voiced by the wrong actor.

Adventuring in the wilderness feels less like exploring and more like revisiting a pleasant stroll through a meadow. The placement of creatures feels derived, in most cases thoughtless. Very little of the scenery has changed, and where it had changed I found unforgiveable problems like "levitating" objects. Most of it was empty.

The absolute worst changes to the game, however, deal in mechanics, specifically combat mechanics. Gothic has always been ridiculed for its horrendous combat controls. Gothic III, while having a completely new combat system, was no exception. Now imagine the designers taking those controls and merging them with the controls from Gothic I/II. To be concise, it doesn't work. Blocking with weapons has been eliminated entirely - you need a shield to block anything now. The spamming potential has also been eliminated, but only for the player - enemies spam worse than ever, and there's no way to retaliate. You must simple back away, if you can get a moment's reprieve from their spamming. (This makes unarmed combatants particularly deadly, as their attacks are ridiculously fast.)

If you're a fan of the Gothic series, do not expect to appreciation this amateur production. Even if you find yourself with money to burn, you'd be better off buying another game, one with an average critic score higher than 3.5. The only reason I rated the game a 3.0 is out of respect for Gothic III, which is present in a bastardized form. Forsaken Gods adds nothing, and it detracts so much. Avoid it.

Graphics: 8 (could use an upgrade)
Sound: 5 (in general it's good, but the voiceover bugs ruin it)
Stability: 7 (didn't have any problems)
Gameplay: 1 (amateur and unfinished)
Reviewer's Tilt: - 6 (uninspired, rushed, a disgrace to the name)

Overall: 3