Gothic is an action role-playing game set in a third-person perspective within a fantasy open world. The player controls an unnamed prisoner sent into a mining colony enclosed by a magical barrier. Gameplay emphasizes exploration without quest markers or a guided map, and the player character begins with no skills, learning them by finding teachers and spending earned skill points. The game features three factions to join, each offering different paths and abilities: the Old Camp provides access to Fire Mages, the New Camp to Water Mages, and the Brotherhood to early magic through worship of a being called the Sleeper. Combat involves melee weapons, ranged weapons, and magic across six circles of increasing power. The environment is highly interactive, allowing the player to cook food, forge weapons, and perform many activities seen in NPC routines.
About the story
In a medieval fantasy world where humans are losing a war against Orcs, the king sentences all criminals to labor in ore mines to forge weapons. To prevent escape, twelve magicians erect a magical barrier over the mining colony, but the spell goes out of control, trapping the magicians inside and allowing the convicts to overthrow their guards. The prisoners split into three factions: the Old Camp, which trades ore with the king; the New Camp, which hoards ore to attempt destroying the barrier; and the Brotherhood, a religious group worshipping a being called the Sleeper. An unnamed prisoner is thrown into the colony carrying a letter for the Fire Mages. After joining one of the factions and uncovering that the Sleeper is actually a dangerous demon summoned by the Orcs centuries ago, the hero must find a way into the temple beneath the Orc city to confront and banish the creature, which causes the barrier to collapse and frees the colony.
Platforms
PCGenres
Adventure Role-playing (RPG)Themes
Action Fantasy Historical Open world Stealth
Languages: English and 5 more
| Interface | Audio | Subtitles | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | |||
| German | |||
| Spanish (Spain) | |||
| Polish | |||
| Czech | |||
| Russian |
Media
Critic Reviews
Pure Nintendo
By David TempleWhen we remember that Gothic was one of the earliest truly open-world 3D concept games, we can at least give a nod of appreciation for the pioneering effort. With the time that has passed, Gothic Classic is mostly a reminder of how far we have come with game design and system capabilities.
33bits
By Fernando SánchezGothic Classic is a slightly improved version of the 2001 Piranha Bytes classic Gothic. This is a Western open-world action RPG that stands out for its focus on exploration, non-linear narrative, and its fairly well-constructed dark fantasy open world. This version for Nintendo Switch has received some improvements such as a new controller control scheme, motion control, certain interface redesigns, some playable adjustments, but the base is still a 2001 game that technically has not aged well at all. It is up to the player to evaluate this title as an essential classic or as a game that is not recommended and difficult to play.
The Games Machine
By Gabriele BarducciGothic Classic Switch is a cleaned and revised edition of Piranha Bytes' classic masterpiece. The innovations around camera and inventory management are just a plus in front of a title that, despite being twenty years old, still works like it used to.
Invision Community
By ADAM LIGOCKIGothic Classic immediately receives points for software preservation. Being able to play old games on modern systems without hoops to jump through is always a plus. Whether or not you enjoy Gothic Classic is another story entirely. Outside of the enhancements, it’s still the same game, for better and worse. Fans of Piranha Bytes games, and the Gothic franchise, will undoubtedly be over the moon while everyone else may need to take it with a pinch of salt.
Digitally Downloaded
By Matt SainsburyGothic is getting a full remake, which will release in 2024. I actually expect that to be good, because the developers can use the modern tools they have to modernise and restore the original vision of the game. Unfortunately, though, that’s the final nail in the coffin for the original. Unless you have a very academic reason for wanting to play an artefact of B-tier game design from the early turn of the century, there’s just no reason to play this port.
