Arcania: Gothic 4 Reviews

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Written by BuckGB on October 29th, 2010

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Arcania: Gothic 4 is a solid adventure in itself. It just suffers from a problem similar to the one the recent Medal of Honor suffers from--it's a few years too late to be impressive. Whether you prefer to slash minions to pieces or set them ablaze, the sky is the limit in this game! Unfortunately, that sky is closer than you'd think for a game of this type.

After a tormenting adventure with a similar ending, the conclusion is obvious. It's a pity for that Gothic 4 in the title, the game would have been better off with ArcaniA - A Gothic Tale, considering they decided to make the series mainstream. On the other hand, games like this one make you appreciate Risen even more, although it too was criticized; truth be told, Risen is more Gothic 4 than the game which bears the name officially.

For a fan of the Gothic games that just want to revisit old friends and see what has become of their former hero and those gamers looking for an easy to play RPG that can be played little by little this may be a game worth trying. For those die hard and hardcore RPG players though you may find ArcaniA: Gothic 4 lacking in originality and find it feels more like a hack and slash title.

A sad day for the Gothic series then. In attempting to appeal to the mass market, JoWood has alienated its core fan base while not doing anywhere near enough to get the casual crowd on board. It's difficult to see who'll end up playing this, other than the developers, JoWood executives and us poor games reviewers.

The Gothic series has always been somewhat lackluster in the production department, so it's nice to see the new engine generating such amazing scenes. Perhaps the audio can be overhauled next time. The sound effects, particularly the environmental ambient sounds, are great. They are accompanied by a rich orchestral soundtrack that evokes the appropriate mood for the scene. But it's the voiceacting that kills me. There's the odd character that sounds believable, but most of them are atrocious. It's as though the actors just learned how to read. And with such awful dialogue that is also poorly translated, it's inappropriately comical. This is one time I wouldn't mind going back to the classic text-based RPG.

All in all, Gothic 4 feels like it was truly meant to be a PC game at heart. The Gothic series has always been PC exclusive and the port process between a console and a PC is never an easy one. Piranha Bytes, the company behind the first 3 Gothic games, is not at the helm of this one. Instead, German based developer Spellbound created the latest title and it really shows the difference. Gothic 4 is a Gothic game in name only and I would only recommend this to the most hardcore of Gothic fans. If you are looking for a fun RPG to play, go buy Dragon Age, but stay far away from this one.

Arcania: Gothic 4 is an okay fantasy RPG. It's not the greatest fantasy RPG of all time, but it certainly isn't the worst. It's simply rough around the edges, and a little clunky in places. If you've played games the Gothic franchise before, you'll probably enjoy seeing what this installment brings to the overall story provided you can get the game installed. But if you're new to the franchise, there's a lot of catch-up learning to do. The trouble is, with other good fantasy RPGs already out there, it's hard to say Arcania: Gothic 4 is anything other than okay. While it was fun to play, I'd still stick with Oblivion or Dragon Age: Origins.

For a company to follow the typical medieval fantasy fiction in an RPG the title needs to offer features that stand-out; unfortunately, Arcania barely offers a game that is respectfully presentable never mind unique. Arcania Gothic 4 may contain homage content for the authentic RPG player - and a substantial amount of that content to play with - but holding traditional value in a lot of character grinding and looting is not enough for the needed refurbishment of the Gothic series.

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