Gothic II: Gold Edition

It's simply a classic rpg that still does so many things better than modern rpgs...living persistent world and solid and thoughtful combat mechanics.

It's my favorite game of all time!

the price increase is stupid as hell dont buy it for 20
its worth it but dont

Old but gold

(See my Gothic 1 review)
Gothic 2 is basically the same except better in every way!!!!!

Legendary

Good!

I recommend this game!

in 2025 still good to play!

Classic

Every Piranha Bytes game is an insane amalgam of peak game design and mind-boggling jankiness. Out of the entire PB portfolio Gothic 2 does its good parts best.

For example - the story is quite good and engaging, but its badly delivered through poorly written dialogues and cheaply sounding voice acting.

The game is plagued by bugs and barely holds itself together by duct tape and sheer will and yet the mechanics and combat somehow seem to be designed around the apparent jank turning out to be very fun and immersive.

The game is hard. Even more so with the Night of the Raven add-on. Enemies don't scale their level to the level of the player, so the map unlocks progressively and naturally piece by piece. Furthermore, mobs don't respawn (with some caveats), so if you want to farm xp, you don't grind - rather you go on an actual adventure into the world. As your power grows, so does your freedom and in the endgame the whole thing turns into an incredibly satisfying power fantasy.

If you like big bold RPGs with a lot of heart then you owe it to yourself to sample this masterclass in open world design. You might just find that when we use the term 'soulslike' we really mean 'gothiclike'.

<3 out of 10

Requires patches, sail the seven seas for this one, devs and steam do not respect you.

Great game with amazing story and player can feel like he is in the game.

amazing game enjoying play

Excellent game, still holds up 20 years later.

Polish language below english.

Top RPG and still a strong place on the podium despite 22 years. I can't count how many times I returned to G2 NK, still in the box edition.

Great dialogues.
Decent plot.
Characters that are memorable.
Good music.
Interesting world.
Very good exploration.
Great character development.
Brilliant combat, which is not only learned by the hero, but also by the player himself. Additionally, different monsters require a different approach.
Very interesting spells, the clever use of which will allow inexperienced players to deal with adversities.
Return to the world of G1 in G2!
A large and very successful add-on that is also a patch (in fact, G2 without NK is not that exciting).
Immersive animations. Bow or crossbow and at the same time a melee weapon are not pulled out of a magic backpack but with full animation and visibility on the character. And much more.

Unfortunately, the game is unbalanced in some aspects.
A build for an archer is a game on codes, and a crossbowman is quite the opposite.
A build for dexterity and melee weapons that makes absolutely no sense.
The basic playthrough is a one-handed weapon. Two-handed requires more experience and attention.
Average sound design.
Some errors in the inconsistency of the lore, although it's hard to notice without a thorough knowledge of the game and a lot of observation.

I love it.


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Top RPG i wciąż mimo 22 lat mocne miejsce na podium. Nie zliczę ile razy wracałem do G2 NK jeszcze w wydaniu pudełkowym.

Świetne dialogi.
Przyzwoita fabuła.
Postacie które się pamięta.
Dobra muzyka.
Ciekawy świat.
Bardzo dobra eksploracja.
Świetny rozwój postaci.
Genialna walka której nie dość, że uczy się bohater, to jeszcze sam gracz. Dodatkowo różne potwory wymagają innego podejścia.
Bardzo ciekawe czary, których sprytne rozegranie pozwoli poradzić sobie z przeciwnościami dla niedoświadczonych graczy.
Powrót do świata G1 w G2!
Duży i bardzo udany dodatek będący jednocześnie patchem (w zasadzie G2 bez NK nie jest aż tak porywające).
Imersyjne animacje. Łuk czy kusza i jednocześnie broń biała nie są wyciągane z magicznego plecaka tylko z pełną animacją oraz widocznością na postaci i wiele więcej.

Niestety gra w pewnych aspektach jest niezbalansowana.
Build pod łucznika to gra na kodach, a kusznika wręcz przeciwnie.
Build pod zręczność i broń białą zupełnie pozbawiony sensu.
Podstawowe przejście gry to broń jednoręczna. Dwuręczna wymaga więcej doświadczenia i uwagi.
Średnie udźwiękowienie.
Pewne błędy w niespójności lore, aczkolwiek ciężko to zauważyć bez dogłębnego poznania gry i sporej spostrzegawczości.

Uwielbiam.

Awsome blast from the past!

i remember it from a long time ago. its like skyrim but better.

Joder lo han vuelto a hacer.
Peleas más curradas que en el 1
Un sistema RPG similar
Porros para fumar cuando mates a tus enemigos
Humor
Qué más quieres?

Price hike on 20+yo game. Sad example of corporate greed. There wasn't any update or any work on this game that would justify this price hike. If they lower the price then I can give positive recommendation as the game is perfect.

this is my second favorite game of all time, but don't buy it for 20$. Wait until it's on sale and goes for less than 5$.

THQs unreasonable price increase from 10$ to 20$, just before the remake is about to be released, should not be rewarded.

Also don't buy the bundles!

Greedy publishers increasing the price for an ancient fetch quest game with tetris graphics.

50+ playtrough from release X years back.. Love ideas here, love living world, you feel like shit and after some time you became god. Many way to chose, i still vote for G1 best ideas G2 best experience for RPGs.

Gothic 2 is both better and worse than it's predecessor with the difficulty heightened, expecting Players to have a good understanding of how to play Gothic. I played G1 long ago and failed multiple attempts at G2:NOTR, until now. To me what soured my experience was how the game dragged on without much to do towards the end and EXTREMELY annoying enemy encounters. That being said G2 does have an absolutely AMAZING fanmod called The Chronicles Of Myrtana: Archolos, which I'd highly recommend as it adds so so SO much to the G2 experience.


Positives:
G2 rewards experience HEAVILY. There's so much in the game that you can learn about and in repeat playthroughs will make the next time around so much better. For example the Wolf's Tooth is a decent STR one-handed weapon that can be found for free in two different locations instead of paying ~500g for it. Or how you can steal an armor set in the beginning of the game and figure out how to bypass the Guards by claiming you're working for the farm and need to see the Smithy which saves you Gold. Just tons of little details where you'll find something out and be like OH, if I'd done this then I didn't need to do all these other things.

Extremely difficult requiring you to pick your encounters. You will die. Like A LOT. Which makes it feel so much better when you start to clear areas and become strong enough to not die every other encounter. G2 feels like you're scrounging to find ways to victory and do whatever it takes to get there. As advice I'd say the spell scrolls you can purchase early on are insaaaaaanely overpowered to help clear massive sections of the map and get you leveled quickly.

More to explore, more to do. G2 has Khorinis, The Ancient Island, and a return to the Valley of the Mines which is just so cool. There's all sorts of changes to the VotM Map which makes it seem like a new experience with the cold setting in and Orcs taking control. I enjoyed that the Orcs slowly winning which makes the situation feel helpless, their eventual invasion of G2's Khorinis map that much more bleak.


Negatives:
G2 has far more group encounters than G1, which the game just isn't build to handle. You can only target one enemy at a time and the rest will run up and start swinging like a madman until you drop dead. Orcs and Wargs are two examples that are almost always in groups.

Seekers that do ranged fire magic and can curse you, preventing healing from sleeping. More a nuisance because they do this stupid cutscene everytime you bump into one which gives the curse chance. They also fall in-line with the previous point as a section in the Final Chapter gives you multiple Seekers at once which can shoot an outrageous number of spells. I was forced to go hide and heal and speed stab them one by one.

Dragon attacks do a knockback which you can't dodge. This is baffling, as a melee you have to try and kite the dragon in a circle to force the dragon to move because IF NOT they will absolutely chain knockdown until you die. They also have insane regeneration and health pools which means they'll win most scenarios where you try and tank hits. Like the fight is nearly impossible as melee. You need to utilize Speed Potions or Black Ore, or like I said get the dragon into a specific pattern which prevents the breath entirely. You fight a handful of these which makes up the end of the game. Certain spells can make it super easy, like the AoE Freeze or summoning a Demon to tank attacks.

Despite having Khorinis and a revamped Valley of the Mines, the game starts to feel very empty as it goes on. New Chapters will add more enemies to the Maps but not enough to actually fill things back up. The Valley of the Mines nearly refills the entire Orc population in Chapter 4, but the Khorinis map never really fills back up after an initial clear whenever you do it in Chapter 1/2/3. Chapter 3 will add Seekers here and there, and Chapter 5 will add a handful of Orcs and Lizardmen to certain locations. As I traveled taking down the different Orc Warbands it really sunk in just how barren the map had become, using Speed Potions to blitz through entirely barren landscapes.

Chapter 3 is EXTREMELY baffling with the Island (Ancient Temple) Map. It feels like the Island was meant to take place post-Chapter 1 sometime but doesn't allow entry until Chapter 3. As someone who tried REALLY hard to make ends meet in Chapter 2, I was waaaaaaay too strong when I wound up in Chapter 3 and carried that through the rest of the game. I guess the idea was that the Player wouldn't bother trying to fight the Orcs and would just do the Main Quest and leave the Valley once it was done. There's just so many wolves and rats that make it feel like the placement in the Quest-line was wrong.

Bugs and issues with quests. Quests require weird progression sometimes. It feels like you'll hit a wall in dialogues and need to talk to some other Character to proceed which the game won't tell you about. Like you know what you need to have happen but just can't find the trigger to make it work. Bosper's Bow is a good example of this. I failed to find a way into the Thieves' Guild and essentially got locked out of the Sewer to be able to even DO the Quest, but was still offered it and left hanging.

Amazing Game, The team really made the best rpg ever made

Я устроил тотальный геноцид орков. Игра 10/10

It was as good as I remembered it. The control is tricky, but it's a good game.

Modern RPGs got few things to learn

Price changes were unnecessary

THQ Nordic teaches us a very valuable lesson - corporate greed (even on a small scale) is very real. It's just pitiful. Nothing to add. Just pitiful.
Players - do yourself a favour and buy a CD-Key instead.

THQ Nordic uczy nas cennej lekcji - chciwość korporacyjna istnieje także na małą skalę. To po prostu żałosne. Nic do dodania. Żałosne.
Gracze, kupcie sobie CD-Key z Internetów.

You must be joking with rising price so much for such an old game.

THQ increased the price on an old game by double. Nothing more to say, better buy them on a 3rd party where price is reasonable.

Big L from THQ Nordic trying to put the price higher now that the remake is in making , they think people are idiots and will buy it now for over double price. REALLY GREEDY MOVE THQ

YOU CAN BUY THIS GAME MUCH CHEAPER!!!
THQ ARE THIEFS!

Publishers decided to put price 100-140% higher.

40 PLN to 92 PLN
10 euro to 20 euro

It's really not worth because you can buy trylogy (yes, 3 games) for less than 2 euros.

That price change is disgusting

Price increased
40 PLN to 92 PLN
10 euro to 20 euro
ITS NOT POLISHED, price in euro is lower than PLN
good job THQ

My god if you dont like being frustrated dont play Night of the Raven

20 years old game?
Yeah let's make it more expensive, why not
By how much? 20%? 30%?
Nah, why bother, let's make it 130%..


What else can we call it than disgusting greediness?

Game is really good (All of these hours are because of mods) but FUCK, making the game cost twice as before is an absolute dick idea, I understand we're closer to Gothic Remake but this looks like typical SONY move (Make original cost more or even unable to buy because a remaster is coming), absolutely disappointed in THQ with this one

Expect to see similar review under G1

Simply loving this game. Came back after a few years to play again before Gothic Remake and installed all available updates including D3D11 rendering. Just awesome feeling.

This is one of the best video games ever made. It's a crazy story and very absorbing. You start as an escaped convict and get your first job picking turnips on a farm. Then work your way up as an apprentice, join a faction, and before you know it, you're slaying dragons and other giant monsters. There is a lot of dialog with a good sense of humor, memorable characters, and outstanding voice actors with accents ranging from New York City to Kentucky to Oxford University. Gothic I is good too, although your main task in that game is selling marijuana. Gothic II is a little more family-oriented, but you are still an outlaw, secretly doing the bidding of Xardas the Necromancer.

After Gothic 1, Gothic 2 is a must-play, as the story continues. While the unconventional controls from Gothic 1 remain, there’s now an alternative keybinding option. I liked the old controls, but the new ones are slightly more efficient.

The world is surprisingly large for such an old game, with varied enemies and a solid story. While the setting in Gothic 1 felt more unique, Gothic 2 still delivers a great experience. Especially the world is beautifully crafted!

Some bosses are bugged due to their HP regeneration being tied to FPS, making them very hard to kill at higher frame rates. Scrolls can help defeat them regardless, or you can limit FPS using external tools.

Progression in Gothic 1 was perfect, but in Gothic 2, it’s uneven. The early game is tough, requiring careful planning, while the DLC makes you overpowered, leading to a sudden power spike.

Despite these issues, I had a lot of fun. Choose the Night of the Raven version as it includes the Base Game + DLC.

Great game all in all! Looking forward to the Gothic 1 remake and hopefully a Gothic 2 remake someday!

amazing game they should definitely make a remake on this one as well

I love this game. I play it at least once a year since I'm 8. I don't think it aged pretty well though

Ноч Ворана амаль не адрозніваецца ад першай Готыкі ў тым, што тычыцца геймплэю, але ў астатнім падалася крыху душнаватай. Не заўсёды зразумела, па якіх квэстах можна ісці ўжо зараз, а якія прасунуцца хоць трошкі далей праз два-тры акты, нягледзячы на тое, што выдалі іх на першай гадзіне гульні. Пракачка няроўная і даволі цяжкая, а лічбачкі, якіх ад вас патрабуюць, каб выкарыстоўваць нармальную зброю, касмічныя. Усю гульню глядзеў на мячы ў інвентары, якія патрабавалі столькі сілы, колькі я не назбіраў нават за 64 гадзіны :D. Таксама злавіў некалькі зламаных скрыптаў (а можа проста не разабраўся, як іх запусціць). Але гэта ўсё дробязі. Ноч Ворана - усё тая ж Готыка, са сваімі правіламі і атмасферай. Калі спадабалася першая, падабаецца і гэтая.

It's good for you.

Played the game at release, very enjoyable and authentic RPG adventure.

Its gothic

Gothic II is everything a sequel should strive to be. It builds on everything I loved about the first game, refining it while adding even more depth and brilliance.

I know I already gushed about the atmosphere in my review of the first game, but I can’t stress enough how exceptional it is. While the oppressive tone of the prequel has been slightly dialed back—you're no longer a prisoner trapped inside a magical barrier—the sequel brilliantly evolves this atmosphere to match the world’s shifting circumstances.

The moment you step outside the confines of the barrier, it hits you: the war with the orcs has ravaged the land, farmers are rebelling, and the townsfolk hang on the edge of defeat. The tension is palpable. Gothic II doesn’t just show you a world in turmoil—it immerses you in it.

The world feels alive, brimming with believable characters whose struggles pull you in. Quests feel urgent and grounded, each carrying weight and consequence. Every interaction, every corner of the world, reinforces the sense that this is a living, breathing place. Simply put, there’s nothing else quite like the atmosphere of Gothic I & II. I love how the world dynamically adapts to the events after each chapter. NPCs visibly react to changes, which makes the immersion all the more powerful. New enemies appear, not only hunting you but also being noticed by the NPCs—whether through dialogue or their behavior.

And of course, with dragons now playing a major role in the sequel, an epic dragon hunt unfolds. At some point, dragon hunters begin to appear—some offering their aid, while others become obstacles in your quest. It perfectly captures the feeling of a living, breathing world. It was simply fantastic.

Among RPG fans, there are those who hail Gothic I & II as the pinnacle of the genre—and you know what? I totally get it now. I'm glad I finally found the time to play these games and experience something truly special.

Золотая классика, сочетающая в себе высококлассные забытые технологии древних, нелинейность и гениальный геймдизайн в одном флаконе.