Gothic II: Gold Edition

Gothic and Gothic II, what's there to say, their classics, exemplary, and distinguished must own games.
Still very playable to this day.

I'm a long-time gamer, but for some unknown reason, this game passed me by. I had an incredible time with the story, the locations, and the amazingly well-thought-out game mechanics—something you just don't find in modern games anymore.
Thank you for the great Journey!

Don't buy this on steam. I've tried literally every single "community patch" and obscure german, polish, and russian website with patches from the past few decades that in theory add support for W11, DX11, and ultrawide monitors. Literally nothing makes this run on modern hardware. I used to run this game on my cobbled together trash computer in the early 2000s, but it's an enigma for modern hardware.

Don't waste your weekend trying to get this running.

I think its one of best rpg from 3rd view simple legendery all episodes waiting for remake. :D

An iconic game albeit some technical drawbacks that could be mostly settled with some community add-ons. I played with the must-play overhaul of The night of the Raven, with Unity and with a controller support community add-on. Didn't bother to better the graphics, needed cheats only 2-3 times when got stuck. So melee is basic and one should not play the game for that gist. I loved twists along the story that revealed more of the open world than was expected until that point. Now waiting for Gothic 1 remake

One of the best classic RPGs, with a huge long term modding community

It's a really decent sequel. The open world has become even bigger, especially thanks to the expansion. Countless number of characters, including the ones from the first part. Here, same as in the first part, there are always several ways in which you can finish your mission and the choices you've made can then have certain consequences in later chapters (for example, if you give the thief guild over to the city militia when you have your first chance, you won't get extra side quests from them in later chapters). I'm also amazed at how many different reactions the characters have depending on your behavior. For instance, after becoming a member of the Water Circle, if you kill too many innocent people, then you'll have a unique dialog with Vatras, where he'll tell you that he's disappointed and ask you to explain yourself, and at this point if you tell him to "get stuffed", he just won't talk to you anymore and he'd even leave your crew in later chapters if you invited him. I like this variability.

Also, I'd like to separately highlight controls in the game - it's better than in the first part, although it'll still take you some time to get used to it. The inventory also looks much better, which cannot but rejoice.

In contrast to the first game, here TNH can brew potions - a new mechanic. There is also a new powerful experimental spell that you test for one alchemist - it causes a victim to lose memory. Which means of course that you can just beat some quest guy, loot him for a quest item (a key for his chest etc.), then cast a spell on him and it'll be as nothing happened (otherwise he'll have an approprite reaction to your recent actions).

There's also a small detail with one of the items you can get - one of the character's head. You can basically carry a head and after a while it'll rot - the item's icon will change in your inventory. If you try to swim away beyond the sandbox boundaries, a sea monster will kill TNH which I find a much better solution compared to one where there would be an invisible wall that prevents you from going too far from the islands (as it's done in Gothic 3, for instance).

An interesting fact related to the Night of the Raven expansion - you can't progress through the game without beating it. Because, it's not just a DLC, it's now an integral part of the game and you can't repair the Eye of Innos without traveling to Jharkendar first and obtaining the Claw of Beliar. This addon also introduces a new pirate faction and some unique wild beasts.

As I see it, if you enjoyed the first game, this one will surely grab your attention, too. I haven't noticed any downgrades compared to the base game, only upgrades!

One of the best first RPG games, strongly recommend it

fantastic RPG with dense atmosphere. I played it countless of times (even before Steam) and every once in a while I get back to it to experience this world again.

Amazing classic game. Incredible role playing especially considering the time it was created!

Ive played more then 25h in mod Gothic2 mod Lobos...and im VERY happy i RECOMMENDED TO PLAY it for everybody!

"Ale Beliar nie znosił widoku światła i niszczył wszystko, co Innos stworzył. Ujrzał wtedy Adanos, że w ten sposób nic nie może istnieć na świecie - ani jasność, ani mrok. Stanął więc między swymi braćmi i próbował pojednać ich między sobą… jednakże bez skutku. Ale tam, gdzie stanął Adanos, ani Innos, ani Beliar nie mieli żadnej władzy. W miejscu tym ład i chaos współistniały w harmonii - Tak o to powstało morze. A z morza wyłonił się ląd, a na lądzie powstało wszystko to, co żywe… Rośliny i zwierzęta, wilki i owce, a na samym końcu powstali ludzie. Adanos cieszył się, ze wszystkiego, co wówczas powstało, a swą miłością darzył jednakowo wszystkie rzeczy. Ale gniew Beliara był tak wielki, że przemierzył on całą Ziemię, by znaleźć bestię. A gdy do niej przemówił, stała się ona jego sługą. Beliar tchnął w nią część swej boskiej mocy, by mogła zniszczyć całą Ziemię. Ale Innos podpatrzył czyn Beliara i przemierzył Ziemię, by znaleźć człowieka. A gdy do niego przemówił, ten stał się jego sługą. Innos tchnął w niego część swojej boskiej mocy, by mógł on naprawić szkody wyrządzone przez Beliara. Wtedy zwrócił się Beliar do innej istoty, ale Adanos zesłał potężną falę, która zmyła ją z powierzchni Ziemi. Ale wraz z nią odeszły także drzewa i zwierzęta, więc Adanos wielce się zasmucił. I rzekł wreszcie do swych braci – „Nigdy więcej nie postanie wasza noga na mojej Ziemi, bo jest ona święta i pozostanie taka na wieki”. Ale człowiek i bestia nie zaprzestali wojny na Ziemi Adanosa i płonął w nich gniew ich bogów. A człowiek pokonał bestię, która wróciła do królestwa Beliara. I zobaczył Adanos, że prysła równowaga między ładem a chaosem i zaklął Innosa, by ten odebrał człowiekowi swą boską moc. A Innos w swej mądrości tak uczynił. Ale Adanos obawiał się, że pewnego dnia bestia powróci na Ziemię. Dlatego uprosił Innosa, by ten zostawił część swojej mocy na Ziemi, aby pewnego dnia przywrócić ją człowiekowi. A Innos w swej mądrości tak uczynił."

As much of a cult classic, as the first game, but Gothic 2 refines mechanics from Gothic, and adds a few more. Definitely would recommend grabbing it and giving it a try, especially with the "Night of the Raven" add-on, included with the game.

More than 20 years after it's release, Gothic 2 + addon is still the definitive action RPG. This game implements the best open world game mechanics ever developed alongside combat and buildcrafting systems that are as excellent as they are unusual - so go read a guide.

Unfortunately the english dub is mediocre, so the experience won't be as great if you can't understand german.

This Game has the worst combat in any RPG you will ever play. Only buy this game if you hate yourself

Gothic 2

Overall impression

The continuation of the legendary RPG series, which continues to absorb even more than the first part. The world has changed its appearance radically: from the Colony, which was under the barrier and was, roughly speaking, an exclusion zone, to a limited open world, where people no longer survive, but live their lives (or at the expense of someone, the war has not gone anywhere).

What DID I like?

• Innovation in the form of professions, which, on the one hand, characterize the style of play of the player/main character, and on the other hand, provide certain bonuses during the game.
  
• A new and very interesting world, which hides many challenges and rewards (sometimes in the most unexpected places).
  
• Hardcore remained the same as in the first part. In the second part, it probably became, perhaps, more expanded, as there were more locations where the player/main character could die.
  
• The Night of the Raven expansion. Probably one of the first expansions I played ever, and it was simply incredible. The developers did not use existing presets and models, but created a new location, which differs in new factions, mobs and quests.
  
• A large variety of quests, the solution of which can change depending on the appearance of the main character or the faction to which he belongs. And first of all, on the choice of the player/main character. There are almost no template quests here.
  
• A generous selection of answers in dialogue windows.
  
• The ability to study lore through books and notes that are found during the game. They are not too long, but interesting to read.
  
• The setting of a medieval city, with its quarters, which at first glance can be quickly studied. But that's only at first glance, the main thing is just to start...
  

What I DIDN'T like?

[*] A combat system that lacks area attacks, using one-handed or two-handed weapons. Only focus on a single target, and only that. Which complicates the battle with 2+ opponents.

Conclusion

One of those games where I got familiar with the term "DLC". The legendary second part of the series, which will forever remain in my heart, and in which I will never lose interest in playing it again.

The barrier has fallen, but evil lurks deeper

Gothic II is a continuation of the first part of the game. After the events of the first part and the destruction of the barrier, it turns out that only now we are faced with the real challenge, and the forces of evil are growing stronger, and we are the only person who can oppose them. Naturally in the game we will meet characters from the first part of the game and many new characters. The plot of the game, however, is worth discovering for yourself.

Starting with gameplay and what playing Gothic 2 is like in general, I think it's positive. The game offers a large number of missions, more or less extensive, and many of them we can finish in different ways, which sometimes may have consequences in the future. The missions are not difficult, but sometimes it's hard to figure out where exactly you need to go. Here it is very important to read dialogues or rely on the diary, which does not always have all the important information written down. Also, at first, moving around the entire map is, to put it lightly, tedious, until you unlock certain teleportation capabilities in Khorinis.

Now a few words about the controls, the biggest issue from the first part, and here it is already a little better, although much is missing from the ideal. The work of the camera and the rotation of the character is the biggest problem here, as well as the focus on a given enemy, which can sometimes jump from one enemy to another which sometimes just ends in death. The rest seems to be fine, sometimes it will happen that the character gets blocked in some place, but as a rule there is no problem to “unlock”.

Let's move on to the character development system, which is definitely better than in the first part. There are more stats and skills, plus we get such novelties as the alchemy table, where we can create potions, or the anvil where we create new weapons. I have the impression, however, that in the case of this part of the game the character progresses more slowly and if we would like to play, for example, without scrolls, we will have to spend some time to level up by killing monsters, because the exp from the missions alone may not be enough.

The soundtrack maintains the level and is at the same level as in Gothic 1, if not higher, while graphically it is much better. Entering the forest you feel that you are in the forest and although on the map it seems to be relatively small, walking through it you can feel as if you walked there for a long time. In general, the whole map is very well thought out, whether in Khorinis or the Mining Valley.

Here it is also worth noting that the game sometimes managed to crash, and I can't even say why, but I think it is worth mentioning that such a problem occurs.

Summary

Is Gothic 2 a better game than Gothic 1? The character system is more developed, we have the ability to create potions or weapons, the world map is larger and much more interesting than in the first part. Plus improved graphics and sound design. All this leads me to conclude that I liked Gothic 2 better, although still the control in this game is something that for me can reject many players who would like to try this classic game.

✔️The atmosphere that prevails in the game world
✔️A variety of missions that we can complete in different ways
✔️Improved graphics relative to the first part
✔️Sound design at a high level
✔️Expanded character system
✔️Night of the Raven is a very good DLC

❌The second part unfortunately still has some problems with camera movement
❌Better controls, but still far from perfect

Time of completion: 35-40 hours

[b]Rating: 8.5/10

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ATTENTION!
Please note that this is only my evaluation and opinion of the game. If you do not agree with it or think that the game deserves a higher or lower rating, please leave a comment and I will be happy to respond.

You could say it's the best Gothic game. First chapter maybe not as good as in the first game, but later on it's much more interesting than the first part. Still, there are some dull parts, full of grinding. But overall a great open world RPG, difficult in the beginning but with time your character really gets stronger and the game is still difficult...

Gothic 2: Night of the Raven is what a true RPG expansion should be—tougher, deeper, and more rewarding. It takes everything great about Gothic 2 and refines it, adding new areas, quests, and mechanics that make the world feel even more alive. The difficulty is brutal but fair, forcing you to think before every fight and truly earn your progress.

What sets it apart is its pacing and atmosphere. There’s no filler, no wasted space—just a handcrafted world packed with meaningful content. Every choice matters, every step feels like part of a real journey, and the game respects your time without holding your hand. It has a soul that modern RPGs struggle to replicate, and once you get lost in it, nothing else quite measures up.

A great game and definitely the best in the series, so start with this one if you're thinking of trying out Gothic

In my opinion this is one of the best games of all time.
You start from zero to become a hero. And the fact that the game lets you go whereever you want and bump to extremely strong opponents just from the start, makes you comprehend the insignificance of your character.
The leveling and the class system is brilliant, making you claw your way through in order to join a guild and learn new skills. And the Night of the Raven DLC made the game even more interesting.
Great story and phenomenal soundtrack.

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.