gamespot.co.uk 03/2001

27.03.2001

Gothic Preview

Preview

The Great Escape meets medieval Porridge - can you break out of Gothic?

Once you've been imprisoned and sentenced to death, you might think things couldn't get any worse. Amazingly, in the world of Gothic, this is only the beginning. Gothic is the long-awaited roleplaying title from Piranha Bytes. You're immediately thrown into a gigantic top security open-air prison in a medieval fantasy world. A huge magical barrier cuts the prison off from the outside world. Inside the prison, three factions are fighting for supremacy: the old and new encampments and a psychic sect. But you can afford no loyalties. Your aim is simply to get out.

Gothic is played in the third person, in a similar perspective to Tomb Raider. The most striking aspect of the game is the sheer size and attention to detail of the virtual world. Misty moors give way to thick forests, waterfalls thunder over high cliffs and ruined castles keep watch over wide plains and undulating hills. There's an organic feel to everything and it all fits together to make a unified whole.

However real the world appears, it would be dead without inhabitants. Your fellow prisoners in Gothic go about their daily business even if you don't interact with them. The monsters don't just stand around idly either, but instead take naps or rush off to attack intruders. And when day changes into night, the behaviour patterns of the creatures alters too. A gloomy forest path can quickly turn into a picnic site for a pack of wolves in the moonlight. A trader who was plying his wares in the market at midday can be found relaxing in the bar in the evening.

Wherever you make friends, your thoughts should always be on escaping from this inhospitable world. You will have to battle your way through six chapters and 12 main quests before you can breathe as a free man again. There is also a whole range of mini tasks, from which you can gain experience, riches or magical weapons. The story is non-linear, and changes depending on which path you choose. For instance, if you join the old encampment one of your missions could be to guard a cargo of
iron-ore being transported to the outside world. If you join the new encampment, your task will be to attack the consignment.

Succeed in your missions and you are rewarded with experience points that can be invested in improving your sword arm, speeding up your thieving fingers or enhancing your magic spells. Piranha Bytes has kept the character management relatively simple. Instead of cryptic Advanced Dungeeons & Dragons abbreviations and dull columns of figures, the info screen tells you concisely how well you are able to use a weapon or how well armed you are.

Like everything else in Gothic, battles take place in real time. As soon as a monster crosses your path the camera switches to a side view. Using the keyboard you can choose one of three punches, blocks or spells. As everything is fairly unhurried, you don't have to be a Virtua Fighter expert to win a sword fight. Our only concern here is the camera, which sometimes seems to have problems keeping up with the main character or switches to the wrong target. Apart from this, our tour through the beta version was very exciting, and we look forward to bringing you a full review soon.

Rüdiger Steidle for PC GAMEPLAY
Posted: 27 Mar 2001