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Another interesting twist in Gothic 3 is that no faction represents the pure “good guy.” The orcs seem to be the clear enemy, but they constantly speak of honor and pride and many will befriend you depending on your course in the game. The rebels may seem like the obvious choice if you want the hero to be on the light side, but you’ll quickly hear of atrocities committed by some of their ranks. King Rhobar is a brutal conquerer who previously subjugated the Varant and Nordmar peoples. The Hashishin may seem like heartless slave traders, but they come off as the most “human” when you travel to Varant and see their vulnerabilities and hedonistic tendencies.

Open world

If you’re able to take advantage of the visual features, Gothic 3 has a stunning world. There are hundreds of animals and monsters to kill or avoid depending on your skills. Most will leave you with something to pick up, like meat, hide, weapons or potions, depending on the type of being you just killed. Gothic 3 mixes real life (pigs, cows, boars) with fantasy (ogres, trolls, and massive blood flies.)

I was really struck by the beauty of the landscape, especially the waterfall detail deep in Myrtana. When you’re not looking to hunt or kill, you can go cliff jumping and drive off a waterfall into the lake beneath. It’s about as big a rush you can get in a non-action sequence of a video game. Just don’t miss the water.

You could easily wander around the dessert or wilderness for a half hour and encounter a rebel encampment, a ranger cave, packs of wolves or herds of bison.

There are dozens of side tasks that you can perform, whether it’s a hunting expedition or a great thieving heist. None of them necessarily relate to any of the main quests, which are also different depending on if you are taking the Orc, Rebel or Hashishin path.

The soundtrack is one of the most solid features of the game, and the music is really going to bring you into the three very different parts of the world.

End game

Technically, you don’t have to finish the game, but eventually, and by eventually I mean after 200-300 hours of playing time, you will finish all the small tasks, and you might find everything there is to find. The main end games depend heavily on the path you end up taking. Each path means killing the other two factions’ leaders eventually. The third path, the one of the Hashishin, is the most deadly.

The game has a lot of replay value, but I think there are a few things I’d like to have seen added. More wild animals regenerating faster would be nice and more “life” aspects could be nice. The main gameplay problem with the game is that once you finish the tasks for a particular town, there is rarely any reason to go back there. Some industry and more active trading could be nice. As it is there are no “stores” or thriving markets in the game, just individual vendors, usually on the streets.

You can also grab a variety of tools and trinkets during the game, like saws, hammers, knives, meat cleavers, etc. Some of these items are used for side animations–like you can saw a log but all you do is continually saw forever; nothing actually happens. It would be nice to be able to do more with your unlimited inventory of goods.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a ton of detail in the game. You can sit by a campfire and roast the meat from your catches. You can sharpen your swords at a whetstone. You can lift heavy objects to gain strength points. The only thing you can’t really do is find a sense of permanence. There’s no “home base” or house you can really call your own and store some of your treasures. You can carry an unlimited amount of items, which is nice though unrealistic.

Overall, Gothic 3 is good, as long as you can get it to run right. Several hundred hours of good gameplay await in a beautifully rendered world that’s yours to conquer.

Quick hits:

Playability:
Learning Curve:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall:

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John Guilfoil is the editor-in-chief of Blast: Boston's Online Magazine. He can be reached at guilfoil.j@blastmagazine.com.