With the orc hordes invading, the king needs a lot of magical ore to create enough weapons for his army. All the criminals are now sentenced to work in the ore mines till the end of their days. To prevent them from escaping, the king has a group of powerful wizards create a magical, impassable barrier. But the barrier grows out of control, capturing a large chunk of terrain within itself, and the wizards become imprisoned inside. In the confusion that follows, the prisoners kill the guards and take over the whole area within the barrier.
Many years later, the prisoner community has been divided into three camps: the Old Camp, where miners dig up ore and sell it to the king in exchange for goods from the outer world; the New Camp, where anarchy rules, and where the miners dig up ore in hope of blowing up the barrier with its magical power; and the Brotherhood, whose members worship a mysterious god called the Sleeper, hoping that he will release them. A new convict has been recently dropped into the prison, trying to find his place within the community, and knowing nothing about the pivotal role he will soon play in earth-shaking events.
Gothic is a third-person perspective 3D action role-playing game. The game is set within the Colony, the large area of land within the barrier. The player is free to explore most of the Colony from the beginning, though it may prove difficult, as the protagonist is initially very weak and most wildlife can kill him with one attack. Combat with melee weapons requires the player to input combinations of keys to execute various types of attack.
The player character must train to increase his attributes – Strength, Dexterity and Mana. As he vanquishes creatures and completes quests, he receives experience; with enough experience, he will gain a level, which not only increases his number of hit points (and thus lengthens his lifespan), but also gives him skill points. If the hero meets someone who is eager to teach him, the player will be able to spend skill points to increase attributes or learn completely new skills.
Skills include: the increasing ability to fight with various types of weapons; the ability to pick pockets and locks; and the ability to jump further and sneak. The protagonist can also learn to harvest furs, claws and other things from the animals he kills, and then sell them for money. Collecting plants and getting meat from defeated creatures can be very useful, since eating food heals the main character, or restores mana lost when casting spells. The game features a day and night cycle, character schedules, and interactivity with the game world: for example, the player can find a pan or a stove and roast raw meet to raise its healing qualities.
The player can choose to join any of the three camps, which influences most of the quests in the first part of the game. By focusing on particular skill sets, the player can turn the main character into a specialized melee fighter, archer, or mage. However, it is also possible to learn skills belonging to other classes at any time. Even if the player doesn’t want the protagonist to learn mage skills, he can still find or buy scrolls and runes which allow the hero to cast various magic spells, e.g. toss fireballs at the enemies, teleport, turn himself into other creatures, and many more.
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