The world in Gothic 3 is as real as possible. NPCs, animals and monsters sleep at night and pretty much have a life of their own – they talk to one another, panic when you take out your weapon or go to a restricted area, work (slaves especially and merchants occasionally), eat, drink (there’s a lot of drinking involved in the lands of Mytrana) and all of them have important info on the recent events or desperately need your help (you wanted tons of quests, you got it).

At times it may seem that the game is a little too realistic as certain quests you get are rather ambiguous and you are not really sure of what you’re supposed to do (like the find Xardas quest – where do I look, who do I need to talk to, is it OK to ask just anybody). This kind of quests tends to unravel themselves once you progress through the story, so the main thing about the game is to be a little patient (more or less whether your goal is to enjoy a few jobs well done for the community or untie the secrets of the events). You’ll also need the patience skill for running around all over the map as the teleporter stones can only take you to main settlements and they can only be found in the vicinity of the given city (be sure to search every corner as each settlement has it’s own teleporter stone and they are usually unique items).

You wonder what the atmosphere is like in the game. Huge! Majestic landscapes accompany your every step and when you see how slowly you seem to move on the world map (better be on the lookout to get one, else you’ll only benefit of general impressions about the cities in the world but no way to see your current position) you realize how big the realm is. The story also reveals to you few local maps (example a map of a few northern caves) and several notes/letters.​