I crave an RPG like Gothic

[OctavianRomulus]

Anyone can recommend an RPG that is sort of like Gothic? Where, the world is small but dense, has brutal but engaging gameplay, where the game doesn't hold your hand but doesn't get you needlessly lost? Where the game doesn't rely on expensive cutscenes and voice acting to sell itself?

The closest is of course Risen 1 but I already beat it 5 times. As far as I know, the other two are not that great.

Elex is sort of like that but kind of schizophrenic, like it doesn't know whether it wants to be Gothic or something else. Combat is not that great either. The world is also too big for its own good. The bigger the world becomes, the more dilluted the game is. I want everything to be meaningful. Finding a bag with 25 gold in G2 is a big deal.

I also think Dark Souls is similar, but I beat it many times.

Stalker I beat many times too...

The unofficial Chronicles of Myrtana and History of Khorinis are still a ways off and dammit I want a proper RPG for the weekend.

So any ideas? Some overlooked, eurojank RPG?

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

eurojank RPG?

If you're looking for some third person action eurojank, then try out Divinity 2: Ego Draconis or Two Worlds 2.

 

[octavius]

Anyone can recommend an RPG that is sort of like Gothic? Where, the world is small but dense, has brutal but engaging gameplay, where the game doesn't hold your hand but doesn't get you needlessly lost?

Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul

 

[Tigranes]

We all do, buddy, we all do, but there aren't any. At least not in the same quasi-open-world format.

Div2 is extra mega janky and I like it, but it has none of the tight, cohesive design & brutality that Gothic has, it's a stroll around a weird Belgian theme park. TW2 is just a mediocre soup and you might as well be playing Risen 2/3 if you're that desperate.

Actually, the same uncompromising principles are best found in other subgenres, like AOD/Underrail, maybe.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Enderal
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/sureais-new-project-enderal-the-shards-of-order.73191/

 

[curds]

the world is small but dense, has brutal but engaging gameplay, where the game doesn't hold your hand but doesn't get you needlessly lost? Where the game doesn't rely on expensive cutscenes and voice acting to sell itself?

The first Dark Souls fits this description.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Arx Fatalis if you didn't play it already.
Cherry on the cake, it's very atmospheric too.

 

[SlamDunk]

I have also yearned for something like Gothic 1-3 and Risen for a long time now. ELEX was a disappointment.

Here's hoping that some other developer house would take on the challenge since Piranha Bytes can't do it anymore.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/ has been in development for a long time. Perhaps it will fill the need?

 

[OctavianRomulus]

I have also yearned for something like Gothic 1-3 and Risen for a long time now. ELEX was a disappointment.

Here's hoping that some other developer house would take on the challenge since Piranha Bytes can't do it anymore.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/ has been in development for a long time. Perhaps it will fill the need?

So far, this is the best thing we are getting (link below). It was supposed to come out but then the Chinese decided to fuck up the whole world. All I wanted was a sequel to Risen 1, with the same combat system but with a stamina bar like in Dark Souls, with a small but dense world...I love games like Skyrim but I really dislike how every open world game tries to make its world bigger, including PB. Something tells me they don't quite get what made their games so good and that the games we love were born out of limitations.

At this rate, I'mma have to make such a game myself in a few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUFNT0yKQcc&t=45s

 

[Alienman]

Outcast maybe? The remake is really pretty. Technomancer is fun too, but it does not have that living world aspect.

 

[Citizen]

E to the L to the E to the X, what's it spell baby?

 

[Farewell into the night]

Ultima IX - Ascension gave me some Gothic vibes, but overall it's not so great of a game.
Maybe Lionhead Studios Fable or Witcher 3 will fit the description.

 

[cvv]

There is nothing like Gothic, that's the whole point of the PB charm. I actually think Elex contains a proper does of the PB charm but if it's not your jam then you're out of options.

I recommend looking into different, yet perhaps remotely related stuff. You like Dark Souls, have you played other FromSoft games? There are quite a few non-From Souls-likes nowadays that may or may not be up your alley - Nioh, Lords of the Fallen, Ashen, Mortal Shell.

Talking more traditional RPGs, there are some PB inspirations in other prestigious eurojank like Kingdom Come, Technomancer, Greedfall. I think Witcher 1 and 2 are still great to play today.

 

[vazha]

Enderal.

 

[curds]

Of course there is also the upcoming Naudrion. I believe it is being made by one guy.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336840/Naudrion_Fall_of_The_Empire/

 

[Ismaul]

Nothing has ever topped Gothic. And I fear nothing ever will. It's my GOAT.

All you'll ever get is games that have some superficial aspects of it, but never the whole package. Like The Witcher series. I feel the closest game to Gothic is ELEX, despite not being at the same level. You really need all the aspects of the game to work in a cohesive manner to deliver that believable, living world, and that's quite hard to pull off.

 

[Ismaul]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/ has been in development for a long time. Perhaps it will fill the need?

That looks quite interesting. Hopefully the game gets done.

 

[Siveon]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/ has been in development for a long time. Perhaps it will fill the need?

That looks quite interesting. Hopefully the game gets done.

I've been asking for that since 2013...

EDIT: However from what I've played, god at the time it felt close to that Gothic itch hard.

 

[toro]

I feel the closest game to Gothic is ELEX, despite not being at the same level.

Wrong. It's the 1st half of Risen 1.

I have also yearned for something like Gothic 1-3 and Risen for a long time now. ELEX was a disappointment.

Here's hoping that some other developer house would take on the challenge since Piranha Bytes can't do it anymore.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/531660/Exoplanet_First_Contact/ has been in development for a long time. Perhaps it will fill the need?

Progress is steady but it's not finished.

 

[Please No]

Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, unironically.

 

[Avarize]

Sure AI games (Enderal and Nehrim) are held back by Gamebryo but they are still some of the best RPGs made and have many similarities to Gothic.

 

[ADULF HITLOR FAN KLUB]

Arx Fatalis

This too. It is a great game.

I recently played it for the first time and couldn't put it down until I finished it.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

Take a look at Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen.
It's not really like Gothic (at all), but could still fit the bill.

 

[Lukifell]

Anything that has a no reload style of gameplay like the older wizardries?