Arcania: Gothic 4

In comparison to the predecessors, the game mechanics were simplified. For instance, there are only three spells available (but upgradable). Also, the character can only interact with "named" characters, those who have a name.

There is no sleeping mechanic so the player can't sleep for a chosen period of time like in previous games. The player is able to wield any weapon as there are no statistic requirements. There are no teachers within the game like in previous parts and all skills can be learned by using the skill tree.

War covers over the Southern Islands and reaches the isle of Feshyr in the Southern Seas. The protagonist of Arcania returns from an adventure to find his home and village torched and looted. The aggressors' ships – with an Eagle displayed on their billowing sails – escape over the horizon.

Seeking revenge, the hero leaves the destroyed village behind and soon realizes that this attack did not just happen on a corrupt king's whim. An evil power lies waiting at the threshold of this world, and the hero will need to face this nameless evil. Yet the hero is not alone – his fate is linked to that of a mysterious lady as well as an artifact from the past.

The start of the development was officially announced on 23 August 2007, along with the name of the new developer. The project was originally entitled Gothic 4: Genesis; the name change to Gothic 4: Arcania was announced in 2008. At the Games Convention in 2008, JoWooD Entertainment announced another name for the game – "Arcania: A Gothic Tale". The name change serves two purposes.

First, it hints at a world rich in magic and fantasy. Second, and completely from a marketing perspective, it helps give the Gothic franchise a fresh start in North America, where it has failed to gain significant popularity. During a press conference of the Polish distributor CD Projekt, the games to be published by the company were presented, including Arcania. The title of the game was stated as Arcania: Gothic 4.

The PC and Xbox 360 versions of Arcania received "mixed" reviews, while the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of Arcania: The Complete Tale received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. While the game was praised for its graphics and production values, it was criticized heavily for doing away with many elements of previous Gothic installments in order to make the game friendlier to casual players and failing to meet expectations of the series' fans. By October 2010, Arcania had sold 200,000 units in Europe.

GameSpot said of the Xbox 360 version: "Arcania has been dumbed down into a generic action role-playing game, so it isn't a Gothic game in anything but its subtitle." IGN complemented the great graphics of the PC and Xbox 360 versions as well as their "loot-heavy dungeon crawling experience that doesn't tax your skills" as well as the way Gothic 4 allows for the player to play leisurely and enjoy the world. In Japan, where the Xbox 360 version was ported and published by CyberFront on 24 March 2011, followed by the PC version on 14 April 2011, Famitsu gave the former console version a score of two eights and two sevens for a total of 30 out of 40.