Gothic

Main aspects of the gameplay include interactivity of the environment and exploration. While the story line is at some point of the game linear, the player character/protagonist is relatively unguided in the first phases of the game. He does not have a map and if he finds or buys one, it does not tell him more than his current position (no quest markers etc.), which promotes having to stay watchful while exploring the world. The player decides which camp to join relatively early in the game, but the quests become increasingly linear as the game progresses, meaning the differences between the various factions disappear later in the game as there are no more camp affiliated quests to solve.

g. wild animals and monsters) to earn skill points, which are used to increase basic attributes and learn and improve skills. They are spent by finding the appropriate teacher. Several skills have only one "level" (Sneaking, Acrobatics), while Pickpocketing and the fighting skills (one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, bows and crossbows) have two proficiency levels.

Gothic takes place in an open world medieval fantasy realm in which humans are fighting a losing war against the Orcs, a humanoid race. In order to fight back, the king needs to extract magical ore from mines, which can be used to forge more powerful weapons and armor. Therefore he decides to send every man who has committed a crime to the ore mines.

To prevent the convicts from escaping, he orders his 12 most powerful magicians to erect a magical dome called the Barrier over the mining colony. However, the Barrier goes out of control during its erection and grows large enough to cover the entire valley, trapping the magicians inside and giving the convicts a chance to kill the distracted guards and take control over the colony. The king, who is not trapped within the Barrier, is thus forced to come to an agreement with the prisoners, trading goods for ore.

German company Piranha Bytes worked more than four years on the development of Gothic's technology. The game engine was created completely in-house with a modified version later used for Gothic II.

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN concluded that "Gothic is a solid role-playing experience" and Eurogamer said that it is a game that "developers should look to as an example of how a role-playing adventure should be done". GameSpot gave the game a slightly less positive review saying that despite Gothic's achievements in terms of story and dialogue, players might still be disappointed by its shallow character development and poor combat mechanics.

GameLive PC named Gothic the third-best role-playing game of 2001–2002 behind Dungeon Siege and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The editors of Computer Games Magazine nominated Gothic as the best role-playing game of 2001, but ultimately gave the award to Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and Wizardry 8 (tie). It was also a runner-up for RPG Vault's 2001 "RPG of the Year" prize, which it lost again to Arcanum. However, it won in the publication's "Surprise of the Year" category; the editors called it "a very solid, enjoyable debut effort".

According to CD Projekt, which localized and published the game in Poland, the first two Gothic games were a major source of inspiration in the development of The Witcher game series.