Who knew that your actions would have consequences? And fairly hefty ones at that when it comes to Gothic 2 Complete Classic. But that’s exactly what your fight with that inter-dimensional demon/deity has caused. You may have saved the world from one monster but now there are Orcs, bandits and dragons galore causing all sorts of havoc. And then there are the people, dear lord, the people!
Now we’ve said this before. Piranha Bytes games are for a very specific audience and taste. Their unique brand of janky, buggy, large open-world, open-ended RPGs really appeals to a very specific crowd. This applies to games past and present, and probably the future too. Those who do decide to brave these games and stick with them, usually find that, despite their frustration, they are worth the effort. They are nothing if not entertaining and ambitious and the many rough edges are just something to be dealt with.
And that applies to Gothic 2 Complete Classic for Switch as well, which has received an enhanced edition packing in menu and performance changes along with the game’s expansion, Night of The Raven.
Gothic 2 Complete Classic starts off right where the first game ended. As our no-named protagonist defeats the Sleeper, seemingly to die in the final battle, magic plucks him from the brink of death and onto a brand new quest to save the world again. Dragons, those fabled creatures of legend, have appeared and are rousing a monster army. And it’s up to you, weak as a newborn babe, to put a stop to it all. Again.
Gothic 2 Complete Classic’s setup is an excuse to take you down from your pillar and drop you back into the muck with everyone else. Gone are all the skills you’ve worked so hard to hone, along with all the weapons and armour that you may have collected. While you know who you are and what you’ve done, you back to that physical blank slate that you began the first game on.
It’s the sort of soft reboot video game that have dealt with for years, setting you on a familiar journey to start powering up all over again while making sure you can’t cakewalk the sequel. As such, if you’ve played Gothic or Risen or any of Piranha Bytes’ other games, then you know what to expect. Your journey will take you across a large island, speaking to plenty of people, taking on quests and fighting monsters.
Piranha Bytes trademark grey storytelling remains in place, with multiple factions to join and quests that have multiple ways to solve them. You can play it honourably or you can be self-centred, allowing for a fair amount of actual roleplay leeway. Gothic 2 Complete Classic packs in the quests as well and before you’ve even explored the first town thoroughly, you’re quest log will be packed to the brim.
The game is packed with a lot of humorous and snarky writing as well, giving the game’s characters a lot of, well, character. The same goes for our nameless hero whose responses can be just as acidic. The writing is certainly one of the highlights of the game.
Gothic 2 Complete Classic’s frustration comes from its combat though. After conquering the first game and coming back here as a no-level hero is quite a kick in the bits. Across Gothic 2 Complete Classic, as in the first, you’ll be dying a lot. The first monsters you come across will continue to kill you on a regular basis and woe betide you if more than one takes an interest in you. Gothic 2 Complete Classic’s combat system is no better than the first, unfortunately, and it’s the game’s biggest barrier to entry.
Combat plays out the same. You can equip two weapons, parry and use your attack with a directional button to perform different combat swings. While magic and weapon switching is easier to use here, it’s still incredibly slow and cumbersome with an auto-lock that is really useless when fighting multiple enemies at once. Gothic 2 Complete Classic’s combat also suffered from some bugs for me, such as button presses not registering, the wrong weapons being picked and at least once a weapon being dropped when trying to put it away to draw the secondary.
While parrying is still pretty awful, the biggest issue was the button presses not registering as it just meant I stood and took a beating while holding my sword like it was a toothpick. Even had the buttons registered though, Gothic’s combat is just incredibly hard and frustrating until you start levelling up, putting skill points into your various attributes and, of course, making that cash to outfit you with decent weapons and armour. As such, venturing into the wilds isn’t really recommended until you can pull together enough money to buy better gear.
This updated version of the original comes with a bevvy of enhancements and some superior fixes over Gothic Classic. The interface is cleaner and easier to use with the menu, inventory and sales screens making a lot more sense in how things are laid out and the information presented. It’s also faster this time to pop into the inventory, menu and status screens over Gothic Classic.
Performance overall feels like it’s been enhanced along with a nice visual upgrade. True, the game doesn’t look 2023 great with its blocky character models and low polygon meshes, but the new textures and higher resolution make everything look that much cleaner and nicer. The game also runs better than the first with only a few frame drops that I noticed which could have been cleaned up had I chosen to use High Performance over High Visual quality mode. Yes, you can pick between the two performance modes on Switch!
The game also packs in lots of little details for those who look for it, like the way smoke particles seem to react to weather and wind direction. And the first-person mode, while a little awkward for fine movement, is a great addition for tight areas that can cause camera issues. Overall, Gothic 2 Complete Classic is a really nice-looking game on Switch, despite the occasional background draw-in.
Yes, Piranha Bytes games are janky and frustrating but they’re also ambitious, entertaining and well worth the effort if you can get past the initial frustrations. Gothic 2 Complete Classic comes with hours of playtime, enhanced visuals and menus and the expansion in one convenient package. Combat may still be a chore but fans of the developers know exactly what they’re getting themselves into.
Gothic 2 Complete Classic Switch Port | Announcement Trailer
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