What we have with Gothic II: Night of the Raven is an expansion for the very popular Gothic II. One of the most impressive things about Night of the Raven is how much the developers listened to the fans. They really did go above and beyond to give the fans exactly what they want and many say this is the best in the entire Gothic series.
How to Download Gothic II: Night of the Raven
The game can now be downloaded as part of Gothic II Gold Edition which is available on GOG or Steam. It is worth noting that while Steam claims that the game can run on Windows XP, and even Windows 98, GOG lists Windows 7 as a minimum. If you want even more fun, check out also the outstanding free mod Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos.
The Game Review
Let me start by saying that this is a game that is not for newcomers. I could imagine someone who is having this as their first taste of the world of Gothic would have a hard time getting into it. The reason for this is that Gothic II: Night of the Raven does not hold your hand. If anything, it slaps your hand and tells you to get good at the game!
This is a 3rd person RPG-style game and the story is pretty awesome. There is a new world in the game called Jharkendar. You warp to the mysterious city of Khorinis and help a group of water mages.
The Story in the DLC
The story is your typical RPG kind of story, but the world they have created, the characters and the overall setting really are pretty cool.
The game has many places that were in Gothic II and never really amounted to anything. What they have done here though is give some old areas a new purpose which is pretty cool. I really think that they did a great job with the setting of the game and those who spent serious time with Gothic II will love what they have done here.
I really liked the story that the game was telling and found myself spending over 40 hours. This, of course, was taking in a bunch of side quests and stories as well, but there is a ton of content here.
The Graphics
The visuals of the game have aged quite a bit, even the most recent release of this on Steam has a rather mid-00s look to me as things are a bit “muddy” in places.
Night of the Raven Gameplay
The gameplay of Night of the Raven is pretty solid. You will go around moving the story along, learning new skills, getting new equipment and fighting enemies as you would expect in a good RPG. What makes this game stand out though is the brutal difficulty! This game feels like it has hardly any healing items and the enemies take a ton of damage to be defeated.
This is the kind of game that you do not want to play if you are not ready for a challenge. If you played the original Gothic II, you will probably love what they have done here. It is a very challenging, but also rewarding game. When you do finally get through a section that has been kicking your butt for ages, you really do feel like you have accomplished something.
The Bottom Line
What I really like about Gothic II: Night of the Raven is that this is a game that was made for fans of Gothic II. Piranha Bytes actually listened to what the fans wanted and they gave us that and much more. I am not sure I could recommend this to those who skipped out on Gothic II, but for Gothic II fans this I would say is even better than what that original game offered.
