Every single quest and encounter had a meaning and with interesting narratives behind each and every single moment that really made you forget that this is a mod. From the moment you arrive to the island of Myrtana as a refugee, escaping the ravages of war, Things dont go as planned. Setting off with your brother towards the first town, As soon as you arrive you instantly feel comfortable in terms of how the games pacing is laid out. Gothic 1-2 had an amazing way to help pace the player along in a way that made you feel like you were genuinely becoming stronger and the interacting or reactions you've had will ultimately effect you in some way or another. What Chronicles Of Myrtana does that's so exceptional is the way they make returning players of the Gothic universe feel respected with how the lore and story is being laid out and the pacing along the way that kept me engaged the entire way through. You can feel how much the developers love the Gothic universe and how much effort they put into making even the most hardcore fan of the series question if this isn't some sort of lost game that was never released. If Chronicles of Myrtana released without anyone knowing where or who made it, people who are fans of the series would absolutely be convinced that this is some sort of lost Gothic game we never got. Of course that's not the case but that's just a testament to how authentic and all around stellar of a job the creators of this project have done. 








When speaking about the combat within the original Gothic titles its no secret that they way combat is managed can be a bit dated or rough around the edges but personally, and this is completely just my opinion but i felt that the combat within this game is actually quite strategic. Granting the fact that Chronicles Of Myrtana is heavily more balanced then in the original, Vanilla releases of Gothic 1-2, but with how the combat is used by your WASD keys (depending on your keybindings) and after balancing the combat, I personally feel like its challenging in a positive way. Once you start leveling your selected weapon skill to a certain point, the combat starts to flow exceptionally more fluent and the engagements start feeling way more fluent in how you swing your sword or shoot your cross bow. While playing i never felt like i was being cheated but if i died in combat i would always notice why i died and what i need to do to proceed. Whether it be because im fighting something or someone whos way higher lvl than me or its because of my own mistakes by not back dodging or blocking at the right times. I personally get a souls vibe when engaging in combat, I know thats a controversial thing to say but i really had that vibe whenever i was strategizing how i was going to kill two Shadowbeasts or any other high lvl enemy. Combat is rewarding, fun and exciting with a multitude of ways to go about your plan of attack.








The number one thing that sucked me into the Gothic universe was the world design. The first time i played Gothic 2, which wasn't that long ago, I was late to the crpg party so i never got to experience these games when they originally came out but when i got my first gaming PC back in 2014, The first group of games i wanted to play were all the PC games i never got to play back in my console age before my first gaming PC. I remembered one game in particular, and the vision is still vivid in my mind of when i was young and would go to the electronics section at Kmart and look at all the PC game boxes because i thought the boxes looked really cool. One of the games i remember looking at was Gothic 2. Looking at the back of Gothic 2's big box and seeing the screenshots, wishing i could play that game but back then i was playing Morrowind on my original Xbox, The game that got me into rpgs. Fast-forward to when i got my first gaming PC and one of the first games i played was Gothic 2 and still, to this day, the world building within Gothic 2 is probably one of the best worlds in any video game of all time and Chronicles Of Myrtana is just as grand and spectacular as if the original world designers from Gothic 2 had made it. The amount their is to explore can be overwhelming in the best way possible. I would explore around the furthest most obscure points and would constantly run into content. I would run into random events and gear that you would completely pass by if you didn't go out of your way and explore and none if it felt forced upon me. I never felt like i had to go out and do more quests but instead would genuinely be interested in the content i ran into. Each location had its own identity so you never felt like you were running in circles. I know ive said this enough already but i cant praise enough with how much effort that was put into the world of Myrtana.












If you've played through any of the Gothic titles, even if you never fully finished a Gothic title from start to finish, I'd be hard pressed if someone felt like Chronicles Of Myrtana cant be considered canon given the amount of effort put into making it feel exactly that. I have no problem stating that this is my first Gothic title that ive fully finished all the way to the end credits and I'll go as far to state that Chronicles Of Myrtana is the PERFECT starting point into the Gothic series. Gothic 1-2 are fantastic titles and are two of some of the greatest RPG's of all time but you'll need to mod it for it to feel as smooth and as fair as Chronicles Of Myrtana is which can be done but if you're not someone whos experienced with modding older games with community patches and the like but you still wanna experience and see for yourself if the Gothic series is actually all that in a bag of chips or not, I would highly suggest starting with Chronicles Of Myrtana since all you need is a copy of Gothic II and then its a simple steam install like any other game. That alone makes me lean towards Chronicles Of Myrtana being the ideal game in the series to start with because if you dont enjoy Chronicles Of Myrtana then you wont enjoy Gothic 1 or 2 either. Besides being mores assessable to get into if you're a more casual player whos not use to modding games into a more playable state, The story sets up Gothic 1 quite nicely and give alot more back story behind the Valley Of Mines.








Im still floored that every day fans of the series made this game. Im hoping we see more players take the gaming industry by the throat and we see more series with more die hard fans that notice the success with Chronicles Of Myrtana and decide to make that leap a programmer or a software engineer or maybe you have a favorite game that you would like to see more out of whatever series. This shows that it can be done and be a HUGE success. We as the player need to project developers like the folks who made Chronicles of Myrtana because those are the people who are making games as a true passion. Its no easy feat to keep a player engaged with your story for 100+ hours, keeping them engaged the entire way through. This was one extraordinary ride.