I was frantic to see Gothic 3 in action after last year’s poor showing and I wasn’t disappointed. As a fan of Gothic 2, my questions mainly centered around making sure all of the annoying things were out and the good aspects were enhanced. The inventory is now mouse driven with different sections for item types, even in placeholder form it’s vastly improved. Combat is handled with the mouse while the keyboard handles movement and spell selection, I’m not sure if people who liked the pure keyboard approach will be accommodated. Currently the left mouse button is one type of swing and right mouse button is another, you can combine them to do different moves and combos. Timing is still a factor when in combat, which is good.

Everything you expect in a Gothic game is here, only with better graphics, an even bigger world and a completely different continent to explore. You play as the same guy as the last two games and you will start from scratch once again. No word on how they’re going to explain how he lost all his skills this time. Maybe he gets hit in the head with a rock or something. Gothic fans should be pleased if performance is good and the final release isn’t too buggy.