Arcania - Reviews: IGN & German Sites

It's kind of strange to watch the typical home advantage almost every RPG has turn into the opposite. Many German sites and mags give Arcania clearly lower ratings than the flawed Gothic 3 and even lower scores than the G3: Forsaken Gods add-on, a game so broken and terrible that most Gothic fans pretend it doesn't exist. It seems the reviewers punish Arcania for the bonus its predecessors received. Something similar happened to Dungeon Siege 2 a couple of years ago. The original Dungeon Siege was a flashy but boring game which collected one award after the other. Then the much better sequel had to pay the price.

So take the German reviews with a grain of salt. They seem a bit low for a technically intact, nearly bug-free game.

IGN tested both the PC (7.5) and XBox 360 (7.0) version and thinks Arcania is quite okay. "While the PC version is certainly superior to the console port, Arcania: Gothic IV does very little to progress the genre – particularly in mission structure and storytelling areas – but what it ultimately does deliver is a loot-heavy dungeon crawling experience that doesn't tax your skills, but instead lets you leisurely enjoy the world and kill a lot of goblins and swamp flies along the way. [...] as a middle ground between deeper entries and linear adventures, Arcania: Gothic IV hits its stride."

The biggest German core gamer print mag GameStar says "No Gothic and no good game". The main reviewer concludes "[...] The game looks nice, has fast fights and few bugs, in short: it works. But at no point of time is it able to really shine. Arcania has no charm. Therefore I cannot recommend it to anyone." The second reviewer adds (paraphrased): "[...] [A score in the 60s means] >>Still okay for fans of the genre.<< And it's exactly that. Somebody who doesn't play every single RPG on the market can leave out Arcania without missing anything whatsoever. What a sad verdict." - 69%
The article is well worth a read. GameStar analyses razor sharp, one can clearly see where the rating is coming from. They include a video with a summary.

AreaGames.de gives 4/10 for both versions. The XBox 360 version is "a stuttering horror show, [...] an insult for the paying customer."

GamingXP.de says Arcania is "not bad at all". It's "a solid piece of work with strength and weaknesses". - 76%

The gamona.de test is quite a shocker. gamona hosts an Arcania fan site made in close cooperation with the publisher. And suddenly they write a very detailed review talking about a "deadly blow" for the Gothic franchise. "What comes out at the end is a huge disappointment". The reviewer closes: "No tension, no suspense, no adventure." - 46%