Gothic

Gothic is Piranha Bytes' 2001 RPG and the foundation of one of the most distinctive RPG series in PC gaming. War has been waged across the kingdom of Myrtana. Orcish hordes have invaded human territory, and the king urgently needs ore to forge weapons for an army that can stand against them. Anyone who breaks the law during this dark time is sentenced to serve in the giant penal colony of Khorinis, mining the ore the king's army desperately requires.

The whole colony is surrounded by a magical barrier — a sphere two kilometers in diameter that seals the prisoners off from the outside world. The barrier can be passed from the outside in, but nobody can escape once inside. The barrier proved to be a double-edged sword for the kingdom: the prisoners revolted, the colony split into three rival factions, and the king was forced to negotiate for his ore rather than simply demand it. You arrive through the barrier as a new prisoner with your back against the wall.

The gameplay covers an unusually open RPG with over 50 hours of campaign. A large variety of weapons and spells lets you build your character into a fighter, a mage, or any combination in between. The world is genuinely living — people go to work, sleep, eat and fight to survive on their own schedules. NPCs have routines, opinions and lives that continue whether you interact with them or not.

The three factions — Old Camp, New Camp and Swamp Camp — each offer different paths through the campaign, different allies, and different conclusions. The decision of which camp to join shapes your entire run, and the relationships you build (or break) with the colony's various factions are the most distinctive aspect of the game's storytelling. Despite its difficult controls and high-for-its-era system requirements at launch, Gothic remains a foundational RPG with a cult following that has only grown over the decades.