Every Gothic game, ranked
All 3 Gothic games we hold, spanning 2001 to 2009: 2 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 30,686 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Gothic 1 (GamingPickz Score 7.9), the highest-rated entry we can score.
The Gothic games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 2 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
2 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 2 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Every game by critic score
The grid above is built from Steam data, so it can only place the Gothic games that were on Steam. This one uses the Metacritic critic aggregate, which the older console-only entries have too, so the whole series lands on a single chart: critic score against release year.
On Steam (also has a GamingPickz Score) Console-only (Metacritic only)
2 best Gothic games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Gothic 1
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.9GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceGothic 1 at a glance Released 2001 Studio Piranha Bytes Player sentiment 93% positive of 18,311 Critics 81/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size 5 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 93% shrinks to 92.8 on 18,311 reviews, then blends with the 81 critic aggregate, giving 7.9.
What the data supports- Small install at 5 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 2
Gothic 3
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.9GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceGothic 3 at a glance Released 2009 Studio Piranha Bytes Player sentiment 82% positive of 12,375 Critics 63/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 5 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 82% shrinks to 82.1 on 12,375 reviews, then blends with the 63 critic aggregate, giving 6.9.
What the data supports- Small install at 5 GB.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 82 against 63. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
Only the 2 Gothic games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Gothic game we can score is Gothic 1 at 7.9. The lowest is Gothic 3 at 6.9, a 1.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Gothic 1 at $19.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Gothic 1, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Gothic entries on Steam:
- Playable: Gothic 3
- Unsupported: Gothic 1
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 Gothic games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 3 |
The Gothic series, game by game
Every Gothic game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2001
Gothic 1
7.9War has been waged across the kingdom of Myrtana. Orcish hordes invaded human territory and the king of the land needed a lot of ore to forge enough weapons, should his army stand against this threat. Whoever breaks the law in these darkest of times is sentenced to serve in the giant penal colony of Khorinis, mining the so much needed... (Steam)
Plot
Setting Gothic takes place in an open world medieval fantasy realm in which humans are fighting a losing war against the Orcs , a humanoid race. In order to fight back, the king needs to extract magical ore from mines, which can be used to forge more powerful weapons and armor. Therefore he decides to send every man who has committed a crime to the ore mines. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . IGN concluded that " Gothic is a solid role-playing experience" and Eurogamer said that it is a game that "developers should look to as an example of how a role-playing adventure should be done". GameSpot gave the game a slightly less positive review saying that despite Gothic s achievements in terms of story and dialogue, players might… (Wikipedia)
- 2001
Gothic
Metacritic 81Gothic is a 2001 action role-playing game developed by Piranha Bytes for Windows and the first game of the Gothic game franchise. A port, titled Gothic Classic, was released in 2023 and in 2026 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and iOS. (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting Gothic takes place in an open world medieval fantasy realm in which humans are fighting a losing war against the Orcs , a humanoid race. In order to fight back, the king needs to extract magical ore from mines, which can be used to forge more powerful weapons and armor. Therefore he decides to send every man who has committed a crime to the ore mines. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic . IGN concluded that " Gothic is a solid role-playing experience" and Eurogamer said that it is a game that "developers should look to as an example of how a role-playing adventure should be done". GameSpot gave the game a slightly less positive review saying that despite Gothic s achievements in terms of story and dialogue, players might… (Wikipedia)
- 2009
Gothic 3
6.9A nameless hero becomes a legend! Myrtana, a world in upheaval: overrun by orcs from the dark lands in the north, King Rhobar is defending Vengard, the former stronghold of the humans, with his last troop of followers. (Steam)
Plot
Prologue The first part of Gothic tells the story of The Nameless Hero, a man thrust into the events of a penal colony. The colony takes the form of a natural landscape encased in a large magical shield known as The Barrier, much like an impenetrable dome. Over the course of the story, The Nameless Hero becomes acquainted with several characters, the most notable of which are Diego, Lee, Cor Angar, Lester, Gorn, Lares, Milten, and Xardas. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Gothic 3 was a commercial success, with global sales over 500,000 copies by March 2007. It sold 100,000 units in its opening two days. The game received "mixed" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic . (Wikipedia)
Gothic, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Gothic vs other series
How Gothic stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Gothic vs DARK SOULS, Gothic vs Dragon Age, Gothic vs DRAGON BALL, Gothic vs Mass Effect, Gothic vs Monster Hunter, Gothic vs Mount & Blade, Gothic vs Yakuza, Gothic vs ARK, Gothic vs Borderlands, Gothic vs Deus Ex, Gothic vs Risen, Gothic vs State of Decay, Gothic vs The Witcher, Gothic vs Torchlight, Gothic vs Watch, Gothic vs ArcheAge, Gothic vs Divinity, Gothic vs Dragon's Dogma, Gothic vs Dungeon Siege, Gothic vs ELDEN RING, Gothic vs EverQuest, Gothic vs God of War, Gothic vs Hades, Gothic vs Heroes of Hammerwatch, Gothic vs Kingdom Come, Gothic vs Kingdoms of Amalur, Gothic vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, Gothic vs Middle-earth, Gothic vs Might & Magic, Gothic vs NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, Gothic vs Pathfinder, Gothic vs Prototype, Gothic vs South Park, Gothic vs Street Fighter, Gothic vs The Lord of the Rings, Gothic vs The Surge, Gothic vs Tom Clancy’s The Division, Gothic vs Two Worlds, Gothic vs Wasteland
Common questions
How many Gothic games are there?
We hold 3 Gothic games in the catalogue, released between 2001 and 2009. 2 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Gothic game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Gothic 1 rates highest at 7.9. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Gothic games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2001 to 2009. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.