Gothic: First Glimpse at Gothic?s Dark Worlds Company: Xicat Interactive We recently got our hands on an early build of an upcoming PC action-RPG entitled Gothic. Sporting a unique storyline -- something rare for RPGs nowadays ? and an intriguing play mechanic, Gothic is one game to look out for in the coming onslaught of titles. The early build definitely has some serious control issues, but the core of the game is nice, and it?ll be interesting to see where Piranha Bytes (the developers) go with it. The game starts off enticingly. You?re a convict, thrown into a magically sealed-off chunk of land where other prisoners toil away in the ore mines. At one point it was closer to a prison camp, but the prisoners rose up and took the place over. Of course, they don?t have any real means of food production, so it?s a synergistic relationship. You?re given a letter to give to one of the Mages inside the ?colony? who was trapped when the original barrier spell was cast. From there you go, learning about the people and the customs and doing some adventuring as well. The game controls much like Tomb Raider or other similar adventure titles, but there?s a strong RPG bent to it as well. There are a multitude of items to pick up, and you can gain a number of different weapons to swing around. You also gain experience, which not only increases your health, but also gives you skill points. These skill points can be used with instructors to train yourself in a number of different skills such as lock picking or hunting. Gothic?s graphics are quite nice, although not particularly stunning; the draw depth is pretty deep, though, and looking off of a tall cliff is pretty impressive. The controls definitely leave something to be desired; most actions are done by holding down the ?action? key and then pressing different directions for different commands, which is extremely frustrating. Hopefully this scheme will change before the game?s fully released. Even in the current incomplete state, though, Gothic struck me with its intriguing combination of action and RPG. I?ll definitely be keeping an eye out for it in the coming days. -Sunfall to-Ennien, GameVortex Communications AKA Phil Bordelon