arcania-a-gothic-tale posts

The long-in-development fantasy RPG Arcania: Gothic 4 is due for release on October 12 but players will soon be able to check out a free slice of the game. Publisher JoWood and its US subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games announced that a demo for the game will be released for the PC on September 24.

The demo will let people play through the tutorial level and the first two hours of the full game as players go on some quests on the fictional Feshyr Island and deal with some rather nasty demons. The game from developer Spellbound was first announced back in 2007 and has had a number of release date delays.

It's taken a while but today publisher JoWood and its US subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games have announced that the fantasy RPG sequel Arcania: Gothic 4 from developer Spellbound will finally be released for the PC on October 12. An Xbox 360 version will be released on the same date but the PS3 version has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2011.

The game was announced well over two years ago by JoWood after the previous game in the series, Gothic 3, got a cool reception from critics, due in part to show stopping bugs that took months to fix via patches. JoWood dumped Gothic 3's developer Piranha Bytes in favor of Spellbound. Piranha Bytes went on to make the original RPG game Risen that was released in the fall of 2009.

Fans of action fantasy role-playing games might be interested in checking out these video for ArcaniA: Gothic 4, which reveal first looks at some of the gameplay. The video above gives a glimpse of the some of the stunning environments players will experience and a video featuring the combat system is shown after the jump. The game is expected to release in the fall.

Download HD World of Arcania 'Ambiance' Trailer (68 MB)
Download HD World of Arcania 'Combat' Trailer (31 MB)
Check out all ArcaniA: Gothic 4 downloads

It seems like today has been a day to change your game or company name. The latest switch involves the long-in-development fantasy RPG that was first known as Gothic 4. The title from developer Spellbound and publisher JoWood was renamed early in its life to Arcania: A Gothic Tale. At the time the name change was to make the game more presentable to a US audience which had not embraced the first three games in the series.

Today JoWood revealed, without any real explanation, that the title of the game had changed once again to Arcania: Gothic 4. Perhaps this new name represents a compromise for the long time fans of the franchise while keeping the Arcania title to bring in new players. In any case the game is scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2010.

The "steampunk" genre has been the basis for a number of games and today Germany-based Spellbound Entertainment announced that they were working on such a game with the working title Project Ravensdale. There's not much info yet on what the game will be like, with the press announcement stating, "The player will seek out high pressure steam outlets, to supercharge his equipment, allowing him to pulverize his adversaries and overcome the obstacles on his path." Um ... Ok.

Spellbound is currently working to finish Arcania - A Gothic Tale, the upcoming and latest game in the Gothic RPG series. That game is scheduled for release in late 2010. Project Ravensdale, however, isn't due for release until 2012.

[via email press release]

If you have been playing "2009 Game Release Fantasy League" at home you can go ahead and check off yet another title that was supposed to be out this year. Arcania - A Gothic Tale, the upcoming next game in the long running Gothic RPG series, won't make it out this year as previously announced.

In a new press release today, publisher JoWood stated they have "committed substantial extra development budget" for the Spellbound Entertainment-developed game so they have decided to give the title a little more production time. in the meantime, Piranha Bytes, the makers of the first three Gothic RPGs, will release their new title, Risen, this October.

Last year's release of the fantasy RPG title Gothic 3 was pretty much a disaster. The final version shipped with a ton of bugs that made the game unplayable for many. Publisher JoWood dumped the game's developer Piranha Bytes as a result.

Now it appears that the just released expansion pack to the game, Gothic 3: Forgotten Gods, was also shipped with a number of issues that even a couple of patches have yet to solve. The game's official message board has posted up a statement from JoWood executive producer Michael Kairat who basically apologies about the game's release. The expansion was developed by India based Trine Game Studios. Yet another patch is expected to be released soon that hopefully will fix some of the problems.

The statement also says that JoWood plans not to have the same thing happen again for the next full game in the series, Arcania: A Gothic Tale, that's being developed by Spellbound. JoWood plans to have a beta release of the game before it's scheduled ship date of late 2009.


[Via Voodoo Extreme]

The Gothic RPG franchise got served a detour with Gothic 3 in 2007. The game was released with tons of bugs and issues so publisher JoWood dumped the game's developer Piranha Bytes and moved on, even deciding to rename the next full game in the series, Gothic 4, to Arcania: A Gothic Tale.

But before that game is released in 2009, JoWood will release Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods, an expansion pack to the 2007 release. Developed by Trine Studios, the expansion will add new locations, quests and monsters to Gothic 3 and is also designed as a story bridge between Gothic 3 and Arcania: A Gothic Tale. The expansion has now been declared "gold" and will ship to stores on Nov. 21. JoWood's US subsidiary Dreamcatcher Games will handle the North American release

Gallery: Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods

Essentially Gothic 4, Arcania: A Gothic Tale will take place 10 years after Gothic 3 and the player will explore various southern islands, each having different climate zones and its own flora and fauna. The player will have again the ability to climb as well as to ride beasts. The RPG is currently being developed for the PC and Xbox 360.

Download the HD Arcania: A Gothic Tale Teaser Trailer (54 MB)

The Gothic series of fantasy RPGs has a big following in Europe but has never quite gotten as munch attention here in the US. The game's publisher Jowood has apparently decided to do something about that. Gamespot reports that working with their US subsidiary Dreamcatcher, Jowood has decided to rename the next game in the series. Previously known as Gothic 4, the game is now known as Arcania: A Gothic Tale.

The name change isn't the only thing the publisher is doing to attract US gamers. The article reports that the game will have a colorful and bright art style for the US version versus a dark and gritty look for the European release. The game is still a ways away from release (its due out in late 2009) but the article has some brief impressions based on checking an early build. The game will take place 10 years after the events of Gothic 3 and there will be improvements made to the combat in Arcania as well as more of an emphasis on magic.