Gothic 3

As the Nameless Hero returns to the mainland, Myrtana lies under orc occupation and its human resistance is divided. Travel through its regions, take work from rival groups, build a fighting or magical discipline, and decide through your deeds how the conflict and the realm's future will be shaped.

Gothic 3 follows the Nameless Hero from Khorinis onto the mainland of Myrtana, where the human kingdom has lost its war against the orcs. King Rhobar II holds Vengard with his remaining followers, while orc governors control settlements and use human labor for excavations. Resistance survives in scattered rebel groups, and the Hashishin of the southern desert cooperate openly with the occupiers. Familiar companions from earlier journeys, including Diego, Milten, Gorn and Lester, are also present in Myrtana, but the conflict is not framed as a single fixed campaign route. The player travels through the realm taking missions from people with different interests, and the Nameless Hero's choices determine which causes he advances.

The mainland is divided into distinct regions rather than one repeated landscape. Myrtana's central plains contain towns, farms and forests under the orcs' administration; the snowy mountains of Nordmar shelter orc hunters and other northern communities; and the southern desert of Varant is associated with the Hashishin and nomadic groups. These places are linked by roads, settlements and wilderness, and the game lets the player move between many of them without a prescribed sequence for every task. Local quests introduce competing needs: a town may depend on its occupiers for order and supplies while nearby rebels seek to undermine them. People, monsters and hostile patrols make travel an active part of the adventure, not merely a transition between story scenes.

Missions are a central way to learn who controls a place and what each group wants. The journal records active, resolved and failed quests, while its overview also tracks reputation with factions and individual cities. Completing work changes those standing values: city reputation can govern admission to important local figures, while faction reputation influences whether members treat the hero as an ally or an enemy. Theft, unnecessary attacks and other public actions can also damage relationships. Clothing carries social meaning too, and some garments require standing with the group they represent. This turns ordinary errands, conversations and conduct into part of the political system; a useful local favor can open access while a careless act can make a settlement less welcoming.

Combat allows several approaches, with quick attacks and close-range combinations alongside bows, crossbows and magic. Fast attacks, a close-combat whirlwind and ranged shots give players different ways to handle a fight. Experience from defeating monsters and completing missions raises levels, and each new level grants learning points to spend with trainers. Strength helps determine which melee weapons the hero can wield and improves their damage, while hunting skill governs ranged weapons. Ancient knowledge improves magical capability, and smithing, thieving and alchemy support weapon-making, stealthy theft and potion preparation. Trainers may ask for gold or a favor as well as the required attributes, so specialization grows through both earned experience and relationships in the world.

Magic is divided among the three gods whose influence shapes Myrtana. Innos is associated with direct offensive spells, Adanos with transformation and subtler effects, and Beliar with summoning and mental manipulation. Finding a spell does not automatically teach it: most must be learned at the shrine of the god to whom it belongs, and casting consumes mana. Ancient knowledge affects how powerful spells become, while mana governs how often a mage can call on them. Combat skills, equipment and magic therefore draw on different attributes and training choices rather than a fixed class selection. A character can combine disciplines, but the available learning points and prerequisites make the path a series of considered investments.

Nordmar adds a history of mistrust to the conflict with the orcs. The icy mountain region has been difficult for the invading army to control; northern inhabitants form resistance groups known as orc hunters or orc slayers, while some captives have been forced to work in mines. The main orc army left only a few camps there, and the scattered northern settlements interpret that absence in their own way. Even though Nordmar's people and the remaining inhabitants of the old kingdom share an enemy, newcomers from the south are not automatically welcomed: the king's troops occupied Nordmar before the great Orc War. The region's resistance therefore grows from both the current occupation and older grievances, giving its alliance with Myrtana's rebels a complicated political background.

Life under the orcs in Myrtana is maintained through a mixture of coercion and limited concessions. The manual describes a divide-and-rule policy: rebellion is punished severely, but most people can continue daily work and human settlements still supply food and raw materials. The occupiers keep arenas open for gladiator fights and leave inns, taverns, temples and shrines operating, which helps explain why dissatisfaction does not always translate into open support for the rebels. The resistance instead relies on small mobile groups in the woods, striking patrols, reconnaissance units and supply transports rather than attempting to meet the occupying forces in an open battle. This tension between public survival and underground resistance shapes the human communities the hero encounters.