Venetica - Gold Edition

Venetica - Gold Edition is an action RPG for players who want a fantasy campaign with swords, skills, and a fixed storyline rather than a sprawling systems game. By our assessment, its appeal is the setting and the hybrid combat-exploration structure, which gives it enough shape to feel like a real console-style adventure. The downside is that the game is still very much from an earlier era of action RPG design, with a rougher feel and less polish than the better-known genre leaders. In practice it tends to be a straightforward march through quests, fights, and light character growth, with the Gold Edition mainly signalling a more complete package rather than a different kind of game. Compared with large open-world RPGs, it is smaller and less ambitious; compared with pure hack-and-slash games, it asks for a bit more wandering and dialogue. Venetica - Gold Edition is for people who want a midweight fantasy game and do not mind some stiffness in movement and combat. It is the sort of title that works best when treated as a contained adventure, not a long-term obsession.