Gothic I:
The game takes place in a medieval fantasy world, in which humans are losing the war against the orcs. The hero, a young nameless man, is forced to work in the Penal Colony, because of his crimes. In order to continue the fight against the orcs, the king needs to extract magical ore and use it for weapons and armor. Every burglar, thief or criminal is sent in the Colony to work in the mines, by the king´s order. To keep the prisoners inside, the king ordered 12 magicians to create a magical barrier over the colony. However, due to complications, the barrier trapped a much larger territory than originally intended, along with the 12 magicians and the king´s forces. Thus the militia blocked inside soon lost control over the prisoners, and the king had no choice but to trade with the convicts. Soon after the convicts divided into several camps, one of which the Man can join in order to survive and advance the plot.

Gothic II:
The game events continue the ones from the first Gothic - as the barrier was destroyed, many prisoners escaped; many of them headed to Khorinis with fake titles (since the militia started to search for the escaped convicts), and others remained in the mountains forming groups of bandits. But things aren´t quite that good in Khorinis, as many thought - Xardas (the hero´s mentor) informs him that a greater evil is now threatening the land - as The Sleeper was banished he made a last call to all his minions to gather in the Valley of Mines.

Gothic ll - Night of the Raven:
The expansion introduces a new world to the game called Jharkendar which is located in the northeast of Khorinis. It is an ancient and deserted city, populated mostly by pirates and bandits.

The hero opens a portal to Jharkendar with the help of the Water Mages, and after getting there, discovers what threatens the island: Raven, a former ore baron in the Penal Colony who has sold his soul to Beliar, the god of darkness, and is hungry for power.

Gothic 3:
The third part of the saga shows the hero and his friends sailing to Myrtana. After getting there, they discover that the continent has been overrun by orcs which have enslaved mankind. The hero also gets another hit, when he finds out from locals that Xardas, his mentor, is the one who helped the orcs with their evil scheme. Things will change later, when the hero discovers Xardas and finds out that he only helped the orcs for his own purpose. He quests the hero to retrieve some artifacts and kill the king which had imprisoned him in the Colony; after that, they (Xardas and the hero) went together through a portal into an unknown land.