Gothic Remake gameplay summary reveals an eccentric open-world RPG that still looks like the future

It's hell to be teasing a remake weeks after the original game's developers went under. In early July, it was reported that Gothic creators Piranha Bytes had been shut down as part of a madcap race to cut costs following Embracer Group's decade-long acquisition spree. Watching the trailer for THQ Nordic's new Gothic Remake, below, is like watching a vivisectionist walk around in someone else's skin. Still, the remake's developers, Alkimia Interactive, are not responsible for Embracer 's mistakes, and I'm selfishly happy to see Gothic return as an Unreal Engine 5 production—even if I hadn't played the original back in 2001.

Sin made play the original game, and a 2016 retrospective paints a compelling picture of a dark fantasy “micro-society” where each community has “a raison d'etre, a path to self-sufficiency, a social order, and a long-term goal.” It's a setup that reminds me of my beloved Roadwarden, even muttering “fus roh dah” under my breath when I see grumpy lizards lurking in the undergrowth.

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Gothic is set in a magically quarantined penal colony where human prisoners mine ore as weapons to win a losing war against the Orcs. But shortly before they enter the picture, the overseer wizards screw up their calculations and trap themselves inside the valley. The prisoners then seize control of the mines, forming a bandit nation made up of three factions. One faction is happy with the new status quo and trades ore with the king in exchange for the luxuries of the wider world. The second faction plans to use the ore as a catalyst to escape the magical barrier. And the third, a swamp-dwelling “brotherhood” who worship a mysterious god called the Sleeper. You’re a random prisoner tasked with delivering a message to one of the factions, and things escalate from there.

Alkimia's main goal with the remake is to layer in the life-sim element of Gothic, whereby humanoid NPCs and wildlife have distinct routines and habits governed by a day-night cycle. As you wander through this small, wild, and desolate open world, you'll see people rising in the wee hours to repair walkway planks, slave away in the heat of the hearth, swing pans over cooking fires in the dark, and polish off arcane knowledge in the library.

The remake aims to build on the original’s range of behaviour, creating “a complex simulation of life on a scale never seen before in a video game” – “so dynamic that it all seems to exist without the player”, as the trailer narrator puts it. It’s hard to convey something so grandiose in a pared-down gameplay presentation, of course. As far as I can tell, the guy holding the pan is working 24/7, his eyes glued to the crackling oil, even as you covertly blackjack his entourage. But it sounds immersive, and the setting’s sprawl of towns and dungeons, nestled beneath a tropical veneer of magic amid forested mountains, is very appealing. The original game’s dappled, torchlit landscape has a distinctive atmosphere, shaped by the technology of the day. This feels more like a stray pocket of Skyrim, perhaps an unexplored section of the Markath region.

From the start, you’ll be able to explore, quest, battle, and mingle in any direction, earning the loyalty of individuals or groups by doing quests for them. The user interface is “minimalist,” consistent with the first game’s treatment of maps as actual inventory items. As in Morrowind, you’ll mostly navigate via NPC directions, and as in Morrowind, you can get lost. While details are still scarce, the new developers are fleshing out some of the original game’s storylines and introducing a few of their own. There will also be a few new areas to explore and perhaps other secrets accessible using a new climbing system (I didn’t catch that), but the overall plot and setting are the same.

A Gothic Remake actor swings a sword at a lizard monster in a sparsely forested area

Image credit: THQ North

Speaking of thrust, this is a third-person action role-playing game built around the trinity of melee, ranged combat, and magic. Weapons include bows for shooting goblins in the head and two-handed axes for felling targets. Spells include kicking up waves of icicles by stomping your foot petulantly. Enemies range from Tolkien-themed herds of velociraptors to giant spiders and gobbos covered in leather and horns. It looks like they're trying to address one of Sin's complaints about the original – that melee combat is often the more effective playstyle. It was mentioned during the presentation, but not shown: “more complex crafting” and “more rewarding character progression.”

I think all of this sounds great, but largely because the original Gothic (currently £9 on GOG) was great. So many RPGs feel generic because they don’t reflect a specific history or dramatic stakes, they simply reflect the crude necessity to “build a world” by ticking boxes like “orc”, “human” and “wizard”. Gothic’s prison valley setting gives it a point and a character that gives substance to its systematic recreation of everyday life. Or at least, that’s the impression I get as a newbie. I want to play it. As for poor Piranha Bytes – let me end with a nod to Pithead, a new studio founded by former Piranha developers Jennifer and Björn Pankratz to create “intense, dark action-adventures with deep story and horror and RPG elements”. Here’s hoping they shake off the irritating touch of Embracer and make games of Gothic status for years to come.

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