Gothic 1 Remake

Developer: Alkimia Interactive
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here $99.95 AUD – Available Here

Overview

Back in 2001 when the internet was still relatively young, the term “eurojank” didn’t exist, or at least was not widely known, until a certain Witcher appeared six years later. In retrospect, perhaps the game that kickstarted it all though was the game that was released in 2001, Gothic. Sitting in a dusty jewel case Gothic remains after being bought sometime after release and while a younger version of myself barely knew the punishing difficulty and story and the multitude of bugs along the way, it was a favorite nonetheless. So now twenty-five years later THQ Nordic has revived the Gothic series with Gothic 1 Remake, looking to stick as true to the original as possible. The question is, can a game as unique as Gothic 1 still thrive today?

Story

In a war against the invading Orcs, the King of Myrtana has ordered any man who commits a crime be sent to the mines of Khorinis as the magical ore within is their best way to hold off the unending might of the orcs. In their desperation to keep the massive prisoner population under control, the mages of the kingdom form a gigantic barrier spell meant to contain all prisoners within its walls. Unfortunately for the kingdom, and the mages, the spell misfires spectacularly and erects a barrier that makes it so while anything can come through, nothing living can ever leave, meaning a one-way trip for anyone sent in and everyone already stranded inside. Seizing this opportunity, the prisoners revolted, killed their guards, and took control of the mines as hostage.

With the king having no choice but to meet any ridiculous demand given, the Ore Barons rise in power as the king must have the magical ore to wage his war and with only one side able to provide it, there won’t ever be a change. This leads to three camps establishing themselves within the barrier, the Old Camp that serves as the structured force that still communicates outside with the King slightly, the New Camp made out of bandits and eager to free themselves by destroying the barrier, and the Swamp Camp deep in the swamps and seeking out the mystical “Sleeper” who will free them from the barrier. Things have existed this way for years until a certain “Hero” is brought to the exchange site one day. This criminal who isn’t even given a name or a weapon, just the scraps of clothing on his back, is given a letter meant for the Fire Mages in Old Camp.

Then the hero is tossed into a pond, beaten unconscious by a bunch of thugs, and given a quick rundown by a man named Diego that they should probably find a weapon somewhere if they want to survive in The Colony and that he can guide them to Old Camp if they want or leave them to explore. And probably die somewhere along the way a few times before even arriving at the Old Camp because Gothic 1 Remake retains nearly every aspect of the original with only a few caveats to help players along and it is all the better for it.

Something that is interesting about Gothic 1 Remake is that the player isn’t a hero, despite that being their name, he isn’t gifted with power. He’s just a criminal dumped into a colony that would rather gut him for a few pieces of ore than point them to the blacksmith. Someone who can be slain by a molerat that most RPGs would consider a basic starting enemy. It’s all about reputation and working your way up the ranks to try and make it in The Colony and to do that players will end up joining one of three camps, each of them having their own unique starting story and set of quests. From then on though the story does follow a more structured form, though characters will still react and talk about the player depending on their chosen camp, at least for a while but going further would be spoiling things for those unaware of some of the biggest twists this surprisingly in-depth old game has to offer.

Not only is the main plot enjoyable thanks to this, the large number of side-quests on offer are also varied and provide extra context to the world, especially since there are a number of ways to tackle things. Some new side-quests have been added into Gothic 1 Remake which is a nice touch as well, including one that offers an aforementioned assistant in getting around in the form of a mount players can unlock. As for these side-quests, they can often range from simply gathering items, completing tasks, or slaying enemies, but they can also involve trickery or straight up beating someone down. Don’t feel like talking things out or paying a bribe? Test your strength and down the opponent and loot them while they recover. Promise to share the reward with someone else if they help out only to keep it all for yourself later on? No problem. In The Colony it’s all about who can survive and Gothic 1 Remake doesn’t pull any punches.

Gameplay

In many ways Gothic 1 Remake sticks as tried and true to the original game as possible, for better and worse when it comes to gameplay and for die-hard fans that will be a good thing. For newcomers looking to test the waters, they’ll be in for a hell of a time as Gothic 1 Remake does not hold back nor does it hold the player’s hand in any way. Initially players won’t even have a map to work with and even then the only way to obtain one is to purchase one for a hefty sum of ore for a beginner, and even then the map provides only the bare minimum to work with. Practically every single quest or mission given to the player must be navigated using the hints and words spoken by the quest giver or overheard from a passerby. Occasionally quests can have NPCs that will guide players to their starting location but otherwise, players will be on their own.

Thankfully a few extra additions have been made to Gothic 1 Remake to make things a little easier to keep track of. Now, whenever players learn of or talk to an NPC they will immediately take notes in their glossary of who they are, what they can do (if anything), and even their general location. Similarly, any quests that the player is given are written down in a quest log that can be revisited at any time to see where players might need to travel to or who they need to talk to next. That being said, there are no waypoints, no guideposts, not even “paints” to keep guiding players on the right path, outside of the literal pathways themselves that serve as a somewhat safer travel path through The Colony. Venturing off the path often means encountering all kinds of hostile wildlife and even more hostile humans.

More than a few times we’ve mentioned that Gothic 1 Remake does not hold the player’s hand nor guide them and that is just as true when it comes to exploring the world. With the exception of some locked doors and areas inaccessible without a skill or a spell, players can travel almost anywhere on the map as soon as they are thrown into The Colony. The only thing holding them back is the fact that the wildlife is incredibly deadly and at the start the player has no armor and, if they are lucky, a halfway decent sword and bow that they are untrained in. This means not only are they swinging without the ability to chain together combos, but any enemy attack will deal a ton of damage and even drawing a bow will take longer and be less precise when fired without training. Only after leveling up, gaining more health as a result and TP (Training Points), and of course advancing through the storyline will players be able to swing things in their favor.

Unless players can scrounge up enough ore in the beginning, they will not have any armor and even then the only armor available is the bare minimum. As mentioned, Training Points are the game’s unique way of providing character customization towards how players want to build their character. Trainers, such as Diego, can spend TP to raise the player’s strength and dexterity stats by 1 point for every TP spent, allowing them to deal more damage and wield stronger weaponry. Where the real unique part comes into play is the skills though. Training to become more proficient with a weapon type, learn lockpicking skills or pickpocketing, or even the ability to properly harvest items off of slain animals/monsters all require TP and usually ore at the same time. Even increasing mana levels or the ability to learn how to forge requires TP, usually 10 as a starter and 20 to master it. This means the abilities that players aim for can be a bit limited per playthrough since enemy respawns are fairly scarce. 

Of course, once players join a camp and get their first set of armor, that’s when things start to get a bit more friendly, for the most part. Players can visit their camp’s specified armor specialist and spend ore to upgrade parts individually to boost their defense significantly, turning fights against a pack of wolves into a one or two hit slaughter into slaying an entire pack with only a small notch of health taken out. That being said, healing is a bit on the tougher side here and there as players will find they will either need to craft or buy healing potions to heal quickly, cook raw meat into grilled meat for a decent healing boost, or cook more complicated recipes for even higher healing. Mana plays a similar role with certain herbs offering mana restoration or drugs from the Swamp Camp restoring it. Sleep is a viable option as well but only some beds are available and not always an option while out exploring in the field.

Now the combat in Gothic 1 Remake is true to the original for all its good and bads. The combat feels impactful and heavy, but also punishing should the player mess up. There are options to turn on combat assist that will help combos flow together a bit better when players are trained in a fighting style but it only helps so much. There is a lot of jank when it comes to fighting enemies and picking off one at a time, or kiting a single enemy away from a pack, is still the best strategy especially when facing down a new type. That being said, there is a love it or hate it type of feeling to the flow of combat and dodging enemy attacks so returning fans will likely love this classic feel while newcomers may be a bit put off. It is also incredibly recommended to save often because while the title does have autosave, it isn’t as generous as some may hope and having to walk five minutes again because a cave suddenly had a one-hit kill Shadowbeast lurking inside a low level area isn’t great. So save often and be prepared to die, a lot, even with preparation.

Alongside the aforementioned glossary and quest guide the ability to complete a quest to obtain a Scavenger Mount makes exploring the world eventually far easier and there is even a new climbing ability that was not in the original and these both feel like they have been included flawlessly without breaking up the flow of the game’s pacing, especially since the mount does wonders for the many back and forth trips players make between certain locations.

Now, one thing that was changed entirely is the lockpicking and not for the better. While lockpicking in the original Gothic was incredibly simple, now players have an entire mini-game to work with and while it is far more detailed, it is also incredibly tedious to the point of frustration. This can lead to players just deciding to walk away from a chest entirely rather than waste their time trying to see what treasure is inside, breaking multiple lockpicks trying to navigate the sliding plates, or resorting to the many online tools that fans have concocted as workarounds.

It also should be worth noting that while Gothic 1 Remake has seen a number of patches since release and our time with the game, not everything is still smooth sailing. On multiple occasions the title crashed entirely to the Home screen without warning, NPCs would grow hostile even while escorting the player or out on a mission together, quest NPCs would vanish entirely and require a reload to respawn them, the map being impossible to close on a few occasions, and even quest update notifications and chapter beginning artworks remaining stuck on the screen until dying or reloading a save.

Audio & Visuals

Although the memory of the original Gothic might be a bit foggy here and there, the key locations and appearances of many of the most significant parts of the game and places players would travel through rose to the surface perfectly in Gothic 1 Remake as the title features almost the exact same layout for many of the in-game locations, even down to what house a certain character might use to sleep in or where a quest might kick off. Places like Old Camp and New Camp retain almost all of their design, and the character models for the most part are great looking with armor details having a lot of variety depending on how much players want to invest in upgrading their gear. The biggest location change though is the Swamp Camp as the lush vegetation and winding paths are more maze-like than ever, for better and worse. The Swamp camp is gorgeous, but also the biggest pain to navigate as a result even with signposts here and there.

It is also nice to note that enemy design is handled quite well with a good amount of enemy variety remaining a strong point including various hidden locations players can find throughout the map that aren’t tied to any quest. The world itself is decently detailed, though players will find a lot of their early time spent in caves, and the weather details are exceptional with full blown thunderstorms making vision quite difficult when navigating around and even making characters’ outfits wet and snuffing out fires and torches. It is worth noting that we are reviewing the title post-patch which means the game now has an uncapped frame-rate or optionally capped frame rate of the player’s choosing.

One of the memorable parts about the original Gothic was the fact that the entire game was voiced and that remains true in Gothic 1 Remake. Every character is voiced and the voice work throughout the game is quite well done, even if a few voice actors sound like they were used a few too many times for certain characters. The background music for the title is great but often feels a little misleading at times since, during standard exploration, it can sound quite dire and make players look around for danger where there is none, though considering there is a dedicated track for combat it’s mostly an ingrained response most players might have to how dramatic the music sounds most of the time.

Overall

There are plenty of moments throughout Gothic 1 Remake that make it feel like a relic from a bygone era, an era that didn’t hold the player’s hand and wasn’t afraid to smack them down for going beyond their limits and that is far from a bad thing, if anything that is what makes the game so memorable alongside its engaging storyline. The combat and challenge will be familiar to longtime fans though the jankiness of the original also remains in the remake, meaning newcomers might be a bit put off by the melee and way upgrades work. That being said, with an impressive graphical upgrade and a number of quality of life improvements, Gothic 1 Remake is as die-hard of a remake that fans could have hoped for, even with some of the jank and bugs still sticking to it over two decades later.

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