I Don’t Care It's Clunky. Gothic Remake Is Looking Great!

Some people know that, by some miracle and the capricious fate, this biggest epidemic of love for Gothic in Poland simply passed me by. Well, I played the first game in my childhood, then I played the second one only a little bit and I completed one of the Risen games, only to eventually drop them and go back to Baldur's Gate. These are all my sins.

During gamescom, I had the pleasure of meeting Javier Untoria and Kai Rosenkrantz, the developers behind the upcoming Gothic Remake. They showed me behind the scenes what they are preparing for us. Oh my god, I can't believe I'm writing this, but when the game gets released, I’m going to enjoy it.

First impression? Give me the axe

By the way, a word of explanation: the fragment of Gothic Remake shown at gamescom included a section of the road to the Old Camp from the beginning of the game. However, it was redesigned so the devs could present various mechanics during the fair, so you won't find this stage in the full version of the game. So I saw characters that shouldn't be where they are, as well as places or roads that didn't quite match - all in order to present the gameplay.

However, returning to the main point: at first, I was scratching my head because this really does resemble Gothic, but with new, nice graphics. You will notice this especially when it comes to animations. Running or fighting looks like the good old Gothic, with all its incurable rheumatism. It's different with the surroundings - they are beautiful, sometimes even phenomenal. The level of drawing distance on the horizon, when we look from the cliff at the panorama of the camp and the adjacent estates, was very similar to contemporary games. Vegetation, rocks, buildings - everything looked either good or very good. Even the underwater world (which is often done in games, let's say, half-heartedly) looked nice and in addition, we can find something under the water surface.

As for the characters and faces, it may not be top-notch - even though the game is running on Unreal Engine 5 - but I recently played Space Marine 2 and the graphics in that game weren't any better. The same goes for enemies - scavengers look a bit like they were taken from the first version of No Man's Sky, so in a way, you can feel like you're playing a game by Piranha Bytes.

And this feeling, for better or for worse, will accompany us all the time. I asked Javier Untoria what he thinks is the main feature of Gothic games and what lies in their DNA. He replied to me that, above all, it is immersion - this world is supposed to make you immersed in it completely, that you will explore, search, get lost and die. And you will feel how from a lost, helpless boy you become a warrior. By the way, if we're on the subject of progress...

THQ Nordic

Why do we need statistics, when we can see everything clearly

The first fight with the rats (which you surely remember from the original) made me realize how much the Gothic series differs from contemporary RPG games. Because this fight looked awful. The nameless hero held a one-handed sword with both hands while trying to hit the aggressive rat, and I was wondering how on earth players would put up with this for several or dozens of hours. The crudeness of the animations does have its purpose, though. Well, try to grab a real sword and slash with it. I know - we imagine that we move with grace and charm, like the Butcher of Blaviken, but the truth is that if someone looked at us from the side...

It's similar in Gothic - only when our hero gains experience, his moveset undergoes change, gets developed, improved. I'm dead serious. Notice that not only does the Nameless hero correctly holds the sword with one hand (freeing the other), but he also does different attacks - they are faster, smoother and simply look better on the screen. This is one of the tiny, gameplay details that this game is packed with, which means that... that you basically don't have to look at the statistics screen to understand that you are good with a sword - because you will see everything clearly. This is a rare, almost unheard of way of constructing games in contemporary gaming industry.

By the way, the statistics are of course there, and they were done very nicely, while maintaining the immersion. The interface, after all, is completely invisible and only activates when we need it or when we interact with something. When running with a bow, you won't see the arrows counter - why would you, you can clearly see how many you have left, because they stick out of your quiver... However, remember that turning on the equipment screen does not pause the game, meaning you can die.

THQ Nordic

I saw many more of these tiny details. Similar to the original game, NPCs have their own lives and you may not necessarily find them where you met them for the first time. The characters work, rest, talk or walk around the area, but interestingly, you can stop a walking NPC and ask them where they are going, and they will give you an answer. In this ingenious way, you can remind yourself of the way to the blacksmith or any other place. Just take a walk with that NPC. Come on, Diego, we're going for a beer.

Opposers of solutions from a certain company that likes to build high towers on large maps, will certainly be pleased that climbing is not about looking for edges painted white or yellow, or sheets that someone left in long-forgotten ruins. Climbing here results from mechanics, not scripts - so you can climb anywhere you find a relatively straight edge and of course, with a bit of perseverance, you can even climb mountains. So like in Skyrim... just without the horse.

Old king, but in satins

I will also reassure the traditionalists - I asked the creators how faithful Gothic Remake will be compared to the original. I heard the answer that we will immediately recognize not only key locations like the Old Camp, but also roads, trails and branches. You will recognize caves, bridges or huts. The developers made changes where they had to, and they certainly added more than one secret of their own.

There is less and less of this clunkiness in this game, although maybe it's the other way around - it's still that good old clunky game, but there is now more charm to it. If nothing gets broken, we are in for the most beautiful and possibly the best Gothic game we will ever get to play. It’s still clunky, be there is more polish here.