It was 2001 when the first Gothic game dropped, and while it was never held in quite the same regard as some of its rivals at the time, such as Morrowind, the 23-year-old RPG is getting a major makeover thanks to the Gothic remake. During the THQ Showcase, we just got our first look at gameplay for its ambitious, Unreal Engine 5 glow-up, and it didn’t disappoint.
I don’t think anyone is expecting the Gothic remake to be an Elden Ring or Dragon’s Dogma 2-topping fantasy RPG, but I’ve got to admit I’m walking away from its gameplay reveal feeling pretty impressed. Developed by Alkimia Interactive, the Gothic remake is delivering on all the things you’d want and expect to see from a modern role-playing game – a vast open-world, rival factions, choice-driven narrative options, “elaborate” questlines, and varied combat.
On top of that, Alkimia appears to be going in hard on the life sim elements of Gothic, with both the human inhabitants of the colony and surrounding wildlife all having set routines and actions creating an immersive experience. “Enjoy a complex life simulation, on a scale hardly ever seen before in a videogame,” the new gameplay trailer boldly claims. Of course, we’ll have to wait until it’s in players’ hands to see if it can live up to that claim, but it’s an exciting prospect nonetheless.
In a preview event for the media ahead of the showcase a few other details were talked about, too. An interesting one is that, for melee combat, certain animations will change over the course of the game as your character becomes more skilled. For example, the way they hold a sword will change depending on how experienced they are in combat.
There are also new or expanded traversal features such as diving and free-climbing that will give you new ways to get around the Valley of the Mines.
While this remake will attempt to keep as much of the original’s magic as possible, it will be telling new stories, adding fresh locations, and weaving in secrets that players of the 2001 game won’t be aware of.
The only sour point to today’s gameplay reveal trailer is that there’s still no update on a release date or narrowed-down window. Investor reports from THQ Nordic’s parent company Embracer previously stated that the Gothic remake would be part of its 2024/25 financial year slate (meaning it should be out before April 1 next year).
While you wait for Gothic to arrive, here are some more incredible open-world games and fantasy games that you can get stuck into.
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