Earlier this month we got to experience a deep dive into the Gothic 1 Remake.
At Gamescom 2024, fans of classic RPGs where delighed to play a demo version of the new IP. As we already mentioned, the game is built from ground up in Unreal Engine 5.
First Real Look
As I always say with gameplay videos, I truly appreciate them more than any teaser, trailer, or other type of preview.
And this time it did show a lot more than the previous trailer. There we saw that each frame was highly processed and optimized. While it looked astonishing, that doesn’t always guarantee the final game will match that level of polish. Sometimes the game ends up looking or feeling quite different from what was presented, and that’s ok when you have lower expectations.
So, I got really excited to explore this rough look at the game, basically seeing how a mission or quest plays out in real time.
Feels Like Gothic
We got to see the starting area, and while the quests are a bit different, even the layout and graphical direction have changed, it still feels like the predecessor, Gothic 1. Finally, I got to experience how weighty it feels to walk, take action, and swing a sword.
Without spoiling anything, this is intentional, and as the character learns to fight better, even the animations and weight change noticeably. This isn’t out of the ordinary, we saw for example Kingdom Come: Deliverance push those limits, but it’s nice to see they preserved the original game’s feel.
This isn’t intended to be played like a Souls game.
Unreal Is Looking Good
As with most games that use this engine, there’s something special about it. Also the games look and feel different. Honestly, with Unreal 4, there was a time when games kind of deliberately looked the same, or at least they didn’t stand out much.
Realistic, in a Good Way
Now, I might be getting too excited, but please understand my viewpoint. I’ve finished the original Gothic 1 more than 20 times, using different builds, gameplay styles, and replaying it constantly after a few years.
Character design is really good. I wanted the main character to look a bit more like the original, but I’m not too disappointed with the choice. Diego looks zesty.
Armor design i want to say is just perfect.
Back to the dialogue, yes, it’s sarcastic, monotone at times, sometimes plain, sometimes exciting. Something that the first playable teaser was not and kind of ruined everything for me.
Camping and the World
Back to the game world, it kind of feels like you’re in a colony, where everyone is suspicious of everyone else. People tend to stick close to their companions and guilds, so to speak.
I really liked how meeting new characters was implemented, just like in the original Gothic (and in the real world), you kind of need to know someone to actually get by. Knowing or helping someone will help ease future interactions, while not so original in 2024 as a game feature, it was something that if missed from the game, it would feel lackluster.
The camp feature, while not fully explored, did seem really nice. Staying with Ratford and Drax, waiting for nightfall, is a feature that I always wanted to experience in Gothic. At least I know I role-played it to the bones. Seeing this play out as a fully-fledged feature would be interesting, but for now I can only imagine.
The map looks more or less the same, but the verticality is a huge thing, making it feel a lot larger than it is. Although we did not get to explore very much of it, but that’s okay, we can patiently wait for the release.
The gameplay video from Enfant Terrible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zj0HcyYphM
In the end, i would like to quote a reddit user (disco_schizo) that perfectly described my feeling about this project:
Man this honestly is such a big thing for us. If 2 gets a remake i’ll die happy. Source
