Highlights
- The Gothic remake is set for release in the second half of 2024, as confirmed by Alkimia Interactive at Gamescom 2023.
- Players can expect revamped combat mechanics and a 20-30% larger world compared to the original game, new dialogue and fan service, and arena fights with monsters.
- The Gothic remake will be powered by Unreal Engine 5, offering a shiny look in the playable demo, but the developers aim for the final product to maintain the gloomy atmosphere and visual style of the original.
The Gothic remake developers narrowed down the project's 2024 release window, in addition to sharing a number of new gameplay details about the upcoming RPG. They did so as part of an unexpected appearance at Gamescom 2023 mere weeks after the latest Gothic remake trailer offered a tour of the game's Old Camp.
The reimagining of the iconic 2001 RPG was first announced in early 2020. THQ Nordic assigned the project to Alkimia Interactive, a Barcelona-based studio established specifically for the task of revisiting Piranha Bytes' cult classic. The publisher previously gauged the interest in the Gothic remake with a 2019 playable teaser.
And though THQ Nordic didn't have an official presence at the 2023 Gamescom due to halting all of its trade show activities for the year, TechRadar still had a chance to meet up with Alkimia Interactive Director Reinhard Pollice and composer Kai Rosenkranz, who scored the original Gothic trilogy, at the Cologne event. Apart from learning that the project is now targeting a release in the second half of 2024, the media outlet also had the opportunity to try a brief playable demo of the game, which starred a prisoner called Nyras who was thrown into the Colony some half a year before the Nameless Hero.
The demo confirmed that Alkimia completely revamped the combat from the 2019 playable teaser, which many fans criticized for being too soulslike. The remake will instead require players to gradually learn how to use any given weapon type and progressively start hitting harder, faster, and with more combo variety, as was the case with the original. Enemy designs are also said to be extremely faithful to the first Gothic, while Pollice said that the remake's world will be "20-30%" bigger. Furthermore, the remake will feature some new dialogue and fan service, as indicated by one character from the demo who mentioned that he hails from the Varant desert, a location that was only added to the lore with 2006's Gothic 3.
Alkimia also revealed that the Gothic remake will be powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 after the studio switched from UE4 mid-development. The playable demo reportedly exhibited some of that signature shiny look typically associated with Unreal Engine games, although the developers plan for the final product to more closely resemble the gloomy atmosphere and distinctive visual style of the original. Alkimia also confirmed that the remake expands the Old Camp's arena battles, which will now include fights with monsters instead of just human enemies, as was already hinted at by the game's latest trailer.
Given how the developer is now clearly comfortable offering limited hands-on sessions with the Gothic remake, it presumably won't be long until the fans are finally treated to some gameplay footage from the upcoming RPG. The fandom also has an enhanced port of the original Gothic for the Nintendo Switch to look forward to this September.
The Gothic remake is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S in the second half of 2024.
Source: TechRadar (German)
