Gothic 1: Remake is – you guessed it – the remake of an RPG that originally released in 2001. This was an era of hardcore RPGs that didn’t really use quest markers or hand-holding to assist with progression, wanting the player to struggle in the early hours for a more natural experience. 25 years later, how times have changed. With so much focus on live streams, constant new releases and extensive accessibility for high sales, is there still a place for an immense challenge in exploration and growth? You bet there is. Gothic 1: Remake literally pushes you off a cliff and punches you in the face before even moving your character (titled nothing more than Hero – though you’ll feel more like a dunce). The next few hours will be spent hiding from enemies, avoiding confrontation and dying. Often. But spend a little time learning the land, the people, the factions and the currency, and soon you’ll start to feel a bit more capable. That’s when the fun begins.
The opening cut-scene of Gothic provides all the story needed to generate interest. Spell casters have sealed off the place of escaped convicts with magic, though that sealed place is one of great economic benefit. Therefore, the convicts and the king come to an agreement to ensure the resources can still flow through. Your first glimpse of the protagonist is standing on the edge of a cliff at the point of the border. Whenever someone is pushed in, they won’t die – trying to escape is the issue. You’re given a letter to deliver, pushed through the barrier and threatened by some inhabitants from a place called the Old Camp. Diego, a friendly, offers support and tells you to follow him to this camp as a starting point. The other core points of early story are that there are three factions – Old Camp, New Camp and Swamp Camp. You’ll get to choose how to engage with these factions, though you really want to be liked in one of these places to earn armour, respect and a place in this godforsaken world.
If you’ve ever played an 00s RPG, you’ll understand the gameplay here. We saw a similar rags-to-somebody progression in the Kingdom Come Deliverance games, though they took inspiration from Oblivion and the likes of Gothic. Operating in third-person, you’ll have weapons such as a sword, pick axe, bow and more to attack the monsters, orcs and human rivals in your path. There are plenty of items for health and boosts, and many opportunities to craft better gear. Quests pop up when talking to NPCs, though there is no starting map to assist and no map markers once acquiring regional or specific maps from merchants. It took me a while to adapt to this style of game. It still has value, as you truly feel smart when pulling off a swift move of trickery. There are a heap of aspects to balance when simply wanting to survive, especially in improving your skills, and the first run is really about figuring it all out for the future.
Performance is an obvious focus point for a game that has such a different graphical output to its original form. These games are always best played in 60 FPS and I chose this over the quality mode of 30 FPS. There is also an unlimited framerate option, though I found this to impact graphics too much. At 60 FPS, the movement was much better as those frames really help early fights and exploration. When out in the open world, I did have some glitching and pop-in. This is part-and-parcel of most remakes now, seen also in the recent Oblivion remake which carries many similarities to Gothic. To retain the essence of the previous game, this is likely the sacrifice made. It is by no means going to impact your enjoyment, but those expecting 2026 polish would see through the cracks. I played on PS5 and generally found it took some time to catch up. Music, for example, is excellent and soars.
For every positive in this game, there is likely a frustration to match it. Not having a mini-map dotted with quest icons allows for natural exploration, but when searching for that one NPC in a whole camp it can take 10 minutes or more to locate them from scratch. The starting point making you rise from nothing is beneficial to being wary of everything, but it can take 5 hours before feeling confident in any battle or even exploring a newly found area. Getting from one camp to another requires memory, as once you’re out in the wild there is little to assist in reaching home. The push and pull means there is heavy friction, but it is intentional. Yes, there is jank and some of the systems in their preserved state are not shining with 2026 sheen. Though the game has a cult following and the graphical update is the core focus in bringing it to the present. Reviewing games is very different to playing a game on a PC in 2001 – I do so with a critical eye now, and being so restricted in gear or not being able to find that one man that initially gave me a quest for an hour may mean deeper frustration than to a player fully immersed in this world for months on end. For that reason, Gothic achieves its goal clearly.
My two favourite parts of Gothic 1 Remake are the dialogue and music. The combat is very similar to a Skyrim type entry, and the world is very well crafted – but the sounds are what really won me over. Dialogue is raw and honest. Characters have no issues talking down to you. The language is gritty, grimy and foul – perfect for this setting in a land of convicts. The music is orchestral and simply soars. Reaching a new location and hearing the atmospheric jingle for the first time feels like something lost in games that now really script their tracks to scenes (like films) rather than self-discovery. Wearing headphones enhanced the projection and the journey always felt more meaningful when aligning my feelings to the track.
Gothic 1: Remake is the first effort in bringing back the Gothic franchise following its cult status two decades ago. Lovers of Elder Scrolls and Kingdom Come Deliverance will see many systems here that inspired those series, as this is no walk in the woods. No hand-holding means there can be many frustrations in a playthrough, such as long and dangerous returns to camps or not being able to find NPCs. But the more time you spend on this gem, the better the experience. Your once useless Hero will soon be taking down orcs with the best of them, boasting a general 40-50 hour campaign that can be well extended if completing all the side quests. While the performance can suffer from that of nearly all remakes trying to connect older styles to newer technologies, the output is an engaging RPG that will pave the path for the rest of the series to return.
Pros
- Fantastic storytelling and commitment to its purpose
- Growth feels natural and rewarding
- Soundtrack!
- Witty dialogue
Cons
- Many of the systems cause friction
- Performance has some issues
