Gothic 1 Remake

[i] A faithful remaster of a 2001 game, playing as it did 25 years ago. Give it time and patience. Warning, performance issues exist. [/i] I remember the first time I experienced Gothic. The funny thing is, I wasn't even looking for it. I wanted Oblivion. It was late 2006. I’d just beaten Morrowind and was looking to take on Oblivion next. It was a different time. I was a kid, and new games meant convincing mum to take me to the video game rental store. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3739134680 After plenty of begging, she agreed, and that weekend we went. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, Oblivion was already out on loan. Mum knew how excited I was, and rather than leaving empty handed, she still let me choose a game. That game was Gothic 3. To my young mind, it looked like the same thing - Oh how wrong I was. Little did I know that this moment would shape me as a gamer forever. While the game installed, I sat there reading through the manual, my excitement growing as the installation bar slowly progressed. Then I heard it, the CD drive became silent, installation was complete. I spent the entirety of the weekend in Myrtana. It was brutal. Everyone hated me, everything killed me, nothing was explained - And yet, I was hooked. Gothic was like no game I had ever played. As a kid, new games were far and few between, so even if I didn’t like them, I’d push through and explore as much as I could. Every day I’d rush home to play after school. I’d tell mum about my adventures and she’d listen enthusiastically. She played Sonic and Tetris, so this was new to her as much as it was to me. The first rental week was up and I was nowhere near completion - But mum extended it. Another week passed, another extension. By then, I understood the combat. I mastered knowing when to go in and when to step back. I knew what weapons and spells to use when. I build an unstoppable killing machine. Then the unexpectable happened, that week I defeated the final boss. Gothic 3 was completed, but my journey with the franchise had just begun. I lost my childhood here. Now, 20 years later, I get to experience Gothic 1 again. I remember thanking Mum for letting me rent Gothic 3 all those years ago and telling her I was playing the remake of 1. She smiled and asked if it was fun, still not understanding what I was saying, but listening enthusiastically, nonetheless. The rental store is gone, as are big boxes and chonky manuals. And if Oblivion was in stock all those years ago, there’s a chance the Gothic 1 Remake might have been overlooked by me or even hated. But Oblivion wasn’t there when Gothic was. And playing this remake takes me back to this place, to this time, when I was younger and she was healthier. That’s my story with how I fell in love with Gothic (and Eurojank). Many times, you’ll find yourself frustrated. You'll get lost. You'll get stuck. You'll run into enemies that seem impossible to defeat. You'll quick-save and quick-load more times than you thought humanly possible. You'll question why the developers made certain decisions, or whether you're even having fun at all. Yet if you stick with it, something special happens. You stop remembering the frustration and you remember the journey. You remember the feeling of overcoming a world that once felt impossible. Gothic delivers an experience unlike anything else. I compare it to Dark Souls. You'll either love it or hate it. And strangely enough, both groups usually feel that way for the same reasons. If you enjoy Gothic, give [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/BAEuro/recommended/1585180?snr=1_5_9__402] Drova [/url] or [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466060/Tainted_Grail_The_Fall_of_Avalon/] Tainted Grail [/url] a try. [h1]📝 Tips [/h1] [list] [*] Understand that you aren’t the hero, the game doesn’t revolve around you [*] Take combat and exploration slow, and try to stick to the main roads [*] At the very beginning, stick with Deigo as he takes you to the camp [*] Similarly, Mordrag and Baal Parvez will also escort you [*] Be sure to get the map from Graham in the Old Camp [*] Save frequently, listen closely, and sleep at night [*] Side quests are a must to grow and survive [*] Fight 1 on 1, not against groups [*] A bow is handy early on [*] Most importantly, give it time and patience [/list] [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44931904-Bite-Sized-Reviews//]If you enjoyed my review and would like to support me, I would love if you followed [b]BSR[/b] for more bite sized reviews.[/url][/quote]

I've played the original at least 10 times, one of them being right when it came out. So I was very skeptical about them redoing this cult classic... But they did it right. The game looks stunning, they modernized the right things, while keeping the soul of the game intact. Also, no performance problems on my side, played on the Gothic setting. Reuniting with Gorn, Lester, Diego and Milten felt amazing, and I am looking forward to playing this multiple times as well. I am sure some people will have issues with the modernized music and some of the changes they made, but overall, they did a tasteful remake, and I think they kept the game's soul, which is what matters the most. PS: For old fans, play it in the hardest difficulty and permadeath mode, you'll thank me later :)

[h1]"I'm... I'm not interested in who you are."[/h1] Yes, I recommend Gothic 1 Remake, especially if you want an RPG that rewards curiosity more than comfort. Gothic is not just nostalgia to me. Maybe that sounds a bit dramatic, but Gothic does that to me. It is one of those rare RPGs where the world does not wait for you, does not flatter you and does not care who you think you are. You enter the Colony as nobody, and every step forward feels earned. Steam may only show a few hours of playtime when this review goes live, but it is also based on roughly 40 hours with a preview version before release. My most important impression remains the same: it feels like Gothic. For old fans, this remake is a return. For new players, it explains why this rough RPG survived in people's hearts for 25 years. Please do not watch guides or "10 things I wish I knew before playing" videos first. Turn off Discord, YouTube and your phone. Step into the world, make your own choices, explore, discover and let it swallow you. [h2]Why it works[/h2] This is not just about better graphics. Gothic was always about tone, danger, music, freedom, factions and a world that felt hostile before it felt familiar. The open world is one of the remake's biggest strengths. It shines, expands the old world with care, respects what was already there and gives exploration more weight through climbing, diving and new missions. New players should not expect a comfort RPG. They should expect a world that slowly teaches them how to survive in it. I also cared about the people behind it. Seeing names like Kai Rosenkranz, Mattias Filler, Nicolas Samuel Lietzau-Schreiber and Reinhard Pollice involved gave me more confidence that this remake was not treated like a generic brand revival. [h2]Pros[/h2] [list] [*]The world still feels rough and not polished into something generic [*]The open world is expanded with respect for the original [*]Climbing, diving and new missions add real value to exploration [*]Expanded quests instead of simply copied quests [*]A very solid modernized combat system [*]A cleverly solved economy system [*]Performance feels smooth now in my playtime on a 4K OLED TV with a controller [*]More crafting and roleplaying systems [*]A stronger focus on Orc culture [*]More believable NPC routines and world simulation [*]No ordinary modern open world checklist feeling [/list] [h2]Cons[/h2] [list] [*]I never really warmed up to lockpicking. Having to perform around 30 correct steps can feel unintuitive and often leads to save/load repetition [*]It is not a huge AAA production, and some facial animations or smaller details can feel uneven [*]The German voice of the nameless hero can sometimes feel oddly exaggerated, even close to the original [*]FSR 4 currently does not work for me in-game, which is unfortunate on an AMD GPU. OptiScaler seems to work very well with Gothic, but I have not tested it deeply yet, and having to rely on a third-party tool is still a downside [*]V-Sync does not seem to work properly for me right now, which is a problem when playing on a TV because of tearing. I will try forcing it through the driver [*]The theft system has many cool new ideas, but in my version it still felt somewhat unfinished and could bug out [*]NPC routines are more complex, but not revolutionary on their own [/list] [h2]Technical note[/h2] At first I had strong texture pop-in in the release version, which was not the case for me in the preview build. After playing for a while, it basically disappeared and the game now runs absolutely smoothly for me. My guess is that the game needed more time than expected to finish loading shaders in the background. If you run into the same issue, try giving it some time before changing too many settings. The remaining technical points are annoying, especially on a TV setup, but they did not change my overall impression of the game itself. None of the rough edges break the experience for me, because Gothic was never defined by perfect polish. It was defined by atmosphere, danger, freedom and the feeling of earning your place. The old combat was clunky back then, and we still loved Gothic. The remake modernizes it in a way that makes the progress from beginner to capable fighter feel more deliberate and more fitting. It is not revolutionary, but it is very solid and serves the game well. The economy system surprised me in a very positive way. It feels smartly integrated into the world and gives decisions, resources and progression more meaning without turning Gothic into a spreadsheet. I also love how the Gothic community has grown and held together over the years. Players from different countries, languages and backgrounds all have their own stories about why this game became special to them. That shared passion is one reason why Gothic still feels special to me, even after all these years. [h2]My advice[/h2] Do not let reviews decide everything. Try it with an open mind and decide whether this kind of RPG still speaks to you. My first memories of Gothic are tied to a LAN party. We met for Warcraft 3, Counter-Strike, Serious Sam and Anno. Then someone brought Gothic 1. Three days later, all five of us were still in the Colony, sharing stories about camps, Scavengers, wrong turns and forgotten saves. That is Gothic. A world that creates stories. My son found Final Fantasy 7 through the remake and then wanted to understand the original. Gothic 1 Remake may do the same for him. That alone makes it meaningful to me. For people who feel the remake changes too much, that is okay. It is not a remaster. It is a remake. The original still exists and has been kept alive for 25 years by the community, THQ and dedicated modders. I played Gothic 1, Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Risen 1, Risen 2, Risen 3, ELEX and ELEX 2. I love Piranha Bytes, but I am not sure the studio in its later ELEX years would have approached Gothic in this form. Not perfect. Not harmless. Not generic. Gothic. Gothic was never about being welcomed. It was about earning your place. This remake understands that. Welcome to the Colony. [i]Small note: not paid, not sponsored. Just a long-time Gothic fan, definitely touched by nostalgia, but trying to stay fair. I wrote this in German first and used translation help so more Gothic fans could read it.[/i]