What worked: atmosphere, brutal world, and updated mechanics
Visually, the remake is impressive. Many elements here are not as bright as in the original, but the world is unmistakably recognizable and full of memorable details. The magnificent water physics is particularly striking.
Interestingly, the developers hid a funny Easter egg: if the judge doesn't have a hat on during the opening scene, you can find it at the bottom of the lake after the hero falls in.
On the shore of the Nameless, just like in the original, you are met by scoundrels, who are driven away by Diego — one of the few convicts willing to support a newcomer. After this, the game provides complete freedom of action. The player is free to die repeatedly, getting acquainted with the local fauna and inhabitants (by the way, the NPC composition has become more diverse, and the Colony now looks more realistic).
The developers carefully preserved the social structure. Three main factions coexist in the Valley of Mines: the Old, New, and Swamp Camps.
Life here follows a strict schedule: in the morning, NPCs go about their business, in the evening they rest, and at night they sleep. Before making a final faction choice, it makes sense to work for all sides for experience and resources.
The quests remained classic: buy a sword, steal a recipe, distribute water to peasants. At the same time, the game still reacts vividly to your actions. For example, if you need to beat someone up in the Old and Swamp Camps for a quest, the guards will definitely scold you later. However, in the New Camp, violence is not condemned and is even encouraged.
The difficulty still makes you feel at the bottom of the food chain: at the beginning, the Nameless cannot defeat even the weakest beasts. Enemies have become more dangerous and cunning. They skillfully bypass obstacles, and the old trick of luring them into the water no longer works — now wolves bite right there. But the ecosystem simulation remains: you can, for example, witness a battle between two swamp sharks.
Humans are easier: they are predictable and don't always kill when defeated — they're more likely to empty your pockets and leave you lying where they dealt you a crushing blow. The companion mechanic has also been preserved — you can ask a strong fighter to escort the hero to the camp, and all enemies killed by them along the way will bring experience to the Nameless.
The combat system has gained useful innovations. A parry ability has appeared, reminiscent of the defense from Gothic II, which allows you to defeat strong human opponents (you can parry beasts too, but they are too unpredictable). Archery has changed significantly: instead of auto-aim, free aiming has been added, which makes the bow much more useful in the early stages.
The interface and economy improvements are particularly commendable. Quests, encountered characters, and enemies are conveniently recorded in the journal; you can always find the right merchant or teacher on the map.
Blacksmithing and skinning animals for trophies (hides, claws, fangs) still help make a living. At the same time, trading itself, which was terribly inconvenient in the original, has now become a simple and understandable process.
What's wrong: lore questions and bugs
Despite the overall quality, there are questions about the remake — and they start right from the opening cutscene. The video shows that the authors don't fully understand the classic: in it, people bravely exterminate orcs.
In the original, orcs are an advancing army of darkness, a monstrously dangerous enemy winning a bloody war. It was because of this that King Rhobar II began sending people to penal servitude in the Valley of Mines for the slightest offenses to mine magical ore.
The voice acting was jarring: most inhabitants communicate in roughly the same "convict" style. This is appropriate for simple prisoners, but not at all for mages and idols, who should sound like sages.
There are also outright plot holes: it's strange when an idol from the Swamp Camp attacks you shouting "For Innos!", considering that the cultists only believe in the Sleeper, Beliar.
There are clear flaws in quest design. For example, a new quest appeared: the Rice Lord demands to find his subordinate. After questioning those around, we learn that the person was seen near a cave next to a pond. But in this single cave, there is absolutely nothing but a treasure chest.
The behavior of beasts, despite their smarter AI in combat, seems broken outside of fights. It seems they don't react to all corpses: animals only ate some bodies in front of me. And an attempt to distract a wolf with a dropped piece of meat ended with it ignoring the bait and biting my hero.
The lockpicking mechanic update turned out to be controversial. Instead of the classic combination picking with a lockpick, you now need to correctly arrange the lock's links, some of which are connected to each other. The mechanic is interesting, but the reward is not always worth the effort.
The situation is exacerbated by a bug: after loading a save, all sleeping NPCs wake up in unison. This led to the most awkward looting of half the Old Camp shacks in my life.
After Of Ash and Steel and Gothic III, the remake's problems seem minor. The game loads quickly on an SSD, but the bugs are still annoying:
- The crosshair periodically disappears when shooting a bow;
- No experience or resources are given for killing three scavengers on the way to the New Camp;
- Enemies periodically attack past the hero or pass through textures;
- If you talk to a moving character, the game may freeze.
These are not all the problems you will encounter, but we didn't see others in 15 hours.
Verdict
If any game embodies the principle of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," it's Gothic 1 Remake. The developers carefully transferred the mechanics that made the first Gothic beloved. But most importantly, they rethought and improved those that were frankly inconvenient.
I'll say without hesitation — the remake is worth playing if you loved the original Gothic or are experiencing this brutal RPG for the first time.
Yes, it's possible that by the end of the game you'll still encounter non-working mechanics or impassable locations, but the first act doesn't cause rejection. And looking at the work done, I believe that the developers from Alkimia managed to maintain this level until the very end.
But you'll find out about that in the full review, which will be released very soon.