Gothic 1 Remake gets a dedicated Steam page and finally looks promising

The Gothic series

The Gothic series has been one of my all time favourite series of all time. Some of it may be nostalgia, but I do believe that Piranha Bytes was way ahead of their time, especially with the first two games.

Each and every NPC is fully voiced, they have jobs, a home, go to the tavern at night, yell at you when you step into their home and take your gold and your weapon when you try to beat them up and fail, while others cheer them on and laugh at you.

The world feels alive and lived in. It isn't big by todays standards, but it is so densely packed (even vertically) with interesting and unique areas, incredible loot and brutal enemies. Technically you can go almost anywhere right from the start, but even the smallest of critters will slaughter you mercilessly and to get stronger and gain easier access to more of the world and the story, you have to actually seek out trainers to improve your stats, learn new skills, or get crafty with sneaking, quests and companions to help you reach your goals or loot sooner, rather than later.

Each game has three distinct factions, whose storylines play out rather differently (though they all converge at the end) and being friends with one faction could mean being enemies with another. You have choices and those choices matter.

And the music in these games is just amazing. Even if you were to wake me up at night I would easily be able humm a few tunes from each game. They are engraved into my brain, because they are connected to the world, the atmosphere, the characters and, most importantly, the suspense of each and every situation they're linked with.

Gothic Playable Teaser

I was stoked when the Gothic Playable Teaser released on Steam back in December of 2019, but after seeing the screenshots and a few minutes of gameplay on YouTube, I was disappointed. I didn't even bother downloading it.

It just looks wrong on so many levels. It's oversaturated, way to bright in bright areas and almost black in dark areas, with a very aggressive chromatic abberation effect covering almost the entire screen, and the nameless hero is suddenly a talkative and annoying brat with way to much personality for an RPG like this.

No, thank you. I'd rather play the original again.

Gothic 1 Remake

A few days ago the Gothic 1 Remake got a new dedicated Steam page and we finally get a bit more information and a few more screenshots.

Granted, the new screenshots don't show a lot, but they look much closer to the unique, gritty and brutal atmosphere of the original game and I like it.
The excessive post processing effects and over saturation are gone and the world looks much more grounded in reality. I think it starts to evoke the same sense of unforgivingness and danger, which made the original games so special.

I really hope that Alkimia Interactive keep true to their word, so that we can finally play a "faithful full remake of the original Gothic 1".

It's certainly on my wishlist, but if I were you I wouldn't wait for it but instead grab the original for the first playthrough. It is a masterpiece, after all.