Well, ready to split camps again with the Nameless Hero of ‘Gothic’? It has been clear since 2019 that there will be a remake of the first part of the fantasy game series (2001). Now, however, there is new information from those involved.
Production is in full swing
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“We’re in the middle of production,” Game Director Reinhard Pollice revealed in an interview with Gamestar at the Gamescom games fair. The magazine had asked him and music and sound boss Kai Rosenkranz, who was on the original game, community questions. The booth? “The most important features are there,” says Pollice. During the pandemic, the studio was expanded and a team of forty people was built. For the Khorinis penal colony, this means: The world is currently getting its final robe. Pollice referred to the playable trailer released in 2019 for fan feedback showing the mines. The focus is currently on the key locations.
Game Director promises expanded combat system
In addition to optical revisions, the gaming experience will also be improved. According to Pollice, what is known from the teaser – a two-hour demo – will be changed. Taking over the combat system directly was never an intention, he said. Now, with a much larger team and numerous playtesters, a reorganization is underway. “We went into ourselves again and thought about what made the combat system of Gothic 1 good and what made it bad,” says the game director. For him personally, the system of many new games is too much of a one-way street – more options are important to him for the ‘Gothic’ remake. “We have advanced prototypes and are in the process of working on the variance.” Motion capturing and different handling of different weapons are currently being worked on. Furthermore, “gameplay holes” are to be plugged in the new control, such as the compulsion to use different fighting styles.
‘Gothic’-Remake: Work close to the original
Furthermore, the new ‘Gothic’ should be less linear than the original game. Later chapters of the story should have more options, all be coherent. Kai Rosenkranz also promised at this point that lost content, which was sometimes deleted from the original due to time constraints, should be continued this time. “Open ends are our food,” he stated. The game is expanded, but still close to the original.
The two also addressed the controversial topic of the female role in Gothic. Pollice argued with the prison colony setting that female characters could not suddenly be inserted into it. In principle, however, this should also be tackled – a rough direction already exists.
Also tonal recourse to the origin
There is more than one rough direction for sound design. Rosencrantz promised a mixture of old and new sounds. He builds in a third of the newly mastered versions of the old melodies. Another third is dedicated to newly arranged original sounds, and the last third should consist of new music. For the latter, he referred to places in the game that previously had no own pieces.
“Dynamic adaptation of the music to the combat was also present in the original game – it would be a huge step backwards if we didn’t have that in the remake,” he laughed. However, the team wants to think ahead, grasp the pioneering spirit of twenty years ago. So new features are built, also in the combat system. He calls a new idea “extremely adaptive”. And to include the (extended) metal scene: Rosenkranz also asked whether In Extremo will also be part of the remake. However, he only smiled and pointed out that he could not reveal anything at this point.
Scene from the playable teaser from the “Gothic” remake
However, the two of them responded to the Voice Lines from 2001, some of which had become cult: “I would assume that we would make new recordings with the original cast as far as possible,” revealed Pollice. The nameless hero, however, will – unlike the much criticized after the teaser – appear rather passive and not talkative, as in the original.
‘Gothic’ remake: No release date in sight
“We’ll definitely keep working on it for another year,” Pollice curbed too much anticipation. The project is too big to commit to a release date right now. The developers prefer to take enough time to do justice to the details. With the Bochum development studio Piranha Bytes, bought by THC Nordic in 2019 but still involved in ‘Gothic’, the exchange has been sparse so far. If, however, according to Rosenkranz, one notices that the employees have a lot of interest and knowledge in ‘Gothic’. Well – hopefully they still got it…
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