Gothic 1 Remake Review (PS5)

Gothic 1 Remake is an almost slavish reproduction of the original 2001 release developed by Piranha Bytes, an Eastern European open world RPG that was ahead of its time, notoriously hardcore, and seriously janky.

Remade for a new era by Alkimia Interactive and published by THQ Nordic, this surprisingly dense experience has been modernised in some ways but remains shackled to the past by some bland gameplay and a swath of unfortunate, oftentimes extremely annoying bugs on PS5.

This new iteration, in addition to a major graphical overhaul, expands the world map from cut content and adds a dozen or so extra hours of late-game content, as well as introducing dynamic environmental effects and enhanced combat controls.

Right from the jump, Gothic managed to both impress and underwhelm me in a number of ways. First, the good: players are free to roam the world of The Colony to their heart's content. Whether that means exploring, searching for loot, interacting with NPCs, or fleeing from the shockingly deadly creatures that infest the area, the choice is yours, and your curiosity is often rewarded.

Gothic's plot and setup are quite compelling; in a medieval fantasy realm engaged in a losing war against a ferocious race of orcs, the king sentences any man convicted of a crime to hard labour in his magical ore mines in an effort to forge more powerful weapons and armour for the army.

To keep the convicts from escaping, his magicians erect the Barrier, an impenetrable force field that allows entry but prevents any exit. Unfortunately, things go awry, and, rather than being localised, the mages are trapped inside with the convicts, along with everything else in the surrounding area.

The prisoners use the ensuing confusion to rise up, murder the guards, and establish themselves in three separate, distinct communities, each with their own ideas on how best to survive and potentially escape.

Playing as an unnamed prisoner known as "the hero", our protagonist is a gruff guy with a blonde ponytail and very little personality who is sent into The Colony at the king's behest. Tasked with delivering a letter to the magicians in The Old Camp, this simple directive is anything but and will take quite a few in-game hours to achieve and evolves into something grander along the way.

It's in this moment that Gothic truly shines and where the frustration may begin to set in for some. Famously, there are no quest markers or compasses here, and players are left to follow the often vague directions of NPCs and quest givers. You can purchase a map, but it is unmarked and only shows the player's current location, meaning that extensive exploration is required.

Gothic is punishingly difficult by design. There are three difficulty options (the medium 'Gothic' setting is the intended experience), but even on easy, enemies will kill you in just a hit or two. Healing requires food or expensive potions, and as the economy is as hardcore as everything else, you'll likely find yourself constantly saving, reloading, and ultimately fleeing during the early chapters.

Simple by modern standards, combat is occasionally fun but mostly just serviceable. The hero is largely useless from the outset and needs training to become even mildly effective. This training requires XP, currency, and knowledge of a relevant trainer, meaning you will likely spend hours struggling, which is by design.

Eventually, you will gain weaponry that evens the playing field and, more importantly, access to repeatedly upgradeable armour, which allows for some wiggle room.

What's kind of cool is that combat training unlocks not only simple combos, critical hits, parries, and increased damage; it actually changes the way the hero handles weaponry, loosening up his stance and allowing for quicker and more effective attacks. Slightly less cool is that without that training, you get none of those things, and overcoming a lone molerat can be a costly, life-or-death struggle.

This system of trainers extends to most skills and is almost singularly restrictive; for example, lockpicking is essentially an exercise in frustration before investing in the requisite skills.

Meaningfully, from the outset, the player can choose to side with one of the three communities, gaining access to unique gameplay benefits in the process, as well as shaping the flavour of Gothic's central narrative.

The Old Camp continues to trade ore with the king in exchange for supplies and quality gear. The New Camp hoards ore in an attempt to blast a hole through the Barrier and thus escape. The Swamp Camp is largely preoccupied with smoking dank swampweed and communing with The Sleeper, a potentially malevolent deity.

Players are encouraged to do a few quests for each community and gain some much-needed experience and equipment. After a point, they will be able to join one and progress inside that faction, locking themselves out of joining the others.

On to the bad, or downright disappointing, things. Gothic 1 Remake struggles to maintain anything approaching a stable 30fps on PS5 Pro (with 60fps not even being an option), which is honestly kind of a deal-breaker alone in 2026. Even then, the game can drop to single-digit stuttering in populated areas like The Old Camp, with the game locking up and outright crashing multiple times on us.

While not broken per se, as it's possible to progress through the game, the technical issues are inescapable. There are no real graphics settings to speak of, and the poor visuals, shoddy performance, and variety of active bugs make for a rough experience.

Visually, Gothic manages some pretty impressive character models, which are quite at odds with the uniformly muddy resolution of everything else. Decidedly AA in most aspects, players will also be treated to enemies and NPCs occasionally dropping through the environment or simply disappearing entirely.

I also experienced repeated audio bugs, ranging from all game sounds simply stopping (requiring repeated restarts) to the surreal, otherworldly experience of having every NPC in a settlement speaking simultaneously, layered one on top of the other.

Your tolerance for Eurojank may vary; just know that Gothic is essentially Eurojank: The Game. I have to imagine these issues will be fixed in time; in fact, several patches have been released since launch. But regardless of whether these bugs stem from a lack of QA or the game simply not being quite ready for release, I would find it hard to justify the purchase of any new game in this state.