The studio has confirmed that Gothic 1 Remake hit a peak of almost 78,000 concurrent players on Steam on June 7th. Since then, the title has gone on to get more than 15,000 user reviews on the platform, averaging out to a “Very Positive” rating.

“Alkimia Interactive and THQ Nordic are thrilled by this initial success and extend a heartfelt thank you to all players who have entered the colony so far – and especially to all of the long-time dedicated fans who have supported the Gothic franchise over the past 25 years,” wrote the studio. “This milestone could not have been possible without such a passionate community.”

Gothic 1 Remake’s release was celebrated with a launch trailer that showcased the enhanced gameplay and new visuals for the title. Just a couple of days before the release, Alkimia Interactive had also released the intro cinematic for the RPG, giving us a look at how the opening moments of Gothic 1 Remake will play out thanks to its modern visual fidelity.

Leading up to its release, while Alkimia Interactive had spoken about wanting to bring in some improvements to Gothic with its remake, the studio had also noted that it wanted to hang on to some of the original’s aspects that help improve its immersion. Among these was the decision to not include a minimap.

“You don’t have a minimap,” explained game director Reinhard Pollice in an interview, “we very strictly kept that. We were thinking about making it optional, but we felt like even that doesn’t feel right. If you want to know where you are, just open your map. You will find out.”

He also revealed that the studio had discussed the idea of adding more content to help fill out the world of Gothic 1 Remake. Among the content discussed would have been a card minigame, and even possibly a fishing minigame. However, the decision was ultimately made to not do so, since they weren’t necessary for the core Gothic experience.

“We were debating about doing some minigames to fill it up more,” he said. “Having a card minigame, or maybe some fishing minigame. Who knows what the future holds for Gothic; maybe we’ll do them one day. But we didn’t see them as a priority thing. We felt like they’re not really needed for the core experience.”

Where it did bring in some changes, however, is in its approachability. Noting that the original Gothic could be a rough game for beginners, Pollice revealed that Gothic 1 Remake includes a more fleshed-out diary-style quest log that gives players a better idea of what they’re supposed to be doing. Similarly, the crafting system has also seen some expansion, with new alchemy and scroll-inscription systems.

For more details, check out what’s new in Gothic 1 Remake.

As its name might imply, Gothic 1 Remake will be a ground-up recreation of the seminal RPG that was originally released on PC all the way back in 2001. At the time, the title was well-regarded for its story, the design of its world, and its atmosphere. However, it was also quite buggy at launch, and featured a control scheme that was considered odd even for its time. This ultimately led to it getting a smaller audience than other RPGs of the era, and it went on to be considered a cult classic.

The story of the original Gothic revolves around an unnamed prisoner – the player character – being thrown into a mining colony. There wasn’t much in the way of exposition at the time, and it was largely up to the player to figure out what was happening and what role they could play in the larger plot. Ultimately, the story starts becoming quite grander in scale.

Just last week, Alkimia Interactive released a new developer diary for Gothic 1 Remake that focused on how the remake’s combat would be an evolved form of what we first saw in the original. While much of the fundamentals are the same, there have been a few tweaks made to the combat system, and the studio has noted that the motion-captured movements for characters and creatures mean that players will have to be more careful about when they attack.

Interestingly, the player’s own animations will also see evolutions over time, depending on their skill with their weapons of choice. This was done to bring a new dimension to the RPG’s progression system, which starts you off as an incredibly weak character that has the potential to become the ultimate hero.

Director Reinhard Pollice had also spoken about wanting to make sure that Gothic 1 Remake feels as immersive as the original did. In an interview from back in April, he even confirmed that the title won’t have a minimap.

“You don’t have a minimap,” explained Pollice, “we very strictly kept that. We were thinking about making it optional, but we felt like even that doesn’t feel right. If you want to know where you are, just open your map. You will find out.”

As for other potential changes, Pollice no ted that the studio had discussions about adding more things to the world, like a card minigame. However, these additions never ended up being a major priority for the team, since they weren’t necessary for what the studio felt was the RPG’s “core experience”.

For more details on Gothic 1 Remake, check out a previous developer diary that showcased its improved character models.

“You don’t have a minimap,” explained Pollice, “we very strictly kept that. We were thinking about making it optional, but we felt like even that doesn’t feel right. If you want to know where you are, just open your map. You will find out.”

He went on to reveal that the studio thought about adding its own new content to Gothic Remake, like minigames that would help make the world feel more dense. However, Alkimia Interactive ultimately decided against the idea, since the world would have felt too padded out otherwise.

We were debating about doing some minigames to fill it up more,” he said. “Having a card minigame, or maybe some fishing minigame. Who knows what the future holds for Gothic, maybe we’ll do them one day. But we didn’t see them as a priority thing. We felt like they’re not really needed for the core experience.”

These decisions ultimately came down to the fact that the original Gothic was a grounded game in terms of its storytelling and world, and Alkimia Interactive wants to continue that feeling with Gothic Remake. This has, however, meant that the studio had to do extensive rewrites of the original’s English version, since it suffered from stilted dialogue when compared to its German language release.

“It had this down-to-earth, grounded type of writing,” Pollice explained. “At least, the original German version. When we set out, we also realized that maybe one of the reasons why it wasn’t so popular in English-speaking territories was that the writing was a little bit hit and miss in the English version. That was one of the things we started very early on, that we did a rewrite of the original English version, and we decided to get this distinct working-class feeling and tone into it.”

The studio has also tried to make Gothic Remake more approachable than the original, namely by providing players with more guidance through a more immersive diary-styled quest log. Through this, Alkimia also ended up avoiding making Gothic Remake too easy with objective markers cluttering the UI.

“We felt that maybe the way Gothic handled guidance back then just wasn’t enough,” he said. “I mean, it had a very bare-bone quest log, so we extended that. You now have the option instead—you have a diary-style quest log, but you also have an objective view where you can see, OK, what does it boil down to? What do I have to do? But it’s always written in this immersive context of being what would the hero know.”

Crafting is also getting expanded in Gothic Remake, with a full-fledged new alchemy and scroll-inscription systems to accompany the in-game forge. Cooking has been made more elaborate as well. However, among the things the studio had originally planned but decided against was character customization.

“We had everything on the table,” Pollice said, “but we quickly discarded that as being a very important thing. We felt like the Nameless Hero is known for a specific type of look, and it’s a hero’s journey in a way. We didn’t really lean into character customization. You can customize the armor set you’re using.”

Gothic Remake is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on June 5th.

The trailer clocks in at just over 3 minutes in length, and gives us a look at Gothic  Remake‘s primary setting of the Penal Colony of Khorinis and its Valley of Mines. The narrator emphasizes that, much like in any other prison, the colony runs on the simplest of all laws: power, obedience, and hierarchy.

We also get a look at a few of the factions competing for power in the Valley of Mines – the Bandits, the Mages, and the “self-proclaimed rulers”. The final third of the trailer gives us a quick glimpse at the combat, which will allow players to pick from a variety of weapons and tools like magic to take down their foes. Among the enemies waiting for the protagonist are bandits, skeletons, and even mythical creatures like golems and trolls.

Alkimia Interactive had kicked off a video series over the previous year providing a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Gothic Remake. Across various videos, the studio has showcased the differences between the original and the remake, its own artistic vision and changes in the visuals, and most recently, the remake’s improved character models.

August 2025 also saw the release of a gameplay trailer that provided a rough outline of the world through the words of legendary necromancer Xardas. The character spoke about the Khorinis mines and its prisoners, as well as the chaos caused by orcs waging war against the entire kingdom. The trailer also gave us a look at the fast-paced hack-and-slash combat that gives players plenty of freedom when it comes to spell casting.

Gothic was a 2001 RPG that focused on player freedom and immersion as its core pillar. Back when it first came out, the title was praised for its open world and giving players plenty of choices to make throughout its main story. Character progression was also unique at the time, since players would get skill points depending on their actions, but these skill points could only be spent on improving abilities by seeking out various trainers.

The title would go on to get two sequels, each of which would continue the story of the Nameless Hero with events taking place after his escape from the prison colony from the first game. The fourth game in the series—Arcania: A Gothic Tale—would see a radical shift in gameplay structure and story, resulting in poor critical and commercial reception.

In the meantime, players that want to check out the original trilogy can check out Gothic Classic, Gothic 2 Complete Classic and Gothic 3 Classic when they come out on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S this year. PC players can already pick them up through Steam.

While previous showcases highlighted refinements to the plot and NPC scheduling, the new video, which you can check out below, demonstrates how the developers have approached their character models. Much work has gone into ensuring that the looks for key individuals remain true to the original while making them appealing to a modern, more discerning audience.

From the faces you see to the armor that characters wear in-game, there’s a lot of focus on accuracy and authenticity, and the results are looking quite immersive indeed. The changes are more than skin-deep, however, with the game’s armor system receiving a makeover. For instance, a piece of gear with resistance to frost will appear as an item of clothing that one would wear to protect from the real-world cold.

Each of these changes on its own might be written off as creative flourishes with no real impact on the gameplay, but taken as a whole, they begin to paint a picture of a remake that’s pulling out all the stops to bring a beloved title to life in a stylish new way. Launching sometime this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, it’s definitely shaping up into something special for long-time fans.