…but, unless THQ Nordic gets its act together, Gothic remake will likely not happen.

Yesterday, THQ Nordic and its new Barcelona studio released Gothic Playable Teaser out of nowhere. It is already available in every Steam user’s library if they happen to own any Piranha Bytes game. In it, we have two hours to look around Khorinis’ mining colony, and then, we can take a survey to give feedback to THQ Nordic, and whether we want the remake to happen or not (as it’s a small, playable prototype, hence the title).

„This is not a full game. Its [sic!] a playable teaser version to a potential approach for a new Gothic game. Nothing is set in stone. So your feedback is essential to turn Gothic into a modern game. Therefore, and to reward your loyalty, Gothic Playable Teaser is free for all fans who already have any of the titles in the Gothic saga or developed by Piranha Bytes!”, the teaser’s Steam page says about the prototype.

„Question: Who is developing this project?

Answer: THQ Nordic Barcelona. You can find out more about the studio here (hint: we are looking to grow our team).

Q: Is Piranha Bytes involved in the project?

A: No! Piranha Bytes is working hard on a different project, which will be announced in 2020.

Q: Wait, why can we only play two hours?

A: Because it’s just a prototype, done by a new small team in Barcelona and we wanted to do an unusual approach and give this into the hands of players early. What you are going to play is all we have to show you at the moment.

Q: OK, got it. But if we want the full game, how long do we have to wait?

A: Quite some time. We will only start full production if the community demands a Gothic remake. To do so, we will need to grow the development team and rebuild Gothic from scratch.

Q: This can become a remastered HD version of Gothic?

A: We’d like to call it a remake. We are using a completely new tech (Unreal Engine 4) and so basically nothing but the story, the setting, the atmosphere, the music and the world of Gothic will remain. The whole tech, all graphics, the sound, different systems will be recreated according to modern high-quality standards.

Q: Can I buy the prototype?

A: Yes and no. Everyone who owns ANY game from Piranha Bytes will get it for free–so if you don’t have either Gothic, Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Risen, Risen 2, Risen 3, or ELEX you can buy one of them now and the prototype is also yours,” the official Q&A reveals.

However, the game seems to have STRONG negative opinions! Let’s see three of the most helpful reviews: „This teaser didn’t convince me that THQ could produce a good Gothic remake. They took the things that made the original great and replaced them with mediocrity. The main character is generic, instead of being a total badass, (for example: telling the judge in the beginning that his speech is boring.) The introduction to the doesn’t show you the character of the world anymore, you used to get punched in the face and told: “Welcome to the old camp”. Graphics-wise, it’s nice. I just wish the torch didn’t have any lens flare so I could see what’s on my screen. In my opinion, the cutscenes are way too long, just let me play the game myself, please. I like the idea of a Gothic I remake, but it would have to be from someone who understands Gothic,” one says. „Dear THQ, please don’t follow this path. Don’t copy mechanics from Fallout 4. Gothic is all about the dialogues, hermatization, possibilities to find different ways to achieve the goal without HELP OF THE GAME!!! DO NOT flatten Gothic, make is difficult as it should be… and for god sake, don’t even consider to implement this braindead 4 options dialogue sections… Classic dialogues – this is the key to success,” another one reads. The third one is to the point: „Cringy monologue but it was the combat that made me uninstall as soon as I saw it.”

Website here, comparison video and images below. The remake could happen if there’s a demand, though.

Source: Gematsu

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