The original "Gothic" is returning to the world of games in a remade shape

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IS IT A GOTHIC REMAKE? NOT YET, BUT IT CAN BECOME ONE: THQ NORDIC RELEASES PLAYABLE PROTOTYPE ON STEAM, ASKS FOR THE PLAYER’S OPINION.

Press release:
Barcelona, Spain / Vienna, Austria, December 13th 2019: “Welcome to the colony!“ – how is it possible that 18 years have passed since we first heard that phrase at the beginning of Gothic, the game that set a milestone in the history of German fantasy RPGs, such as Risen and Elex?

Since then, we all have grown older, acquired some wrinkles, and are laughing at how we look in pictures from the early 2000s – or how games looked back then.

But, what if we could turn back time, take everything that was great almost 20 years ago, and put it in a beautiful modern look (let’s say powered by Unreal Engine 4) along with improving some things that were not that great, like the combat system, for example?

To find out what the true Gothic fanbase thinks of a modern remake of the cult classic RPG, THQ Nordic and it’s new Spanish development team, THQ Nordic Barcelona, will start an experiment.

Today, a free playable prototype (Gothic Playable Teaser) of what a new Gothic could look and feel like will appear in the Steam Library of everyone who owns a game from Piranha Bytes, be it Gothic 1-3, Risen 1-3, or ELEX.

They can play the yet-untitled Gothic Remake project and roam around the Mining Colony of Khorinis. After that, THQ Nordic is eager to learn from the players through a survey following the completion of the prototype, whether and how it should proceed with the production of a full Gothic Remake, or leave the heritage and the great memories associated with it untouched.

FAQ

We know you must have a thousand questions– we’ll try to cover a few in this FAQ:

Q: Who is developing this project?
A: THQ Nordic Barcelona. You can find out more about the studio at www.thqnordicbarcelona.com (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. In order 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.

About THQ Nordic
Founded in 2011, THQ Nordic is a global video game publisher and developer. Based in Vienna (Austria) and Karlstad (Sweden), with subsidiaries in Germany, Sweden, Finland, and the USA, THQ Nordic brands include Darksiders, MX vs. ATV, Red Faction, Titan Quest, Biomutant, Wreckfest, Gothic, ELEX and many more.

THQ Nordic is meant to represent a core approach of doing much more than “owning” a highly competitive portfolio of IPs. It revolves around cherishing them, and aligning them with the very best development resources to expand upon them with the level of experience that communities and established fan bases expect and deserve.

The company’s internal development studios are (in chronological order, from earliest to most recent):

Grimlore Games GmbH based in Munich (Germany)
Rainbow Studios Inc. based in Phoenix, Arizona (United States of America)
Mirage Game Studios AB based in Karlstad (Sweden)
Black Forest Games GmbH based in Offenburg (Germany)
Pieces Interactive AB based in Skoevde (Sweden)
Experiment 101 AB based in Stockholm (Sweden)
Bugbear Entertainment based in Helsinki (Finland)
Piranha Bytes based in Essen (Germany)
Gunfire Games based in Austin, TX (United States of America)

Since July 2018, HandyGames (Giebelstadt, Germany) is part of the THQ Nordic network and perfectly complements the setup of the rest of our group as the new “go to”-publisher for small- and midsized developers and projects. The company has a very strong background in VR and publishing of mobile games.

THQ Nordic & Affiliates are part of the Embracer Group AB, based in Karlstad, Sweden, for more information, please visit https://www.embracer.com

About THQ Nordic Barcelona
THQ Nordic Barcelona based in Barcelona, Spain was started in 2018 to work on a medieval RPG which was turned into a Gothic project. The team is currently in inception phase and is looking to become a complete team in 2020.