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Tags: Gothic (THQ Nordic Remake); THQ Nordic
THQ Nordic announced that they'd acquired Piranha Bytes and the Gothic IP back in May. While most people were thinking about the future of ELEX 2 under its new owners, it turns out they had additional plans. Namely, the development of a high fidelity remake of the original Gothic. However, it seems THQ aren't sure there's a market for it, so they've taken the unusual step of releasing a playable prototype on Steam to all owners of previous Piranha Bytes games. Note that the remake is not being developed by Piranha Bytes, but by a different THQ Nordic subsidiary in Barcelona. They've put together a trailer and comparison video for it, and the accompanying press release has the full details. I quote:
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.
You want to learn more about the Gothic Playable Teaser? Check the official website: www.gothic-game.com
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.
Well, regardless of whether this goes anywhere and how it turns out, it's nice to have an ETA for the announcement of ELEX 2.
THQ Nordic announced that they'd acquired Piranha Bytes and the Gothic IP back in May. While most people were thinking about the future of ELEX 2 under its new owners, it turns out they had additional plans. Namely, the development of a high fidelity remake of the original Gothic. However, it seems THQ aren't sure there's a market for it, so they've taken the unusual step of releasing a playable prototype on Steam to all owners of previous Piranha Bytes games. Note that the remake is not being developed by Piranha Bytes, but by a different THQ Nordic subsidiary in Barcelona. They've put together a trailer and comparison video for it, and the accompanying press release has the full details. I quote:
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.
You want to learn more about the Gothic Playable Teaser? Check the official website: www.gothic-game.com
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.
Well, regardless of whether this goes anywhere and how it turns out, it's nice to have an ETA for the announcement of ELEX 2.
