The Witcher 4 Rival That Inspired CD Projekt Red's RPGs Talks Full Circle Moment

Next month, the gaming world welcomes back one of its best open-world RPGs, one that could probably give both The Elder Scrolls VI and The Witcher IV a run for their money.

We’re not short of open-world fantasy games but the top dogs have always been Bethesda and CD Projekt Red.

However, while The Elder Scrolls VI is probably very impressive (if we could see it) and The Witcher IV will be another masterpiece, there’s still room for other RPGs to share the spotlight.

Gothic 1 Remake, developed by Alkimia Interactive, is one such RPG and GAMINGbible spoke with the game’s director Reinhard Pollice to learn more.

An Open-World To Rival Elder Scrolls

Alkimia Interactive started work on the game “almost six years ago” according to Reinhard with only five developers at first. Over time, the project expanded to a team of almost 60 and it needed the numbers given the scale of what they were trying to achieve.

It’s become quite common for RPGs to be judged solely on the size of their open-worlds. Is Crimson Desert a Game of the Year contender because it’s massive or because of its complex and varied sandbox mechanics?

World size is even used as a metric of success for games that aren’t even out yet. Does The Elder Scrolls VI need to be 10 times larger than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to be a worthy sequel, or will it be down to how well that world is populated?

THQ Nordic

When tackling that conundrum for Gothic 1 Remake, the team elected to focus on quality rather than quantity, forging a world players can enjoy exploring without being bogged down by its size.

“[Gothic 1] had an open-world, but it was quite small,” began Reinhard. “We made it, I would say, 20-25% bigger overall. We also added places that were not in the original.”

He went on to explain how the team believes “size doesn't really matter” but “density” does.

“When you explore the world you will always have something to do or something to explore where you will get some sort of reward.”

Unlike other open-world RPGs, though, this isn’t intended to feel like busy work. It’s all in service of your character’s self-improvement so all your exploration actually matters, whether it be gathering resources for crafting, money for new gear, or general experience points upon killing enemies.

It’s a good mentality to have as while I’m enjoying Crimson Desert at the moment, the open-world explorations feels very hit-and-miss sometimes. You’re either thrown into a compelling side-quest that feels like it could be its own spin-off or you’re performing menial tasks that feel like a second job. Nailing that consistency is important and it sounds like Gothic 1 Remake does just that.

The Witcher’s Full Circle Moment

For those who aren’t aware, CD Projekt Red took a lot of inspiration from Gothic and Gothic 2 when crafting The Witcher series.

Of course, The Witcher has come a long way since its early days but that’s quite an origin story and a lovely feather in Gothic’s cap.

In a full circle moment, Gothic 1 Remake actually took notes from The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 when crafting its updated player experience.

“We looked at where the bar is,” said Reinhard when talking about modern day RPGs. "It's a good reference point to understand what gamers enjoy these days and why … When we started development on the remake, we made a big chart about what the vision should be and what are the dos and don'ts to get there. Through that process, we had a pretty good idea of what a remake should be. [Gothic 1 Remake] does many things in such a unique and cool way that no one else is doing.”

THQ Nordic

Rebuilding A Legacy

Gothic 1 Remake aims to introduce millions of new gamers to a historic RPG series. One of the challenges with a remake though is how it carries that torch and what impact it has on the overall legacy.

When asked if the team would rather have this remake pay homage or become that legacy, Reinhard said, “neither of those, to be honest”.

“This is our first Gothic game and we really hope that we can do many more. It's the start of a journey and building the foundation of something bigger. Gothic classic is always going to be part of that but we hope to build an extended Gothic legacy that will be known as an immersive simulated RPG that gives the player a lot of choices, and has a unique tone and style to it.”

Provided Gothic 1 Remake is received well, Alkimia Interactive aims to remake Gothic 2, skip Gothic 3 and hopefully create an entirely new entry in the series that expands upon the established lore.

Gothic 1 Remake launches on 5 June for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC. Those who preorder the game will also receive the OG Gothic as a free download bonus, which is playable before the remake drops.