This is not a remake: it keeps the 2001 graphics and adapts the interface for controllers
June revolved around Gothic 1 Remake. It launched on the 5th, sold half a million copies in a week and left the community arguing over whether it was a tribute or a rewrite. Now THQ Nordic is selling the other version. The 2001 original, the four-CD install, the game that killed you three times before you left the first valley. Gothic Classic is out today, 28 July, on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
The name can be misleading. Gothic Classic is not a visual remaster. It keeps the original look while adapting the interface and controls for gamepads, and it carries over the porting and fixes already released on Nintendo Switch in September 2023. The press release promises no new textures, rebuilt lighting or current-gen graphical upgrade.
The sting comes with the price. The PC original has sat on Steam for years at a $9.99 list price, drops below five dollars regularly, and has a recorded historic low of $2.49. On console it costs €29.99, putting the full trilogy at €89.97. Catalogue-mining is clearly a growth business right now, and Bethesda has remastered Fallout 3 and New Vegas waiting on the runway.
Piranha Bytes closed in 2024. The remake was developed in Barcelona
There is an important absence behind this re-release. Gothic was made by Piranha Bytes, the German studio that spent twenty-seven years building RPGs with far more personality than budget — Gothic, Risen, ELEX — before Embracer closed it for good in July 2024. The company that created the game returning to stores today no longer exists.
The remake instead comes from Alkimia Interactive, a studio THQ Nordic founded in Barcelona to build the project. It is one of the rare cases of a cult European classic being rebuilt in Spain, and the reception was lukewarm: 67 on Metacritic for the PS5 version and 57% positive reviews on OpenCritic. Atmosphere and exploration drew praise, while combat, controls and bugs took most of the criticism. GameStar even cut seven points from its score pending patches.
Sales told a better story: half a million copies in the first week, according to THQ Nordic. For the return of a cult German RPG, that is a strong commercial opening.
Pre-orders for the remake included Gothic Classic at no extra cost
One detail changes how that price looks. When THQ Nordic announced the classic trilogy dates in April, it added an incentive: pre-order Gothic 1 Remake on console and Gothic Classic was yours at no extra cost, available immediately.
That made the classic a useful bonus for anyone already planning to buy the remake. As a standalone release, however, €29.99 remains difficult to defend next to the regular PC price.
Gothic II lands on 29 September and Gothic III on 24 November
The schedule is set, and the final bill is not cheap. Gothic II Complete Classic — which bundles the Night of the Raven expansion, the one that actually won the community over — arrives 29 September 2026. Gothic III Classic follows on 24 November, neatly ahead of the Christmas run. All three land on PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S at €29.99 apiece, and Gothic III Classic is also confirmed for Switch 2.
If you have never played Gothic and own a PC, I would wait for the next Steam sale and pick it up for around five euros. If console is your only option the price is steep but it is the only road in, and the original holds up better than twenty-five years suggests — the colony, the three warring camps and those NPCs who go to bed at nightfall have aged far better than the combat. What I would not do is buy the trilogy up front. Gothic III launched in a terrible state in 2006, and we still need to see how this console adaptation turns out.
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