

Gothic Reworked
Type of modification - Enhancement
Intro
After the Great Revolt, the King lost control of the penal colony. From then on, he had to negotiate with the convicts, so all the goods produced on the continent went to the colony in exchange for magic ore. This state of affairs was not to anyone's liking except the prisoners, who did not care about the war as they were isolated from the rest of the world. One day, the king had had enough of the ever-increasing expectations of the magnates of the Old Camp, who demanded more and more, offering less and less of the precious ore in change. Rhobar decided to send a detachment of guards into the valley. These, under cover of darkness, were to descend into the colony and set up camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere to prepare for one task - the recapture of the castle from the hands of Gomez. However, the mission was getting protracted, and the King needed to know what was happening to the troop and whether the task would be completed. Therefore, another person arrives behind the barrier, a royal messenger, to find out what has happened to the troop and report back to the King. Equipped with the only copy of the teleportation scroll beyond the barrier, he has entered the colony. What will be his fate, will he succeed in his mission? That remains to be seen.
The basic principles of the mod
To begin with, I would like to emphasize that throughout the creation of this mod, my goal was to preserve the spirit of the original as much as possible. I wanted players who want to revisit Gothic 1 to feel right at home.
The mod aims to mechanically enhance Gothic 1. You’ll find not only numerous tweaks and quality of life improvements (QoL), but also entirely new mechanics that will spice up, refresh, and enhance the gameplay experience (although with the "pleasantness," it might be relative, as difficulty has been significantly adjusted – it certainly won’t be easy xD).
The mod also fills in the gaps and voids left behind by Piranha Bytes. You’ll be able to visit places like the Abandoned Mine, the Underdark of the Orcs, or the areas beyond the Old Mine (the old gorge). Exploration will now generously reward daring adventurers but will also be deadlier than before. However, that doesn’t mean it will be impossible, as a minimum damage mechanic has been added to the game.
The mod also fixes gaps in the story and lore. All the new quests that appear in the game are almost always focused on the current situation in the given chapter, so you won’t find quests that don’t fit into the game’s narrative.
The main story has also undergone slight adjustments, such as moving the mine collapse to Chapter 3 or the orc raid on human territories in Chapter 5. All story changes were inspired by the original developers' documents and reflect what they planned but didn’t manage to implement. Of course, I had to add some of my own creativity into it as well ;).
It’s hard to describe everything in detail, so many things will be discovered only while playing the mod, but...
What will the modification offer?
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Story changes aligned with the original intentions of the game's creators.
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Side quests (for all characters and guild-related), fitting into the situation of the respective chapter. There won't be long dialogues, hundreds of quests, or new camps, but you will receive motivating rewards for completing the tasks.
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Easter eggs. You will also find references to other projects or modifications. 😉
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Arena combat option in the New Camp with any weapon. Become a champion and earn rewards.
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Expansion of what the original did well, and reworking or replacing what didn’t work.
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Bug fixes from the original.
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Improvements and new QoL mechanics, so numerous that it’s impossible to list them all ;p
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Improved animations, models, and textures.
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Reworked Mountain Fortress and Xardas's Tower – no more ladders!
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Expanded teleportation system from the first chapter through a single rune connected to a task (optional; players can still use the classic teleportation system from the original).
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World exploration rewarding players – not only treasures but also new dangers.
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Built-in will-o'-the-wisp, which can be taught to search for items, gather resources, accelerate, or display the number of plants and signs in the game world. Works similarly to the Will-o'-the-wisp from New Balance.
Additional features of the modification:
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Axes: Always had a shorter range compared to swords, so in addition to higher damage, they will have a greater chance of causing bleeding (new mechanic).
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Crafting: Blacksmithing, archery, and alchemy (in 3 levels) are based on blueprints and recipes.
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Archers and Crossbowmen: Will have access to more types of ammunition for crafting and use.
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Locks: The hero must learn how to pick locks or use magic to access the contents of locked chests.
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Stealing: Similar to the original system but improved and fundamentally reworked. The need to stand behind an NPC to start stealing is preserved.
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Rune Creation: A one-level skill based on different conditions than in Gothic 2. Runes can also be purchased, with both options having their advantages and disadvantages.
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Other Skills: Mana or health regeneration provides a percentage-based recovery from the maximum value of mana or health. An anti-cheat system has been implemented to prevent accelerated time and rapid regeneration.
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New Attribute - Intelligence: Increases spell damage in a 1:1 ratio and also boosts the strength of summoned creatures.
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New Attribute - Stamina: Allows sprinting from the start of the game and influences damage dealt (for example, for a melee build: 70% strength, 30% stamina). Stamina is not depleted when drawing a weapon, but rather when performing actions, similar to Gothic 3. Heavy armor consumes more stamina, limiting its use for mages and agile archers. Although stamina is a less significant attribute and can be easily increased, there are supporting items like potions available. This attribute may be controversial, so it was designed with consideration for different players.
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Agility: Every 5 points increase the chance for a critical hit by 1%.
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Damage: Melee damage depends on strength, ranged damage depends on agility. New mechanics have been added to improve the gameplay for weapon fighters using weapons like spears and sabers (agility), such as armor penetration or increased critical hit chances.
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Attribute Training: Has level limits, so players cannot reach maximum stats in the first chapter. Trainers require payment in ore to increase attributes. Bonuses from consumable items do not count toward these limits and are visible in the statistics window.
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Item Quantity: A limited number of items to find, buy, or craft that provide stat bonuses. The difficulty is set so that the average player can complete the game without relying on these items. For players who enjoy min-maxing, these provide a small additional challenge.
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Game Difficulty: The basic difficulty level is one, but the game includes an optional "Suffering" mode, intended for players seeking the maximum challenge. However, this mode is not recommended for the first playthrough.
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Prayers: The option to pray to Innos and Beliar at shrines inspired by Gothic 2 NK and the New Balance modification.
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Magic in the First Chapter: The player can become a mage in the first chapter. There is no division of magical classes yet, so the player must first become a Shadow. To gain access to magic, a storyline inspired by original Piranha Bytes documents has been created. Instead of killing mining worms in the second chapter, the player must prove something extraordinary. The subsequent progression is similar to the original, including roles like Water Mage and Necromancer.
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Expanded Spellbook: The mage has access to a much broader selection of spells than in the original, including spells like opening locks. Uriziel's rune is now a spell for a single target. Speaking of Uriziel...
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Playing as an Archer: A player who chooses to play as an archer will remain in this role until the end of the game. There will be no need to use the two-handed Uriziel, although the hidden power within its stone will still be needed.
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Templar: Offers the greatest freedom in building character builds, including hybrids with Dreamer magic, which features even more spells.
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Spell Effects: Spells have various side effects, such as fire spells causing burning damage (scaled with intelligence) and ice spells having a chance to freeze the target.
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Improved Controls: The game includes an improved control system with many additional keyboard shortcuts.
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Spellcasting System: Dynamic and without issues in managing mana.
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Combat System: Similar to Gothic 2 NK, including blocking from G2NK. However, animation interruption is more developed based on the model from Gothic 1, adjusted to the style of Dark Souls. If the player takes a hit with damage greater than the value of their armor, the action is interrupted.
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Free Aiming (Gothic Free Aim): Modified and balanced so that the hero truly shoots where they aim. To maintain balance, new mechanics like string pull time and recoil have been added, but everything is designed with smooth gameplay in mind.
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Weapon Holding: At the start of the game, the hero holds one-handed weapons with both hands. However, for short weapons, they hold them as in G2NK.
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Random Loot System: A highly developed system of random items in chests. There are many types of chests and categories of loot. Some chests, in addition to random loot, also contain fixed items that will always appear.
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Loot from NPCs: Random items from NPCs are adjusted according to their social status.
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Hostile NPCs: Enemies that are hostile fall without the need for reloading, for example, vagrants in the colony.
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Books: Books in the game can contain more than two pages, such as the books of runes.
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Automatic Item Collection: Items can be automatically collected while diving.
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Other Features: Many other features that have not all been listed.
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Built-in Will-o'-the-Wisp: It can be taught to search for items, collect them, increase speed, and show the amount of plants and signs across the world. It works similarly to the Ognik in New Balance.
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Expanded Summoned Creature Management System: More options for managing and improving summoned characters.
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New Items: A huge number of new items, including weapons, equipment, and other items.
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Improved Crafting: A highly developed crafting system where a large number of items can be created at once.
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Reworked NPC and Monster AI: NPC and monster AI has been adapted based on G2NK and further improved. It includes not only combat AI but also all perception and routines.
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Changes in Game Balancing: Difficulty level is influenced not only by combat and statistics but also by the economy. The player will no longer be able to steal all of a merchant’s wealth.
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Reworked and Diverse Damage System: The damage system has been expanded but still remains true to the original.
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Expanded Character Development System: An improved system for creating and customizing characters.
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And much more...
The modification works with Union, and the following plugins have been tested:
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QuickLoot: Can be safely installed.
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Union_Adv_Inventory: Can be safely installed, but it disables some features in inventory management, such as hotkeys for managing the inventory and looting chests/bodies. This does not affect QuickLoot.
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zUtilities: Can be safely installed, but it is recommended to disable the colored naming of NPCs/chests and the display of ammo count, as these functions already exist in the modification.
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Bludička: Incompatible with this plugin—there is already an implemented "Will-o'-the-Wisp" in the game, which can be taught various skills, such as searching, collecting, and displaying items.
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Lockpicking/Unlocking Spell: The game includes mechanics that may conflict with this plugin—it's not recommended.
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Fix plugins: These will be integrated into the modification.
When will it be released?
The modification is already in the final production phase, and the overall testing is scheduled for December 27, 2024. The preliminary premiere is planned for the end of January.
Of course, after the premiere, updates and fixes will be released if needed. After that, I have planned vacation time, and once I return, I will continue working on the modification and its further development.
Modification authors
Rezu93