THQ Nordic reveal new studio making Gothic Remake
THQ Nordic announced today that they've established a new studio to make Gothic Remake, a fancy modern take on the fantasy RPG from 2001. This is the do-over they first revealed with a 'playable teaser' in 2019, which they released supposedly to gauge whether it was worth continuing. Based in Barcelona, Alkimia Interactive actually started up in summer 2020, but now THQ Nordic are out here shouting about the paperwork being settled.
Today's announcement says, "Development is well underway and the first results from all of the hard work the team has put in will be revealed in the next couple of months." Mate you don't need to wait until June, NotE3 runs all year now, you can show it at 3am on a Thursday if you want, we've no rules anymore. After this is done, the plan is for them to make more RPGs.
The 2019 prototype was very much a 'modern reimagining' rather than an 'HD remake'. Along with whamming in new dialogue and combat systems, it made the protagonist a right chatty Cathy, turned the dreary look quite colourful, and fiddled with quite a few other bits. You can read reviews on Steam to see what fans made of it all.
I think Alkimia might be what became of THQ Nordic Barcelona (who made that teaser), seeing as job listings on Alkimia's website point to thqnordicbarcelona.com e-mail addresses? Connected in some way, at least. But yeah, they're not the people who made Gothic.
Gothic was created by German studio Piranha Bytes, who stuck with the series until Gothic 3. After that, the series was passed between several other studios, while Piranha Bytes went on to make RPGs including Risen and Elex. Back before the Remake was announced, Sin Vega said in 2016 that "even among the spree of legendary RPGs released around its time, Gothic stands out as yet another special game with too few descendants." THQ Nordic ended up buying Piranha Bytes in 2019, adding them to the vast Embracer Group which now includes everyone from Flying Wild Hog to Gearbox Software.