Gothic 1 Remake – Xardas trailer

Alkimia Interactive released a very stylized Gothic 1 Remake trailer a couple of days ago, featuring the mage Xardas explaining the state of the colony. And it looks very good, with the narration doing a great job of inviting you into the world of Gothic. However, I’m in the middle when it comes to remakes and remasters, as for many of us, we already know the story, with the gameplay feeling like old hat. Four times out of five, it’s the exact same game, just “visually improved”. Yet, even that aspect can come off as questionable at times…

As it is, with this remake, I’m honestly hyped. The demo was great, and while I know the story, I can’t help but feel excited to experience the struggle of the penal colony once again. Much thanks to Alkimia Interactive taking the job seriously, which comes through in their video dev logs. I was hoping Gothic 1 Remake would come out this year, but sadly, it has been set for release in early 2026, So a while until then. In the meantime, check out the cool trailer below:

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The Temple of Elemental Evil (Rediscovered)

I have been playing the semi-forgotten party based D&D RPG Temple of Elemental Evil from 2003 with the mods Temple+ (engine fixes) and Circle of Eight (more engine fixes, + extra game content). The reason I mention the mods so early in the article, is that when I played Temple of Elemental Evil the first time, none of these mods existed. And Temple of Elemental Evil was not a stable game, at all, at release. However, it showed serious potential, which these excellent modders saw and started to work on. These mods are now, as I can see it: essential. Temple+ for the numerous fixes, and Circle of Eight for the additional quests, that makes the first part of the game much more enjoyable.

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Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition – Impressions

I’m not a Neverwinter Nights 2 expert, since I never gave the original release much more than about twenty hours or so for the first main campaign. That’s a minuscule amount of time, considering the collection on GoG, and now this Enhanced Edition comes with several expansions, and a whole sea of player made custom adventures. However, I do know why I never finished it. It had camera issues, party-control felt messy, stuttering, questionable story beats, and overall jank that brought the experience down. It has always been my plan to play again one day though, so why not now when the golden opportunity presents itself? With that, the only question remains: has the Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition remedied any of my concerns?

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The Blood of Dawnwalker – (strange) Gameplay Overview video

Boy, this is a weird one! While the game looks somewhat interesting thanks to the setting (medieval Europe setting with vampires) and it being an RPG – The Blood of Dawnwalker feels extremely derivative of the games The Witcher 2 & 3. I don’t mean tiny bits of general gameplay here. Everything feels and looks like it has been copied directly from those titles. The UI, the map, and icons, the investigation mechanics, the floaty death-of-thousand-cuts combat, Hex magic and then the visuals itself. What the hell is going on here? I have never seen a presentation like this before, where every segment of a game being showcased reminds me exactly of an older title.

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Cyber Knights: Flashpoint – Impressions (semi-review)

Now, after spending about 30 hours in the deadly cyberpunk world of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, I’m ready to write some impressions. I would rather do a full-blooded review, per usual, but the game is not complete, even after being released as 1.0. Call me autistic, but I think this should mean something, especially in this world of gaming when dubious Early Access releases are very common. I’m not calling Cyber Knights: Flashpoint “dubious”, far from it. Yet, it doesn’t change the fact that it was released unfinished, as I will show in screenshots after the jump. Other than that, it’s a good title for anyone who enjoys X-com-like games.

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