The latest Gothic Remake trailer showed us what magic looks like now. It is the first footage of spellcasting, if we don’t count the April Fools’ Day graphic with Barrel Rain spell, published over a year ago.
The gameplay shown in the trailer is chopped, but it’s over 4 minutes of new content for us, from which we can draw some conclusions about the current state of the game. Especially when watched in slowness. The article is an analysis of the use of magic in Gothic Remake; you will see 8 recordings in slow motion.
Magic in theory
As we know from an interview with Reinhard Pollice on February 19, 2023 for TechRadar, each of the spells will be the domain of one of the deities (Innos, Adanos, Beliar). Last year, Alkimia was already implementing the last spells into the game, and then was supposed to focus on fine-tuning the visual effects and animations when using spells. A channeling system is to appear in some spells, which will allow the spell’s effect to be maintained on the opponent.
Let’s assume that this declaration is still valid. As you might expect, the producer published recordings of those spells that are already tuned. We will also look at whether any of the spells have a channeling system.
Spells
Ice spell
At the beginning of the trailer, we can see an area-of-effect, icy attack in action. Unlike the original’s Ice Wave, the spell spreads out across the ground in a cone. It deals damage to enemies that collide with it. It doesn’t appear to freeze the enemy.
Watching the trailer even at normal speed, you can see a rock flying around the hero. This is the rune that the character uses. Reviewing the footage frame by frame, you can see a symbol present on one side of the rune. It most likely represents icicles in the shape of the ones that we actually summon with this spell:
Transform into Meatbug
We see a locked gate in front of us. And behind it a stone building with arches. This is the Monastery of the Shapeshifters. You can find out by scrolling through the trailer until 2:41. On the left we see a column, which is most likely the column we saw in the original Gothic. It was supposed to be used to get to the other side. And under the column, stone arches. On top of that, in the square, we see monsters resembling snappers that were there in abundance in the original.
And since the Nameless Hero is standing in front of the Monastery, he wants to get into it. In Gothic 1, he did this with a scroll of transformation into a meatbug. Another argument for it being a transformation is the fact that he bends his knees.
Fire spell
The first shot of this spell is seen in the 15th second of the trailer. The hero is then attacking a wolf, which is covered entirely in fire and magma. A total of 4 shots of the use of this spell appear in the trailer. You can see them in the playlist below.
From what does it result that it is in fact one and the same spell? From the symbol on the rune circling the hero. If we look through the frames of each of these 4 shots, we notice that there is a flame symbol on each of the runes. Someone might conclude that, since each spell is supposed to be the domain of one of the deities, all the runes associated with one of the gods would have the same symbol. However, this would make it difficult for the player to distinguish between spells. What’s more, as you’ll see in the next video, another spell that summons ice has a different symbol.
Inside the rune is a fire, or magma. It is interesting to note that in the first image above, the flame is less illuminated than in the following images. This probably means that the spell is less “charged”. In the original Gothic 1, you could take longer to prepare to cast a spell, at the cost of mana.
When using the spell, the opponent is all fire and magma. Presumably this is one of the spells with the channeling system, or it is simply an “arson” effect.
Ice spell 2
The shot is a little longer, as the spell itself also takes a while to trigger. Like the Ice Wave from the original, it creates ice all around the character. However, the icicles of ice here extend from the centre. In Gothic 1, it resembles a spreading freeze.
In this shot, the symbol on the rune is not as clear as in the previous ones. However, it is certainly different from the symbol of the first spell, as that one depicts icicles of ice at a certain angle. When you zoom in on the frame below, you can see that this symbol is more symmetrical.
Air spell
In the next shot there is a novice. It is questionable with which god the spell he is using is associated. The symbol of the rune consists of dashes, which together probably symbolise a human being – one dash in the middle, with two outgoing dashes representing hands – with a shockwave around it.
The rune moving around, as with previous spells, returns to the owner’s hand after use. The character makes a sweeping motion, as if about to hit the ground. However, the shockwave itself is still created when the hands are above the ground.
Summary
The rune flying around the character makes it easier to feel like you’re in spellcasting mode. The latest trailer showed off the difficult or impossible visual effects on the current Gothic’s engine. However, the structures of these effects are similar. Spells can collide with objects, and thus create further effects.
Gothic Remake will be playable at Gamescom. At that time, we should be able to see what casting spells with scrolls looks like, and how spell selection works.
