I could calculate your chance of survival, but you won’t like it

Image credit: THQ Nordic

THQ Nordic's Gothic remake is getting a Photo Mode, some mysterious "alternative progression mechanics", an official mod kit, and something called Marvin Mode, development studio Alkimia Interactive have announced. What's a Marvin Mode? "The Gothic equivalent of a developer mode," Alkimia explain. "Think spawning creatures or items, teleporting around the map, or doing some silly things."

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Further investigation reveals that "marvin mode" was a debug feature for the original Gothic. It's sipposedly a reference to Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, though I haven't played the original game and am basing all this on Reddit gossip. In the original version of Gothic, I hear, you can switch the testmode off by inputting "42". If you are a Young Person who has not read any Douglas Adams and does not understand the significance of "42", it is wholly in keeping with the subject matter that I refuse to explain. You will simply have to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Don't worry, it shouldn't take you seven and a half million years.

The addition of a photo mode might seem perverse, given that Gothic is set in a giant prison quarry full of grubby axe murderers and skunky little dinosaurs. If you think it sounds perverse, you clearly haven't read Sin's review of the remake, either, in which she comments: "Remake wisely retains the all-timer landscape, with all its verticality and hidden bits, and that naturalistic feeling that things exist for an in-world reason. But it now looks fantastic, and lush with detail that accentuates rather than distracting."

Alkimia announced all this in the course of a THQ Nordic publisher showcase. There's no timeline for the aforesaid updates, but they'll apparently arrive after some smaller updates to fix bugs and polish the fittings. During the showcase, Alkimia also dropped hints about their next game, which will be formally announced at next year's showcase. "This adventure is far from over, so stay with us!" they enthuse.

The very boring smart money suggests that they're remaking Gothic 2. Here's hoping that, as Sin wrote of Gothic 1 Remake, the new game will aim "to modernise and improve while still bringing that distinct and contrary design into an era preoccupied with the safe, infinite, frictionless paste of Content." Speaking of friction: how are you all getting on with the lockpicking right now?