Gothic Remake: Processor Benchmarks and Conclusion
What kind of processor does the Gothic Remake require? We ran numerous benchmarks.
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CPU Benchmarks
We test processors in the Old Camp, as this is where many NPCs gather. We compared several times of day, with performance proving best at night. This suggests that the camp inhabitants' dynamic pathfinding has a significant impact on CPU load. That load turns out to be surprisingly high when we walk towards the campfire in the morning. It reminded us of Doom: The Dark Ages: In the remake of Gothic 1, the game keeps all cores and threads busy. This brings certain advantages and disadvantages for specific processors, which we will get to shortly. The video shows the exact route and details. Important: Since the game cannot apply a fullscreen resolution itself, you need to lower the resolution on the desktop (we test at 720p to minimize GPU impact).
The CPUs highlighted in blue are PCGH test systems with manual optimization. The remaining CPUs run according to the official manufacturer specifications.
Unreal Engine 5 may no longer be new, but in the Gothic Remake it proves to be something special. We have rarely seen such consistently high load spread across all cores and threads. The performance gain from additional cores is not enormous, but it is certainly noticeable. And should you want to experience the game at very high or Overdose details with triple-digit frame rates, you will need every bit of CPU performance you can get.
To see 30 Fps, using the P1 Fps as our basis here, you will want at least an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or an Intel Core i9-9900K. Even then, however, the Gothic Remake does not yet feel truly smooth, which is due to the low P0.2 Fps. More powerful processors struggle with this too, as shown by the Ryzen 9 5950X or Core i5-12400F. Things become smoother from around 50 to 60 Fps, for which you should be looking at a Ryzen 7 5800X3D, or preferably a Ryzen 5 7500F, as well as a Core i7-12700K. The legendary 5800X3D is not particularly impressive here, as 3D V-Cache only really hits its stride from the Zen 5 generation onward. That indicates that other architectural factors are the limiting.
Source: PCGH
You do not see this every day: despite an active chipset driver with PPM driver and CPPC set to cache, the load also spreads to the second CCD. This could therefore be one of the games for which a 9950X3D2 is particularly well suited. A retest will follow as soon as we have the sample back in our hands.
Even on closer inspection, no CPU manages more than 60 P0.2 Fps out of the box. Triple-digit figures only appear after proper tuning. Looking at the average numbers, that is not really a problem. Apart from the unusually weak cache scaling with Zen 3 and Zen 4, there are no particular outliers. The simple formula still applies: more cores plus more clock speed plus more cache equals more Fps. Were we to recommend one CPU each from AMD and Intel that makes the game feel smooth, they would be the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the Core i5-14600K.
Gothic Remake: Verdict
With the Gothic Remake, the developers at Alkimia Interactive have achieved something impressive. The remake manages to take the charm, look and atmosphere of the 25-year-old original, preserve them, and at the same time offer modern technology, controls and general usability. The old design virtues, the fully revamped technology and the modern ease of use mostly complement each other — and when it comes to the visual style, the developers have also done first-class work with the support and feedback of the community. For Gothic veterans, it feels like meeting an old love again, only radiant and full of life, as though not a single day had passed. In fact, the world of Gothic has never felt this alive or this rich in detail. And Alkimia Interactive has captured the atmosphere, the demanding gameplay and the harsh, rough game world so convincingly that plenty of Gothic newcomers should also find plenty to enjoy.
More detail comparisons
Performance is another positive point. The Gothic Remake runs smoothly, with virtually no distracting hitches or traversal stutter. However, the remake is demanding, especially on the graphics card. With weaker GPUs, it can become a challenge to tune the game for smooth frame rates without compromising image quality too much and/or relying on extremely aggressive upsampling factors. The visual splendour, the density of detail and the sometimes enhanced Lumen effects all come at a cost. We cannot say for certain why the developers decided to leave Lumen ray-traced reflections enabled, even on the lowest setting. On the plus side, those with plenty of graphics horsepower can enable the Alkimia preset, which makes the Lumen lighting interact with the game world and volumetric fog in a visibly more complex and believable way.
Bildergalerie
All in all, the Gothic Remake positively surprised us. Many in the PCGH editorial team and at our sister publication PC Games had hoped, and kept their fingers crossed, that Alkimia Interactive would manage the balancing act between beloved classic, contemporary game design and new graphics engine, successfully uniting tradition and modernity. But few would have expected the developers to deliver such a convincing new version with the Gothic Remake. The remake of the first Gothic is a fabulous fresh start for the RPG classic and, at the same time, a respectful tribute to the original. It is a real joy to explore the newly designed yet familiar Valley of Mines, to meet old acquaintances in modern form, and to get drawn back into its richly atmospheric world all over again. Add to that some of the familiar original voice actors, and of course, the superb soundtrack by composer Kai Rosenkranz once again provides brilliant Gothic flair. It would be difficult to imagine a better, more honourable, or more faithful adaption of the original. Bravo, Alkimia Interactive!
