Folks planning to buy a physical copy of the upcoming remake of 2001’s Gothic might want to rethink that if they care about preservation. According to the RPG’s publisher, the remake’s physical version will require a day-one update to play.
On May 22, a tweet from Does It Play, an account that monitors video game physical releases to ensure they are playable without patches or downloads, posted that THQ’s upcoming Gothic remake would require an internet connection. This was reportedly discovered after copies went out early and someone tried to boot up the game without downloading the day-one patch. Doing so apparently leads to an error message demanding an internet connection.
“Cancel your pre-orders! Gothic Remake is unplayable offline,” claimed the account. The tweet picked up steam and forced THQ to respond, clarifying that the new Gothic doesn’t need a constant online connection, but it does need a day-one patch.
For us the most important thing is that people can play on launch date and time. To achieve that we sent out copies earlier.
Gothic 1 Remake will need a download of around 5 GB on launch day and will then be fully playable offline – NO permanent internet connection is needed. https://t.co/58sKC3xvTf
— Gothic Game (@gothicthegame) May 22, 2026
“For us, the most important thing is that people can play on launch date and time,” posted the official Gothic account on Twitter while quote-tweeting the original Does It Play post. “To achieve that, we sent out copies earlier. Gothic 1 Remake will need a download of around 5 GB on launch day and will then be fully playable offline – no permanent internet connection is needed.”
Kotaku contacted THQ about this situation, but didn’t hear back.
So, you don’t need to be online 24/7 to play the Gothic remake. That’s great. But if you buy a physical copy of the game, you’ll need to download a patch before you can play. That isn’t a massive dealbreaker for many, but for folks concerned about video game preservation, this is a crappy situation. It means that copies of the game sold at launch will rely on not just an internet connection, but also access to the patch. In 20 years, that patch may no longer be available on some platforms, meaning these copies of the Gothic remake will be nothing more than coasters.
Gothic Remake launches on June 5 on consoles and PC. Hopefully, future physical copies of Gothic Remake include the necessary updates and fixes so they can work without a one-time internet connection.