The ghost of Gothic is everywhere. A direct ancestor of Kingdom Come: Deliverance and The Witcher, Gothic was the ultimate eurojank RPG, an ambitious if flawed reminder of a school of open world design that predates maps full of repeatable activities. Gothic's map didn't have icons on it. It was a believable in-world item you had to acquire by paying for it (or threatening the cartographer, if you were roleplaying as a big meanie).
In remaking Gothic, Alkimia Interactive kept that element of realism a priority. "You don't have a minimap," says game director Reinhard Pollice, "we very strictly kept that. We were thinking about making it optional, but we felt like even that doesn't feel right. If you want to know where you are, just open your map. You will find out."
