Gothic 1 Remake: Best Locations to Prep for Old Camp and the Woods
Gothic 1 has always been a little hands-off, and the faithful Gothic 1 Remake keeps that vibe. Once you’re in control of your nameless hero, you can set your own course—just be ready for the tight security of Old Camp and the nasty difficulty waiting beyond it in the woods. This early-start checklist focuses on practical prep: where to grab useful gear, how to secure a free place to sleep, and what to pick up (and sell) for quick currency.
Quick start checklist
- Stick with Diego
- Pick up everything
- Collect key early items
- Set quick heals
- Use tutorials in the Glossary
- Find your way into Old Camp
- Claim your free hut
- Grab some free food
- Find a pan to cook meat
- Essential early side quests: The Vanished Warder, Whistler’s Sword
- Talk to Diego after you level up
- Make quick nuggets: how to sell valuable items, and what to spend nuggets on
Stick With Diego
Diego is the first NPC you’ll meet—right after you get punched in the face—and he’s a walking storehouse of information. If you chat with him early (or later around Old Camp if you ignore him at the beginning), you’ll get introduced to major factions and may unlock side missions that help you push the main story forward.
He’ll also encourage you to walk back with him to Old Camp. Even though he moves slowly, he’ll clear out threats along the way, which makes that return trip much safer. You can be selective about what you share with others in Gothic 1 Remake, but you don’t need to worry about Diego—he genuinely wants to help.
Lost without Diego?
If you didn’t stick with him and you’re stuck trying to reach Old Camp from your starting area, there’s no reason to panic. There’s a dedicated Chapter 1 walkthrough for getting into Old Camp at the start, and if the journey is rough, there’s also guidance on how to handle juvenile scavengers early on.
Pick Up Everything!
During your early travel, grab whatever you can carry—especially because it can directly feed into side quest objectives. You’ll have plenty of inventory space to fill with berries and plants, meat, and loot from chests you find on the road.
When you reach town, you can sell the extras for money, or use certain items (like beer) to help with NPC favors. And if you’re worried about theft: as long as the interaction doesn’t turn hostile (the text isn’t red), you can take it freely.
Save Early, Save Often
Before your first real fights show up, make sure you save. Gothic 1 Remake does autosave, but it doesn’t do it often enough—so build the habit of saving whenever you expect combat is about to start.
You can save from the pause menu, and on keyboard and mouse you can quicksave with F5. Losing progress here means replaying segments while you try to catch up again.
Collect the Pickaxe, Nuggets, and Old Sword
As you move from the opening area toward Old Camp, the first mineshaft you notice should contain a pickaxe right inside, usable as a weapon. Keep going down the hill and you’ll spot nuggets scattered near wagon wreckage you pass by—these aren’t chicken nuggets, but nuggets of ore, which function as the game’s currency.
After you defeat your first patrolling juvenile scavenger—either using the pickaxe you found or with Diego’s help—you can pick up an Old Sword. It’s located underneath a hanging corpse, and it’s stronger than the pickaxe so early on.
Set Quick Heals
Healing in the early game mostly comes from food you find. In your inventory, you can consume it using the “Consume” option, or equip it to your d-pad shortcuts (or the hotbar on PC) via “Equip.”
That matters because it lets you heal mid-fight without opening menus. Since you start with a very limited health pool, every extra healing option you can trigger quickly is a big deal.
Find Tutorials in the Glossary
Diego’s notes act as the game’s tutorial materials. Gothic 1 Remake introduces an optional tutorial system that preserves the original hands-off feel while giving you a Glossary menu where you can look up how things work.
You’ll find the basics for movement and interaction, along with deeper explanations for leveling up, learning skills, and learning magic. To open the Glossary: on PlayStation, press the Touchpad; on Xbox, press the View button; on PC, press G.
Find Your Way Into Old Camp
Even if you don’t plan to ally with the Fire Mages or with Old Camp itself, getting inside the gates is still smart. You’ll be able to accept early quests and find shelter, both of which make the early survival phase far less punishing.
To enter through the north gate (the one closest to where you started), you need to get past the guard. If you spoke to Diego at the beginning, you can tell the guard that Diego expects you inside, which should be enough to pass. If you didn’t, you’ll be asked for 10 nuggets for entry—but if you tell the guard you don’t have the money, he’ll still allow you in.
Home Sweet Home
Once you’re through the entrance, the first move in town should be turning left. Pass Snaf the Cook, then head uphill on the left side, looping around behind the Arena to reach an elevated area packed with huts and diggers.
There you’ll meet Guy. He’ll explain what you can expect from each major camp to help you decide which side you might want to back. He’ll also tell you that a hut has just become vacant—specifically the hut with a big red awning, right next to where you’re speaking to him.
Inside, you get a bed and a chest you can call your own, plus whatever else is in the hut. You can also start the side quest The Forgotten Recipe right away by picking up the paper found inside the chest.
Why the hut matters
A real place to sleep is crucial because nighttime is dangerous both within camp and outside it. Getting a proper rest helps you heal and restores your Mana. On top of that, the chest gives you a safe place to store nuggets, so you can tackle quests or wander around town with less worry about being robbed.
Grab Some Free Food
Your new shack includes ham, which heals you better than berries do. When you step back out of the hut, look for a wooden structure ahead with a ramp along its left side. Climb up and check the table at the top for food that provides a solid healing boost.
As always, if the pickup prompt isn’t marked in red, it’s free to take.
Find a pan to cook some meat
If you’ve collected any meat from molerats or scavengers you killed, use the next cooking pan you find. There are several around Old Camp—for example, outside Guy’s hut, and near the front entrance where Diego spends time.
Cooking fresh meat while you’re carrying it gives you cooked items that heal more when eaten, and generally sell for more as well. It’s worth doing whenever you have the chance.
Essential early side quests
Starting out in Gothic 1 Remake can be rough, so you’ll want to begin leveling up as soon as you can. Side quests are one of the best ways to earn experience, and Old Camp has plenty available. Some missions also reward new equipment, resources, and nuggets.
Here are two of the best early quests to focus on first.
The Vanished Warder Side Quest
Let’s start with extra experience and an improved weapon. To the right of Old Camp’s main entrance, up the upper path, there’s a shadow named Sly—though his last name isn’t Cooper, unfortunately.
He wants help as a greenblood. Sly is searching for Nek, a companion who’s gone missing, and he asks you to go look. He suggests starting by speaking with Fletcher, who points you to Snaf the Cook, who then tells you where to go next—but you can skip the chain and go straight to Nek.
To find Nek, head to the south gate out of Old Camp, located within the ruins of a broken tower. Create a new save once you’re outside the camp. Then, a short distance down the path in front of you, behind a large boulder, look for a cave on the right guarded by three molerats.
Equip your weapon, then lure them away one at a time. These molerats are easier than juvenile scavengers because you can sometimes stun them, but they can still overwhelm you quickly if you don’t pick your openings carefully.
After you defeat the molerats, collect mushrooms nearby and enter the cave. Inside you’ll find Nek’s body—grab everything on it and anything else in the cave too. That includes Nek’s Withered Axe, which hits harder and faster than what you’ve likely found so far.
Return to Sly and report what you found. At that stage he’ll ask for proof of Nek’s death, and you have to hand over the amulet if you want to finish the quest and receive experience. Even though the amulet is useful, the experience is better. Once you deliver it, you’ll earn 250 experience points.
Sly will also support you if you speak with Diego and Thorus about joining the Shadows, which should help you move the main quest forward later.
Whistler’s Sword Side Quest
Near the south camp entrance is an undercover market zone. Close to the market, outside near a hut wall, you’ll find a guard named Whistler, who wants a favor from someone new.
Whistler asks you to purchase a sword from Fisk inside the market, then bring it back to him. Whistler provides the 100 nuggets needed upfront for that purchase.
“Why shouldn’t I keep it?”
You can do whatever you want with the money, but the point here is experience. You could also buy the sword and keep it, but you won’t be able to use it effectively until you grow stronger, which is why the guide pushes for the experience route.
During daytime, find Fisk in the undercover market sitting on a bench outside his hut. He looks like one of the guards and sells other weapons, so it’s worth remembering him for later when you have better gear needs.
Fisk wants 110 nuggets to sell you the sword. If you suggest he should sell it for 100, he’ll realize you’re trying to help Whistler and restrict you from buying the sword at that price. To obtain it, you can either return to Whistler and ask for 10 more nuggets, or pay the remaining 10 yourself using your own nuggets.
You can request the extra nuggets from Whistler after the fact, so you shouldn’t lose money by taking the short-term hit. After you’re reimbursed, hand the sword back to Whistler to complete the mission. The reward is an easy 200 experience points and another guard who will back you with Diego.
Talk to Diego once you level up
If you’ve fought a few enemies since the start, these two quests should push you into leveling up to level 2. You’ll gain 12 extra HP and 10 learning points (LP), which are key for learning skills such as one-handed combat, climbing, acrobatics, hunting, and more.
Now you can spend LP on Strength or Dexterity by talking to Diego and giving him your points. Alternatively, if you want to use LP to learn a specific skill, you’ll also need more nuggets—so the next step is building your finances.
How to make nuggets
Food sells reliably for decent nuggets while you’re in camp, so keeping extra berries or cooked meat for sale is a solid way to grow your budget. If you want a bigger injection of cash early, look for Essence of Spirit.
You can find Essence of Spirit not far from the south gate outside Old Camp. From the south gate, look for a cave set into the rock wall slightly to the right—this is the same general area where you fought molerats earlier for The Vanished Warder side quest.
To the right of that cave, away from the molerats, there’s a small alcove. Inside is a bottle of Essence of Spirit.
It’s valuable for two reasons. Drinking it increases your Mana pool by 2, and because it’s potent it also sells for a lot—roughly 150 nuggets. Whether you use it or sell it is up to you, but selling it is one of the fastest ways to fix early money problems.
How to sell valuable items
The problem is that none of Old Camp’s vendors have more than 60 currency available for a sale. One workaround is to sell the potion while bundling the purchase of other items in the same transaction, so you don’t waste potential value.
Fisk and Torrez are traders with expensive equipment you can use those funds for, and Fisk and Dexter are also among the vendors in town with the highest amounts of currency available when they buy. The recommendation is to purchase some items, then keep the remaining potion value as change to spend with other vendors or to buy skills.
What to spend your nuggets on
With 50+ nuggets, you unlock a lot of early options. You can talk to Scatty at the Arena and request training in the one-handed combat skill—provided you have 10 LP for leveling up as well as 50 nuggets. That training can significantly improve your melee performance.
You can also buy ingredients for quests that need specific items, including The Price of Magic and The Forgotten Recipe. With your initial purchase, you can trade with Fisk for a bow and arrows too, giving you a ranged option that helps a lot in the opening hours.
Once you’ve upgraded your gear and built some goodwill with Old Camp’s guards, it’s a good time to check out other regions. Visit the How to Travel to New Camp and How to Travel to Swamp Camp pages to learn the best routes for reaching those areas.
Up next: Walkthrough
Top guide sections
- 16 Things to Do First in Gothic 1 Remake
- Walkthrough
- Quests
- How to Travel to New Camp
