If there’s one thing I learned during my first several hours in Gothic Remake, it’s that you’re always broke. You finally save enough Ore Nuggets for a weapon upgrade, then a trainer wants payment. After that, you need better armor. Then a merchant shows up selling something useful. Before long, every nugget you’ve earned has disappeared.
Unlike many RPGs where gold starts piling up after a few quests, Gothic Remake makes you work for every piece of ore. That’s especially true during the early game when you’re still wearing rags and getting pushed around by almost everything outside the camp walls.
The good news is that once you understand where ore actually comes from, making money becomes much easier. Here are the best ways I’ve found to build up a healthy ore supply without endlessly grinding.
Looting
The first habit every new player should develop is looting absolutely everything.
I made the mistake of ignoring random plants, mushrooms, food ingredients, and junk items during my first few hours because they didn’t seem valuable. Later, I realized many of these items sell surprisingly well, especially when you’re gathering dozens of them during exploration.
Every cave, abandoned camp, and wilderness path contains items worth picking up. Since inventory space isn’t much of a concern, there’s very little reason to leave anything behind.
Those small sales add up much faster than you might expect.
Hunting
Once you start venturing beyond the Old Camp, you’ll spend a lot of time fighting Scavengers, Molerats, Wolves, and other creatures.
At first, these enemies only provide basic loot. However, after learning hunting-related skills, every kill becomes more profitable.
Animal trophies, skins, meat, claws, and other harvested materials can all be sold for additional ore. What starts as ordinary combat quickly turns into a steady source of income.
One thing I noticed is that hunting becomes even better as you naturally progress through the story because you’re already fighting these creatures anyway. The extra materials simply turn normal gameplay into a money-making opportunity.
Smithing
If you’re looking for a long-term investment, smithing is easily one of the most reliable ways to earn ore.
Rather than selling raw crafting materials, you can turn them into weapons and then sell the finished products for a much better return. It requires some initial investment in training, but once you get the process going, the profits become much more noticeable.
The best part is that Gothic Remake constantly throws weapon materials and crafting resources at players through exploration and combat. Instead of letting those items collect dust in storage, you can turn them into a valuable source of income.
For players planning a lengthy playthrough, smithing is worth considering early.
Weapons
One thing I didn’t fully appreciate at the beginning was how valuable enemy weapons are.
As you move deeper into the game, you’ll encounter more humanoid opponents carrying swords, axes, clubs, and other equipment. While it might be tempting to ignore some of this loot, selling spare weapons can become one of your biggest sources of ore.
A single dungeon clear might not seem rewarding at first, but after collecting every weapon from defeated enemies and selling them afterward, the profits can be substantial.
Whenever you finish clearing a camp, cave, or quest area, take a moment to check the ground for anything worth carrying back.
Thievery
Let’s be honest. You’re a prisoner living inside a magical prison colony.
Sometimes playing nice isn’t the fastest route to wealth.
Players willing to invest in skills like lockpicking or pickpocketing can uncover valuable items hidden inside chests and pockets throughout the world. Many locked containers contain resources, equipment, and valuables that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Even if you don’t fully commit to a thief-style character, learning basic lockpicking can pay for itself surprisingly quickly.
Some of the best loot in Gothic Remake sits behind locked doors and containers.
Quests
Many players underestimate how profitable quests can be.
Beyond the direct ore rewards, quests often lead you toward valuable loot, new equipment, merchants, and opportunities that generate even more income later.
Some of my biggest early-game ore gains didn’t come from farming enemies at all. They came from completing quest chains that naturally rewarded exploration and combat.
If you’re unsure what to do next, progressing through side quests is rarely a bad choice.
Mining
Mining is probably the first money-making method most players think about.
After all, ore is the currency, so surely mining ore should be the fastest way to get rich.
Not exactly.
Mining works, and it’s completely reliable, but it’s also one of the slower options available. You’ll spend a lot of time swinging a pickaxe for relatively small returns compared to other activities.
That doesn’t mean mining is useless.
In fact, it’s a solid option whenever you need a guaranteed source of ore and don’t feel like fighting enemies. It’s also helpful during the early stages of the game when you’re still building up enough resources to invest in more profitable skills.
Think of mining as steady income rather than a shortcut to wealth.
Training
One of the smartest things you can do with your first earnings is invest them back into your character.
This might sound counterintuitive when you’re trying to save ore, but better skills often lead directly to better profits.
Hunting skills create additional loot opportunities. Smithing unlocks weapon crafting. Lockpicking opens valuable containers. Even combat training can increase earning potential by allowing you to defeat stronger enemies.
In many cases, spending ore now helps you earn significantly more later.
Exploration
The players who seem to stay rich in Gothic Remake are usually the same players who explore everything.
Hidden caves, forgotten ruins, monster dens, abandoned camps, and remote corners of the map often contain valuable loot waiting to be discovered. Some of the most profitable trips I made started with no goal beyond seeing what was over the next hill.
Exploration won’t provide instant riches every time, but over the course of a playthrough it becomes one of the largest contributors to your overall wealth.
Ore is the backbone of progression in Gothic Remake. Almost every important upgrade, skill, and piece of equipment requires it, which is why learning how to earn it efficiently is so important.
While mining offers a reliable safety net, the players who accumulate the most ore are usually the ones exploring the world, learning useful skills, completing quests, and taking advantage of every opportunity the Colony presents.
The early game may leave you feeling constantly short on money, but once you start combining hunting, looting, crafting, and exploration, you’ll find yourself worrying far less about your next handful of ore nuggets.