Gothic 1 Remake Guide: How To Put Away A Torch

Once you light a torch in the Colony, putting it back in your pocket is an unnecessarily complicated nightmare.

The lighting in this game is incredibly oppressive. You'll absolutely need a torch to navigate the darkest corners of the map. The problem is that once you ignite that piece of wood, the game completely strips away your ability to just stow it back in your inventory. I spent my first few hours desperately pressing every button on my keyboard trying to snuff out a flame. Instead of putting it away quietly, I ended up littering the entire Old Camp with burning sticks.

The Ground Stabbing Mechanic

There's simply no designated button to put a lit torch back into your pocket. It's a harsh slice of realism that Alkimia Interactive decided to enforce from the very beginning.

If you're holding a burning torch and decide to unequip it, your character forcefully stabs it into the ground. The exact same thing happens if you try to draw a sword or switch to another item. Stabbing a flaming stick into the dirt of a pitch black cave right before you pull out one of the best early weapons to fight a pack of goblins looks incredibly cool. It's highly cinematic and sets the mood perfectly. But if you just want to check your map or pick up an herb, it's a massive pain. The torch stays burning in the dirt. You can either pick it right back up into your hand, or leave it behind entirely.

How To Extinguish The Flame

Since you can't put a burning object into your pants without dire consequences, you have to find a way to put the fire out. Once a torch is fully extinguished, you can finally pick it up and stow it normally.

Extinguishing Method	How It Works
Drowning It	Walk directly into deep water and start swimming. This instantly snuffs the flame.
The Puddle Trick	Stab the lit torch into a shallow pool of water or a puddle. It goes out immediately.
Sleeping	Stab the torch into the ground near a bed and take a nap. It'll be completely burnt out by the time you wake up.
Waiting It Out	Just stick it in the dirt and leave it. It takes a good while, but it'll eventually die on its own.

Managing Your Hotbar

Before you accidentally pull out a torch in broad daylight, do yourself a massive favor and reassign it in your inventory. I lost count of how many times I accidentally lit a torch during the opening hours simply because I fat fingered a key while trying to run away from a scavenger.

Stop Hoarding Wood

You need to make peace with the idea that some torches are just going to be left behind. Fortunately, this isn't a survival game where light is a rare commodity. Torches are incredibly plentiful throughout the Colony. You'll find them scattered everywhere, especially near the mines and dark caves where you actually need them.

If you're planning a long trek, like the heavily forested route leading toward the Swamp Camp, use the ground stabbing mechanic to your advantage. Treat your discarded torches like breadcrumbs. I constantly jam torches into the dirt along paths I know I'll travel multiple times. Once you tame a Scavenger Mount and ride back through that exact same area a few days later, all those torches will have burned out. You can just hop off your mount and scoop them all back up into your inventory for the next cave.