Lockpicking in Gothic 1 Remake – How to Pick Every Lock

• TL;DR: Lockpicking in Gothic 1 Remake is a logic slider puzzle — you need to align all pins to the fourth (centre) hole on each plate.
• Some plates are linked — moving one moves another. Map the connections before you start.
• A lockpick breaks after 2 failed slider moves by default. The lock resets when it breaks.
• The minigame runs in real time — guards and NPCs can interrupt and attack you mid-puzzle.
• Learn Sneak from Cavalorn (west of the Old Camp) to approach chests without being detected.
• Train with Fingers in the Old Camp (10 LP, 100 ore) to get 4 attempts per lockpick and no progress reset on break.
• Master level (20 LP, 200 ore) gives 6 attempts and removes a plate connection on each break, making the puzzle simpler.
• Buy lockpicks from Mordrag (13 ore each), Fisk or Dexter (15 ore each) in the Old Camp market.
• Always save before lockpicking.

Lockpicking in Gothic 1 Remake is nothing like most RPG lockpicking systems. It is a proper logic puzzle with linked plates, limited lockpick durability, and real-time interruptions from NPCs who will attack you mid-attempt. There is no tutorial. The game drops you in front of a locked chest and expects you to figure it out. This guide explains exactly how the system works, how to solve any lock step by step, where to buy lockpicks, how to avoid getting caught, and when to invest in the skill.

What Is Lockpicking in Gothic 1 Remake?

When you interact with a locked chest or door, the lockpicking interface opens. You see a row of sliding plates, each with seven holes and a copper pin sitting on one of them. Your goal is to move every pin to the fourth hole — the centre position.

When a pin is correctly centred, it pops upward and turns a different colour, confirming that plate is solved. Once all pins are up, the lock opens.

The number of plates depends on the lock’s difficulty. Simpler locks have fewer plates. Harder locks — typically on chests belonging to important NPCs or containing valuable loot — have more plates and more complex connections between them.

The Key Rule: Linked Plates

This is what makes Gothic 1 Remake’s lockpicking genuinely difficult. Some plates are connected to other plates. When you move a connected plate, it also shifts one or more other plates. This means solving one plate can unsolve another.

Before touching anything, test each plate by nudging it slightly left and right to see which other plates move. This reveals the connections inside the lock. Only once you understand the full picture should you start solving.

Step-by-Step: How to Solve Any Lock

Every lock in Gothic 1 Remake follows the same fixed structure. The puzzle does not randomise — the same lock has the same solution every time you attempt it. Work through this sequence on every chest:

• Step 1 — Save first. Before interacting with the chest, save your game. If a pick snaps, reload and apply what you learned.
• Step 2 — Count the plates. Open the interface and note how many plates there are. More plates means more potential connections.
• Step 3 — Map every connection. Nudge each plate slightly left, then right. Watch which other plates shift. Do not try to solve anything yet — just record the links. This step is the most important one.
• Step 4 — Note starting positions. Every pin starts in a known position. Know where everything sits before you commit to any move.
• Step 5 — Start from the bottom plate. Lower plates tend to affect fewer others. Move the bottom plate toward the centre (position 4) first.
• Step 6 — Work upward one plate at a time. After each move, check if any other plate shifted. Account for that shift in your next move.
• Step 7 — Never force a pin to the edge. If a pin hits the edge and rattles, it cannot move further in that direction. Approach it from the other side instead. Forcing it counts as a failed move and strains the lockpick.
• Step 8 — If a pick breaks, reload and repeat. You now know the connections and the correct sequence. Your second run should be significantly faster and cleaner than the first.

For complex locks with five or six plates, write the connection pattern down before you start. A simple note like “plate 2 moves plate 4” takes ten seconds and can save you multiple lockpicks.

Lockpick Durability and What Happens When It Breaks

Every lockpick has a durability limit. By default, without any training, a lockpick breaks after 2 failed slider moves. A failed move is when a pin hits the edge of its plate and cannot go further.

When a lockpick breaks at the untrained level:

• The lockpick is gone — consumed permanently.
• The lock resets completely back to its starting state.
• You need a fresh lockpick to try again from scratch.

One more important rule: if you exit the lockpicking screen while a pick already has strain on it, it breaks automatically. Do not back out mid-attempt unless you intend to discard that pick.

Warning: Lockpicking Runs in Real Time

This is one of the most dangerous aspects of the system that the game never explains directly.

The lockpicking interface does not pause the game. While you are crouched over a chest working through the puzzle, the world keeps moving around you. Guards patrol. NPCs wander. And if someone spots you or hears you, they will draw their weapon and attack — mid-puzzle, with no warning.

Breaking a lockpick also generates a sharp noise. Sources confirm this noise has a meaningful radius — enough to wake a sleeping NPC nearby or attract a guard who is close to your position. Every failed move that snaps a pick is an audio event that can give you away.

To lockpick safely:

• Check your surroundings before starting. Make sure no NPCs are patrolling nearby and no guards are within earshot.
• Pick your timing. Nighttime is generally safer for most theft operations — many NPCs are asleep and patrols are lighter. If a hut owner is away during the day, use that window.
• Learn the Sneak skill. Sneaking lets the Nameless Hero move silently in a low crouch, staying out of sight of NPCs who rely on hearing as much as vision. With Sneak active, you become far harder to detect while approaching and working a chest.

Where to Learn Sneak

The Sneak skill is taught by two trainers in the Colony:

• Cavalorn — Lives in a lumberjack hut west of the Old Camp, near the river. He is outside the camp walls and accessible without needing camp membership. Costs 10 LP.
• Wedge — Located in the New Camp. Also costs 10 LP.

Sneak is the prerequisite for the Pickpocket skill and is worth picking up early if you plan to do any serious thieving. Even without Pickpocket, the ability to move quietly past guards makes every lockpicking run safer and less reliant on luck.

Where to Find Fingers – Your Lockpicking Trainer

The main lockpicking trainer in the Old Camp is an NPC named Fingers. He is a Shadow and teaches both the Pickpocketing and Lockpicking skills.

To find Fingers:

• Enter the Old Camp through the main north gate.
• Turn left after entering.
• Walk past Snaf’s cauldron and up the slope toward the arena area.
• Fingers is in an elevated hut on the inner wall section near the arena.

Diego can also point you directly to Fingers. Ask Diego “Who can teach me skills?” and he will direct you to him. Note that Fingers will not train you until you complete a task for him — steal Scatty’s Ring from a locked chest nearby. This quest, A Ring for Fingers, also counts toward Fingers’ vote in the Casting Shadows questline, so it is worth doing regardless.

There is also a second trainer in the New Camp named Wedge who can train Lockpicking if you spend time at that camp.

Lockpicking Skill Levels – What Each Tier Does

Training the Lockpicking skill does not make the puzzle easier to understand — it makes failure less punishing. Here are the three levels:

• Untrained (default) — Lockpick breaks after 2 failed moves. Lock resets to starting state on break.
• Trained — Costs 10 LP and 100 ore from Fingers. Lockpick now takes 4 failed moves before breaking. The lock does not reset when a pick breaks — you keep whatever progress you made.
• Master — Costs 20 LP and 200 ore. Lockpick takes 6 failed moves before breaking. When a pick breaks, one connection between plates is permanently removed from that lock, making the puzzle simpler. Each break further simplifies it.

The jump from Untrained to Trained is the most important one. Keeping lock progress on break alone is worth the 100 ore investment if you plan to open more than a few chests. You stop losing your entire run of work every time a pick snaps.

Master level is a luxury for later in the game. The cost is steep early on, but if locked chests are a major part of how you are building your character, it pays off.

Where to Get Lockpicks

Lockpicks are not abundant, but several reliable sources exist.

Buy from vendors in the Old Camp market:

• Mordrag — Sits on a bench outside a shack on the east side of the southern cloth-covered market. Sells lockpicks for 13 ore each. The cheapest vendor option.
• Fisk — Sits outside his house in the marketplace. Sells up to 12 lockpicks at a time for 15 ore each. The most stock of any vendor.
• Dexter — Also in the Old Camp market. Sells lockpicks for 15 ore each.

Find them while exploring:

• Loot chests, barrels, and containers across the Colony — many hold lockpicks.
• Search abandoned campsites and huts. Even small ones often have supplies tucked away.
• Loot enemy corpses after fights — some carry picks.
• An early chest near the locked mine, across the bridge by the opening area of the game, drops picks.

Vendor stock refreshes when you advance to the next main story chapter. Do not spend all your ore on lockpicks in the very early game. Wait until you have a stable ore income before buying in bulk.

The Lockpicking Quest – A Ring for Fingers

The game introduces lockpicking properly through a quest called A Ring for Fingers, part of the Casting Shadows questline. Fingers asks you to steal Scatty’s Ring from a locked chest in a nearby hut.

A few tips for this quest:

• Buy the Trained level from Fingers before attempting the chest — it immediately makes the attempt easier.
• Scatty is usually away from his hut in the mornings, making that the best window to work the lock without being caught.
• You can also speak to an NPC named Jackal near the southern marketplace gate and pay him 10 ore to stand watch while you pick the lock.
• Make sure you are at the correct chest — the one inside the hut beside Fingers, not the chest in the room near the arena.

Completing this quest earns Fingers’ vote in Casting Shadows, so it serves double duty.

Tips for Better Lockpicking in Gothic 1 Remake

• Always save before starting a lock. Never walk up to a chest with one lockpick and no save.
• Map connections before solving. Nudge each plate to see what moves. Do not guess.
• Check your surroundings first. Guards and NPCs will attack you mid-puzzle. The minigame does not pause.
• Use Sneak. Learn it from Cavalorn west of the Old Camp for 10 LP. It makes every theft operation significantly safer.
• Pick your timing. Night shifts and daytime absences are your windows. Know when a hut is empty before you commit.
• Carry more picks than you think you need. A complex chest with one pick almost always ends badly.
• Do not exit mid-attempt. Backing out with a strained pick destroys it.
• The puzzle does not randomise. If you fail, you already know the pattern. Your next attempt should be faster.
• Train with Fingers as soon as you can afford it. 100 ore and 10 LP for no reset on break is one of the best early investments in the game.
• Skip hard locks early. If a chest is taking too long and draining your picks, leave it and come back after training.

More Gothic 1 Remake Early Game Guides

If you are working through the Old Camp for the first time, check out our guide on how to get rid of Mud in Gothic 1 Remake — covering whether to exhaust his dialogue first and how to handle him without locking yourself out of the Mud Freak achievement.

Where to Buy Gothic 1 Remake

Gothic 1 Remake is available digitally on Steam, PlayStation Store, and Xbox. Physical copies are available at Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. For full game info, visit the official Gothic website.