Risen and Gothic developer Piranha Bytes announces its latest game, ELEX

By Kris Wouk July 3, 2015

ELEX — Image used with permission by copyright holder

With seemingly every developer on the planet developing an open-world RPG these days, it’s easy to be skeptical when a new one is announced. When a studio involved has literally done nothing but make open world games since the ’90s, it’s slightly easier to be optimistic.

Earlier this week, publisher Nordic Games launched a teaser site with the ever-popular countdown timer. Yesterday that timer clicked down and a new game was revealed. Nordic and Piranha Bytes, developer of both the Risen and Gothic series of games, will collaborate for the first time on a new project named ELEX, which is a somewhat forced acronym for “eclectic, lavish, exhilarating, xenial.”

According to the game’s teaser website, ELEX is “set in a post-apocalyptic science fantasy universe that puts players into a huge, seamless game world full of original characters, mutated creatures, deep moral choices, and powerful action.”

“Apart from being enthusiastic about the cooperation with Nordic Games, it is great to know, that we will have ample creative freedom with ELEX, which is a very important factor for us,” Piranha Bytes’ Björn Pankratz said in the press release announcing the game “We can’t wait to show you a completely new game experience with a fresh setting, new assets and plenty of possibilities.”

“To say we are excited to see this new project unfold in the hands of Piranha Bytes is an understatement. ELEX is going to be edgy, dark, uncompromising, complex, and we love it already,” Nordic Games product and development director Reinhard Pollice said. “We will be premiering a vertical slice build at Gamescom 2015, more info will be released in due time.”

Aside from those comments and a single piece of concept art, not much more is known about the game right now. ELEX is in development for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and is aiming for a late-2016 or early-2017 release.

Gamescom 2015 kicks off on August 5, so we don’t have long to wait for a closer look at what the game will be.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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