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Feature: Trying to focus
Magalan - a planet that sounds like the name of an early 80s high street shop that would have rented you a telly - has been ravaged by some evil space goop or other, turning a once Earth-like civilisation into warring bands of Character Classes, addicted to Blue Space Goop and all very cross about something. ELEX is very definitely about something. You play Jack…
From the first Gothic games through to Risen, German studio Piranha Bytes have made fantasy RPGs. Today that changes with the launch of Elex [official site], taking the open-world RPG antics to a post-apocalyptic with jetpacks and guns. Oh okay, it is a little bit fantasy still, with technomagic, monsters, swords, and thatched cottages. But in the future.
Elex [official site] will launch on October 17th, publishers THQ Nordic announced today. Elex might sound like the name of of an app startup pitching itself with "It's like Uber for laxatives" but Elex is, in fact, a post-apocalyptic open-world RPG from the creators of Gothic and Risen. German studio Piranha Bytes have sidled away from historical fantasy and gone a bit sci-fi fantasy (sci-fantasy?)…
We haven't heard much about Piranha Bytes self-proclaimed "xenial" open-world RPG Elex [official site]. The creators of Risen and Gothic did treat us to this nine minute gameplay video at Gamescom, though. It's full of charming, awkward strafing animations, feathered velociraptor/bird hybrids, and jet packs. What's not to like?
Feature: Lessons in world design from 2001
One of the many nebulous concepts that spring up when writing about games is "a sense of place". We talk about worlds and locations and settings, but often these boil down to unusual geography or art direction – surface details and imagery rather than a real identity. Gothic, by contrast, wasn't particularly pretty. Its setting wasn't the singular underground world of Arx Fatalis, nor the…
"Eclectic, Lavish, Exhilarating, Xenial", was how Risen and Gothic developers Piranha Bytes described their forthcoming post-apocalyptic open world RPG ELEX [official site] when they announced it last year. I reckon they were being purposefully tongue-in-cheek, but either way we didn't have all too much to go on back then beyond the initial idea. Fast forward the better part of a year, and a website overhaul,…
Bless 'em, you can't say Piranha Bytes aren't ambitious. The German studio behind the Gothic and Risen RPG series do make wonky games, but they have a charm. Go read about Alec's adventures with Risen 3: Titan Lords to get the idea. After tackling fantasy and pirates, their next open-world RPG will go post-apocalyptic. Piranha Bytes have announced they're making ELEX [official site] in collaboration…
Feature: Love/hate
What did I think of Risen 3 - Titan Lords, Piranha Bytes' low fantasy, pirate-themed roleplaying game? I wrote nine diaries about it, primarily focusing on the absurd, and I was variously accused of sneering unreasonably and giving too much attention to something that didn't warrant it. Both were probably correct, but my riposte to either is that I did it because I was enjoying…
Feature: "F---ing bastards!"
Editor's wibble - I'd hoped to have a full Wot I Think of Risen 3: Titan Lords, Piranha Bytes' latest openish world RPG by now, but sadly code has been incompatible with my PC. I have been able to play it in short bursts on a laptop with lousy integrated graphics, but there was only so much low-detail 20FPS play I could stand before needing…
Risen 1 was 50% dark, strange brilliance and 50% a frustrating descent into grindy nothingness. Diarising that first, fascinating, cruel, strange half was one of my favourite experiences on RPS. Conversely, playing Risen 2 was one of the most deflating, despite it being about pirates and featuring a pet monkey. If you've got pirates and monkeys in your game and you still mess it up,…
It Goeth Before Fall – Risen 3: Titan Lords Rising In August
The Risen games have never been anything even marginally resembling perfect, but they've got more heart than Borlikkulax, the heart collector that comes in the night. We (by which I mean Alec) have written countless words about them, so I can't help but anticipate Risen 3: Titan Lords with a trepidacious sort of glee. Will it finally realize the series' lofty open-world role-playing ambitions, or…
Hark! There, off on that obscure isle surrounded by countless biting piranhas, a new Risen has arisen! The Gothic spiritual successor series has previously dazzled with its ambition just as much as it's disappointed with technical troubles, tedious conversations, and bland helpings of fillery gruel. If you want to understand the series' charm, I highly recommend Alec's diaries of the first game, as they're captivating…
Piranha Bytes' spiritual, Pirates of the Caribbeany Gothic sequel Risen 2: Dark Waters made its somewhat deflating presence known last month, but if one man's one thousand words on wot he thought about it aren't enough to cement your buying decision one way or another you can sample a demo now.
Feature: Monkey, eyes, land
Risen 2, Piranha Bytes' sequel to semi-great RPG Risen (spiritual sequel to the Gothic games) arrived a couple of weeks back, and I've been sinking hours of my time into it on and off since then. It puts you in the shiny-buckled boots of a neophyte pirate as he attempts to save the world from evil sea gods. Yeah, it's Pirates of the Caribbean: the…
That is not, of course, to say that Risen 2: Dark Waters snatches away your hard-won victories or pits you against a giant, 20-story-tall physical manifestation of the public's waning interest in pirates. Rather, the patch-eyed, peg-legged sea scoundrels have been known to use any means necessary to win a fight. Kicking below the belt, bringing guns to a swordfight, being Orlando Bloom, etc. But…
I'd love to be a pirate. Not a real one because I don't think I'd enjoy murdering strangers to make ends meet, but I can certainly see myself drinking rum on a tropical island. Essentially I want to go on holiday somewhere warm and tranquil, and despite the mythical sea beasties, slavery and violence, Risen 2 is set in the kind of island paradise where…
Feature: "Colourful trousers"
Putting aside everything else that Risen 2's RPG heritage might suggest, I have to say I appreciate the efforts made with that fantasy pirate theme. It's occasionally silly, but certainly harder-edged than your Pirates Of The Caribbean fare. There's something reassuring about this continued focus on jungle islands and salty sea-dogs, particularly after the shipwreck promises of the original Risen. The world the Pirhana Bytes…
Feature: From The RPS Archives
In 2009, the bulk of RPG commentary on PC was all Dragon Age this, Dragon Age that. Me, I ended up sinking more time into something rougher, readier, odder, 50% glorious and 50% drudgery. Piranha Byte's spiritual Gothic sequel Risen was a hell of a place to visit for a time. Here's my fall and rise and fall again on its peril-packed, amoral island of…
Not everyone inhabiting Risen 2's archipelago will be a pirate, although all players will start that way. But what is a pirate without an authoritarian regime to cock a snook at? The Inquisition, now in a world without magic, are "organised very strictly", which is why they have short haircuts and "walk around in goosestep". Crikey. They're just asking for a carefree buccaneer to rob…
This six-minute "making of" trailer for Risen 2 (below) is definitely worth a look. It shows off some of the environments in detail, but more importantly the developers take their chance to talk about some of the decisions that went into to making the archipelago world. A bunch of factors are at play in making Risen 2 the game it is going to be, not…
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