As per Polish outlet CD Action, anonymous sources have revealed that Piranha Bytes shut its doors at the end of June. The studio was allegedly looking for external investments in the lead-up to its closure in the hopes of being bought out, but after being unable to secure the necessary investment, it was forced to shut down.

The report claims the developer had intended to work on a new dark fantasy RPG similar to Gothic, and it would have been built on Unreal Engine 5. Piranha Bytes or Embracer Group are yet to make any official statements regarding the studio’s closure, and according to the report, that is unlikely to change.

Founded in 1997 and acquired by THQ Nordic in 2019, Piranha Bytes has released several fan-favourite RPGs over the years, including the likes of Gothic, Risen, and Elex, as well as their respective sequels. A remake of the original Gothic developed by Alkimia Interactive is set to release sometime later this year.

The two games offer upwards of 100 hours of gameplay, and the package contains both games together for easy access. Because the collection features Gothic 2’s Complete Edition, players also get access to the Night of the Raven expansion pack which adds more content to the already meaty duo of RPGs.

Between a unique progression system and emergent world mechanics, Gothic’s brand of gameplay should be up any RPG fan’s alley. An interesting point to note here is that the collection will only be available in retail format, and it will be released for a price point of $39.99. THQ Nordic is also in partnership with Alkimia Entertainment to bring back the Gothic franchise with a full-fledged remake – read more on that through here.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.

This 2023 port of Risen is notably not a remaster. In a time where games from that era are getting full-blown, ground-up remakes (like the recently released Dead Space), THQ Nordic has decided instead to essentially re-release Risen in its original state with only a few slight changes to enhance that original experience. This includes things such as a reworked UI, full gamepad controls, and “fully seamless world streaming support”, which allows you to traverse the vast island of Faranga without ever facing a loading screen.

"The opening hours of the game are a little bit of a slog, mostly due to the game’s combat."

So then, this version of Risen is essentially the same as what players received on PC and Xbox 360 back in 2009. It’s a very old game, and this release is clearly aimed at those who enjoyed it in its time and are looking for that hit of nostalgia with just a few modern conveniences to sweeten the pot. But, for players who have no prior experience with the original Risen or any of its sequels, is this re-release worth picking up?

In Risen, players will take control of an unnamed hero who falls into the “generic male protagonist” category that was so popular in the late 2000s. The fact that the character is also devoid of any kind of personality doesn’t bode well for the game’s 60+ hours of content it advertises, though the game is fully voice-acted, and quite well at that. A self-insert character is nothing new for an RPG, even one from this era, so Risen can be forgiven in this regard. Especially when you consider the places its story goes and how strong the voice-acting performances are.

The opening hours of the game are a little bit of a slog, mostly due to the game’s combat. The addition of magic after a certain point opens up your combat options significantly, which is great! Conjuring undead minions and blasting away enemies with magic beams is awesome, but it takes some time to gain access to these powers. While you grind and level up to reach those skills, you’ll be relying on melee combat, which… doesn’t fare as well.

You have the standard array of sharp, blunt, and ranged weapons you would expect in a fantasy RPG, but using them just doesn’t feel good. The combat animations are jerky, and it takes quite some time to get used to the game’s flow during fights, where positioning is key but finding and getting into the right position is difficult. There are unlockable skills that help the combat feel better, but you’re looking down the barrel of many hours before melee fighting is fun. And again, Risen is an action RPG, so you’ll be spending the bulk of your time in the game fighting. It’s just a shame that combat in the game feels like work the majority of the time.

"The combat animations are jerky, and it takes quite some time to get used to the game’s flow during fights, where positioning is key but finding and getting into the right position is difficult."

But at least there’s plenty of enemy variety. Don’t let the first few hours of the game fool you, there are far worse things to fight besides the ostrich-sized vultures, “stingrats”, and wolves of the opening areas. Later you’ll be faced with all kinds of undead monsters, giant bugs and lizard people. Each of these enemies is visually and mechanically interesting, to the game’s credit.

In terms of visuals though, Risen is a mixed bag. The game’s opening area, a shipwrecked beach that is being battered by rain and lightning, looks quite impressive. Flashes of lightning illuminate the debris of the wreck that is scattered along the beach, all impressively detailed, and that area leads into a linear path that is surrounded by dense foliage and greenery.

It’s a great start despite the linearity (which goes away pretty soon after that), and most of the environments you explore around Faranga are equally high quality. When it comes to character models and facial animations though, oof. You get the RPG standard camera zoom into an NPC’s face when you are engaged in conversation, and most of the time, what you are presented with is a less-than-pleasant, low-quality face model with flapping lips that are mostly out of sync with the dialogue. It’s a fault you can forgive an older game, but it definitely takes you out of the experience when it happens.

Speaking of taking you out of the game, let’s talk about bugs. No, not the giant flying or crawling enemies from the game, but issues that arise when a game is ported to another platform. More than once, Risen completely locked up, and required a restart in order to get going again. It thankfully has a pretty generous autosave system, so a few of those times it wasn’t too big of a deal. However, I did experience quite a bit of progress loss on other occasions, which is frustrating no matter how you slice it.

"Risen was influential and beloved in its time, but that time was long ago, and many other great games have taken its place since. So, unless you’re a die-hard Risen fan, your money is likely better spent elsewhere."

Outside of those occasional freezes, the game performs well, as it should on a system as powerful as a PS5 (we reviewed the PS4 version through backwards compatibility). There weren’t any noticeable hitches in the framerate, even when there was overzealous use of magic and effects filled the screen. This release of the game also has a “performance” option that can be turned on or off, but it’s not really clear what that option does. The game seems to run just as well with it on or off, and there didn’t seem to be any visual changes either way.

Overall, Risen is… fine. It’s a game that was influential and beloved in its time, but that time was long ago, and many other great games have taken its place since. So, unless you’re a die-hard Risen fan, your money is likely better spent elsewhere, though that’s no fault of the game itself. It just belongs to a genre that has been iterated and improved upon so much that going back doesn’t seem worth it, especially for new players.

The PlayStation 4 version of this game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility.

Among other things, Risen now has support for DirectInput controllers, which means that players can now use PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch controllers to play the game. It also now has Steam Achievements, as well as rich presence, which means that the game can now show up on Discord if you’re playing it.

On the technical side of things, the studio hasn’t gone into too many details about all the things it has fixed or added, but the announcement mentions the addition of support for 64-bit hardware, the ability to change the game’s FOV, and other technical tweaks related to audio and physics.

For those that played it back when it came out, Risen has a reputation for being un-compromising in its difficulty, but despite its faults, the game was lauded for its depth, gameplay and writing. Most of the complaints about the game came from technical issues.

The elephant in the room here, and perhaps ELEX 2’s greatest achievement, is the densely-packed open world that feels very much more like the dystopian sci-fi world Magalan that the first game wanted to be. Not because it’s particularly large or detailed, though, but rather, because of what inhabits it. Between members of the game’s five major factions, the eclectic assortment of monsters that range from giant trolls, to raptors, to flying insects, and even crazier things, you won’t be running around for very long before running into something of interest. The problem is, of course, with ELEX 2’s complete disregard for pacing of any sort. One second you might be slaying small monsters way under your level, then the next, getting one-shotted by a giant robot that’s exponentially stronger than you.

"With only a small handful of improvements over its predecessor and a couple new problems of its own, ELEX 2 succeeds in little more than being another ELEX game for those who dug the first one."

On top of that, some NPCs can turn on a dime and become enemies. Some behave differently depending on what you’ve done leading up to meeting them, and some quests are effectively impossible to complete depending on when you accept them. The first side-quest I came across after starting the game involved me following another NPC to go kill a giant troll, which seemed like a great way to start, but upon getting there and seeing him kill the NPC in one blow, then seeing that I do no discernible damage to him at all, the entire excursion felt like a totally pointless non-sequitur that had zero respect for my time. It would’ve felt like padding if it wasn’t so obviously poor game design. Some quests, on the other hand, involved nothing more than killing a few bugs or even just attending a concert of all things.

You just won’t always know what you’re getting into until you’re in it. And to be fair, an unbalanced world that shows you things you can’t do yet is not an issue in and of itself, in fact, some of the best games ever made do that. But it’s all about execution, and ELEX 2 is a bit too comfortable with not letting you know how over or underqualified you are for any given situation that it can feel like a lot of unnecessary time gets wasted as you try to earnestly carve your own path through the game. Your best bet to mitigate this is to simply spend the first several hours of your game just running around looking for enemies you can kill, avoiding those you can’t, and farming experience from menial side quests that you can hopefully complete while saving constantly and hoarding as many resources as you can along the way.

While there is certainly an audience for that sort of thing, I still don’t really think I can give it a pass with how stilted and clunky the combat itself is. Jax swings melee weapons around with no real flow or natural animations that connect one move with another. Chaining together multiple attacks feels okay when it works, but given the finicky lock-on function, and janky performance of the game generally, you end up fighting the game almost as much as the enemies too often. I’ve always said you can get away with having grindy repetitious combat or janky combat, but you cannot have both. ELEX 2 sadly has both, making its moment-to-moment combat little more than a wash.

"I’ve always said you can get away with having grindy repetitious combat or janky combat, but you cannot have both. ELEX 2 sadly has both, making its moment-to-moment combat little more than a wash."

I say “little more” because things do improve with more advanced weaponry. It’s a long road of getting leveled up to the point where slightly more interesting weapons are even an option, though, and that payoff is only arguably worth the tumultuous grind of getting over that hump anyway. The most tension you’re likely to feel with most of ELEX 2’s combat is when you’re worrying about the chugging frame-rate causing you to miss a dodge that you otherwise would have been able to squeeze in. The tried-and-true RPG mechanics of upgrading weapons and cooking different meals and attributing experience points into Jax’s abilities creates a functional system, but again, you won’t be doing much with it for a long time, and when you do, it kind of feels like climbing all the way to the top of Mount Everest to get to a McDonalds.

The more versatile jetpack of ELEX 2 does make some progress keeping the action from falling too far into inadequacy. Blasting out of a tricky combat situation to higher ground, and discovering nooks and crannies that would otherwise be inaccessible does inspire a sense of discovery that is perhaps the most addictive thing ELEX 2’s core gameplay has going on. Despite not really caring about what or who I might find, I still felt like exploring around the mountains, coves, and ruins of Magalan to be oddly intriguing a lot of the time. Perhaps that comes from the liberal inclusion of so many thematic concepts into ELEX 2’s world. Fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia, and mysticism all feel represented to one degree or another somehow, yet click together in a weird way to make ELEX feel like its own thing.

I can’t sit here and tell you ELEX 2 performs well on the PS5; it doesn’t. Nor can I tell you there is any sort of apparent reason for that; there’s not. The game struggles to keep a coherent image together with sometimes multiple lines of screen tearing at once, let alone a stable frame-rate. Despite the graphics themselves being pretty stale a lot of the time, ELEX 2’s frame rate sunk down to some of the lowest depths I’ve seen from any game on the PS5 yet. Even the overworld map can’t even hang on to a frame above single-digits despite being completely flat and exceedingly simple. Locations with multiple enemies and/or running water were the worst and almost made the game unplayable.

"ELEX 2 is not a game that gives you a very good sense of purpose or even immediate goals at times, nor does it have a very interesting cast of characters or a particularly good story."

That said, looking at some surfaces in the world up close can reveal a nice amount of detail. Clothes, weapons, enemies, and some of the NPC’s can look pretty good, but it’s very inconsistent, with many other textures that look ripped straight out of a PS3 game. Likewise, some smaller animations like mouth movements and other micro expressions came off as well-done, but then some bigger movements – like a lot of the ones in combat – look like they were slapped together the night before they were due. Uneven lighting doesn’t do character designs any favors, and can turn some characters quite dark during conversations with them. So, depending on where you are when you talk to them, you might not be able to even tell what they look like anyway.

ELEX 2 is not a game that gives you a very good sense of purpose or even immediate goals at times, nor does it have a very interesting cast of characters or a particularly good story. Nor does it run very well or reward the player for trudging all of those issues in a way that feels proportional. Yet I can see why the uphill battle of getting much of anywhere and the perpetual mystery of what exactly you’re getting yourself into at any given time can add up to a genuine delight for the right players. There are undeniably some addicting loops to be found beneath the rubble, but not enough to make this a particularly recommendable game in a day and age where so many better iterations of this genre already exist. If this was simply a case of the game catering to a niche crowd and being “more about the journey than the destination” I could roll with that. But with mediocre-at-best combat, vanilla-at-best graphics and some staggeringly bad performance issues eating away at ELEX 2’s already limited appeal, I can’t help but advise those entering this version of Magalan to proceed with caution.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

It’s not that simple though as Jax starts out with the bare minimum in terms of weapons and abilities. There are five key factions, each with their own motives, NPCs and rivalries. Each is capable of teaching something different and while you could join them, it’s possible to be a lone wolf. Occasionally, different companions will join your party and assist in combat.

Check out the trailer below for more details, including the various wildlife threats in Magalan, the different weapons from chainswords to firearms that Jax can wield and much more. ELEX 2 releases on March 1st for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. For more information, check out our interview with the development team here.

Story

Taking place six years after the events of the first game which saw the Hybrid defeated, the world of Magalan has been somewhat peaceful. Of course, it’s not long before a new threat emerges in the form of the Skyands who wield dark ELEX for their own nefarious ends. In order to stand a chance against them, protagonist Jax embarks on a journey to unite the different factions and hopefully find his son Dex along the way.

Setting

Magalan can best be described as a post-apocalyptic science fantasy world where technology and magic collide. Given Piranha Bytes’ work on Gothic, there’s a medieval feel to the environments with ruins from the Old World scattered throughout. Along with forests and canyons, you’ll also explore snowy environments plagued with Icetrolls and other threats. There are also dungeons to venture into, though more details have yet to be offered on the same.

More Quests

Right off the bat, Magalan isn’t dramatically bigger – in fact, it’s roughly the same size as in ELEX 1 according to the developer. While things have doubtless changed over the years, the world as a whole is denser in content. Players will have many more quests to complete and dialogue to listen to. The number of companion quests has also doubled and have an impact on the main story.

Freedom to Explore

Exploring the world freely is a key aspect of ELEX 2. Though it won’t become available immediately, a jetpack is provided to make transportation easier and you can quickly soar through the skies to each destination (or even to places you’re not supposed to be at just yet). However, those who want to explore on foot can still do so and take in the sights and sounds at a slower pace.

Factions

There are five main factions to deal with – the Berserkers, Albs, Clerics, Outlaws and Morkons. Despite their name, the Berserkers are actually magic users and can be found in Tavar which they’ve converted from a desert into an area teeming with greenery. The Albs were heavy ELEX consumers in the first game and have thankfully reduced their dependence on it and operating on pure logic. The Clerics are craftsmen and are good at creating robots. The Outlaws are scavengers who are opposed to the Berserkers and prefer to live life on their own terms, though they’ve been scattered throughout Magalan over the past several years.

Finally, there’s the Morkon, residents of Magalan’s tunnels who have very harsh standards to their limited resources and exhibit fanaticism in accordance with their beliefs. Not every faction likes or gets along with the others but it will be Jax’s job to unite them against the Skyands. He can also join a faction, which leads to interesting consequences like rejoining the Albs as a commander.

Over 300 Unique NPCs

It’s hard to please everyone though because there are so many different kinds of NPCs. In a presentation that WCCFTech attended back in July 2021, Piranha Bytes confirmed over 300 NPCs in the game, each with their own unique personalities. Of the more than 350,000 spoken words in the script, it’s the NPCs that have the majority. Of course, you’ll have different companions that can join your party as well with their own goals and vested interests while also helping in combat.

Choices and Consequences

There are plenty of tough moral decisions throughout Jax’s journey, and the consequences sound fairly intricate. NPCs will examine your actions accordingly and remember what you’ve done. Companions can also leave the group if they don’t like your behavior. It’s also possible to kill NPCs which can affect the story’s outcome.

Speaking to GamingBolt, the developer noted that the world “heavily depends on the player’s choices, even entire battles are happening or not happening because of what the player did.” The consequences of your actions may sometimes happen immediately or over the course of numerous acts, and which faction you choose also plays a part. As Piranha Bytes notes, “It works just as in ELEX – but we even improved and expanded it. It’s more complex and dense, with more consequences and bigger impacts and more surprises in different storylines. Storylines are even longer than they used to be and will have many ‘oh!’ moments.”

Combat

ELEX received its fair share of criticism due to its jank and lack of polish, which extended to the combat. For ELEX 2, Piranha Bytes has sought to overhaul the combat system, revamping enemy AI and redoing all of the animations. Along with regular attacks, you also have charged attacks that help make battles more dynamic. Aerial combat is also a new addition as you’ll tussle with foes in the skies, either with melee or ranged weaponry.

No Class Restrictions

Players won’t choose a class to start out with, instead developing their own play-style overtime. As such, there are no restrictions on the different abilities that can be used but if you want to become stronger in certain aspects, then favoring one faction over another will definitely help. For instance, the Berserkers are recommended for those interested in magic.

Weapons

Creating your own combat style also boils down to the different weapons and abilities on offer. Along with melee weapons like swords, hammers, maces, axes and so on, there are ranged weapons like guns, bows and explosives. You can also employ magic to call down fire or zap opponents with lightning. More advanced tech like lasers and plasma weapons can also be expected but it’s also easy to just pick up a pipe and beat on an enemy.

Enemies and Bosses

ELEX 2 promises over 100 enemy types for players to battle including new adversaries like flying foes. The developer also revealed to WCCFTech that boss fights don’t take place in “scripted events” but are more organic encounters in the open world that fit their respective environments accordingly. “Powerful enemies with special attacks” can be expected so preparation is important but if a particular boss fight isn’t going your way, simply retreat and come back later.

PC Requirements

Compared to its predecessor, ELEX 2 is much heftier in terms of system requirements on PC. The minimum requirements include an Intel Core i5-7400 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100 with 12 GB of RAM and either a GeForce GTX 1060 or a Radeon RX 5600 XT. The recommended requirements include a Core i5-9500F or Ryzen 7 2700, 16 GB of RAM and either a GeForce RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 5700 XT. In both cases, 45 GB of installation space is required.

4K Ultra HD and Optimized for Xbox Series X/S

According to the Xbox Store, ELEX 2 will support 4K Ultra HD resolution on Xbox Series X/S, which means that PS5 players should also benefit from the same. It’s also being optimized for Xbox Series X/S though what this means in terms of texture quality, effects and so on is yet to be revealed. Xbox players also benefit from Smart Delivery, requiring only a single purchase to have it available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

Playtime

The first game was fairly meaty in terms of content – though its main story could be finished in some 30 hours, it could take upwards of 100 hours to complete everything. Piranha Bytes told GamingBolt in a previous interview that ELEX 2 could be finished in 60 hours due to the amount of content present but that ultimately, it depends on the player. So whether you’re looking to finish the main story or explore every single nook and cranny of Magalan, there will be stuff to do.

No Paid Post-Launch Content Planned

Whether you play ELEX 2 for 60 hours or six hundred, it’s best to savor whatever the game has to offer. Piranhabytes isn’t currently looking to add any DLC, specifically any “paid new content” after launch. Speaking to Twinfinite, the developer said, “Actually, we don’t like DLCs. We think, if people buy our game, they should get everything that we’ve planned to put into it. Therefore there is no paid new content planned for ELEX 2 after the launch.”

That being said, it will look closely at how the game is received by players and offer support (which could mean patches and bug fixes). But in terms of DLC, it would “prefer to put our creative energy in another project very soon.”

Enemy variety ranges from normal humans to alien-like foes and towering mutants (and there’s even aerial combat for dealing with skyborn threats). Though spells and swords are handy, you can also opt for ranged weapons like firearms and a bow. Which approach you’ll opt for depends on the different factions that you help, though keep in mind that Jax has to unite them all in order to push back the new invading foe.

ELEX 2 is out on March 1st for Xbox One, PS4, PS5, PC and Xbox Series X/S. You can check out the five different factions here or learn more about the combat here.

In an interview with Twinifinite, developer Piranha Bytes was asked about potential DLC for the game. There they gave a pretty solid answer, saying that they weren’t fans of DLC and prefer for people to feel as if the game they get when they buy the main game is fully content complete. As such, they said there is no paid content planned post-launch. However, they did leave the possibility open, saying they would monitor the its success and how fan’s responded for potential additional support.

“Actually, we don’t like DLCs. We think, if people buy our game, they should get everything that we’ve planned to put into it. Therefore there is no paid new content planned for ELEX 2 after the launch. Of course, we will closely watch how the game is being received by the audience and will support it. We would prefer to put our creative energy in another project very soon.”

ELEX 2 will launch on March 1st 2022 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. We had our own interview with the developers about various elements of the game, which you can read in full through here.

The Berserkers are spellcasters who have turned the Tavar desert into a green paradise and reside in the Outlaws’ former stronghold. The Albs are from the first game and protagonist Jax can become a commander yet again, though the reliance on Elex has been reduced. The Clerics are good at crafting and creating combat robots, though they have no love lost for the Albs.

The Outlaws are scattered throughout Magalan, some joining the Berserkers and others residing in Ateris. Finally, there are the Morkons who reside in the tunnels beneath Magalan but have begun to venture outside and spreading their influence. It’s up to Jax to unite all of these factions for the coming war. ELEX 2 is out on March 1st 2022 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC.