Almost exactly one year ago, developer Piranha Bytes announced their next major project, an open world Action RPG called ELEX. As the creators of the Gothic and Risen series, they have some experience with making these types of games, and ELEX looks to be their most ambitious project yet. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic science fantasy universe in the aftermath of a devastating meteor strike.
The meteor happened to leave behind a substance called Elex, which can be found in nearly everything. The world now consists of different factions that seek to use Elex in different ways. Whether as a substance for magical properties, or as an upgrade to a weapon, to say that Elex is valuable would be an understatement.
There are four major factions within the world of ELEX: the Albs, the Clerics, the Berserkers, and the Bandits. The Albs are a cult that relies upon the physical consumption of Elex, while the Clerics directly oppose them and ban its consumption on religious grounds, but use it to build a variety of high-tech weapons. The Berserkers choose to live in harmony with nature by processing Elex into mana and use it to craft magical weapons. The Bandits live about like you'd expect: by a creed that reads, “Take anything you can grab, or someone else will.”
Project Director Björn Pankratz said:
“We’ve been thinking about the setting for ELEX for almost 10 years, and we finally have the chance to implement our ideas. The mix of sci-fi and fantasy offers an incredible number of opportunities and cool contrasts that we can play around with. The fans of Gothic or Risen will recognise our unique game philosophy and ELEX builds on that solid basis. ELEX will be the most dynamic and realistic RPG sim ever!”
ELEX is being developed for PC, Xbox One and PS4 and will release sometime in Q1 2017.
