Piranha Bytes has shut down, Bjorn Pankratz founds new studio

[DesolationStone]

Die Dämmerung der Videospiele

 

[Kem0sabe]

They had so many chances given to them, undeservedly so. Their last good game was in 2003 and it was an expansion. 20 years of mediocre to outright terrible game releases, and people are surprised they might be shut down?

2001	Gothic	Microsoft Windows
2002	Gothic II	Microsoft Windows
2003	Gothic II: Night of the Raven	Microsoft Windows
2006	Gothic 3	Microsoft Windows
2009	Risen	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
2012	Risen 2: Dark Waters	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2014	Risen 3: Titan Lords	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360
2017	ELEX	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2022	ELEX II	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S

 

[Jvegi]

Mogged so hard by modders it's over for germcellz

Is elex that bad?

Cause Archolos is shiiiit. Overwhelmingly overrated.

 

[Konjad]

Is elex that bad?

Cause Archolos is shiiiit. Overwhelmingly overrated.

I see your gaming taste is just as shit as social and political opinions.

 

[TheSecondRanger]

The last time I had hope for PB was when they learnt their lesson from Gothic 3 with Risen. No big open worlds, focus on small regions, quests and atmosphere. Also, the setting was promising and I hoped they did just their Gothic 2 again with building upon their strengths. But Risen 2 was weird and disappointing. Since then, no hope was left and they never reached the height of night of the raven. Elex was okayish, but too big.

 

[Jvegi]

Risen is a very pretty shell, made by people who forgot how to make quest seamlessly integrated in the world.

It's gamey, silly and it's not Gothic.

It's better than Archolos though. I have about 45 minutes in Archolos and like 3 hours in Risen.

 

[thesecret1]

Risen is a very pretty shell, made by people who forgot how to make quest seemlesly integrated in the world.

It's gamey, silly and it's not Gothic.

It's bettet than Archolos though. I have about 45 minutes in Archolos and like 3 hours in Risen.

Which just further proves that you have shit taste.

 

[Jvegi]

It's you guys claiming those subpar attempts at recreating the greatest games ever, are good enough.

Decline enablers.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

I have about 45 minutes in Archolos and like 3 hours in Risen.

"Let me tell you everything about these games I didn't actually play".

 

[Baron Dupek]

Mogged so hard by modders it's over for germcellz

Why can't they just go retro like this?
Japanese have found a way to harness retro-ness....

same reason why you don't get good games from same studios that delivered good games before
good and competent developers being replaced by bunch of incompetent dorks doing whatever barely works and makes no sense in smaller scare and grand scheme of things
Fresh blood is spoiled and brings nothing to the table

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Darth Roxor]

From a business standpoint, not returning to Gothic with the resurged interest after Archolos and a 'remake' of G1 in the works seems pretty stupid. People would D1P that shit en masse no matter how bad it would be.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

From a business standpoint, Gothic was never big, and Archolos ain't gonna change that.

 

[Darth Roxor]

From a business standpoint, Gothic was never big, and Archolos ain't gonna change that.

Mogged so hard by modders it's over for germcellz

Moron.

 

[Konjad]

Todd Howard devastates his competition once again, this time in sci-fi setting.

Starfield's acclaimed success and perfection leads to realization how disappointing ELEXes were to the point PB bankrupts and closes in shame.

 

[luj1]

From a business standpoint, not returning to Gothic with the resurged interest after Archolos and a 'remake' of G1 in the works seems pretty stupid. People would D1P that shit en masse no matter how bad it would be.

Dumb and purely patriotic take

ELEX was a failure, no one "dipped" ELEX 2 and no one would "dip" ELEX 3

About Archolos, you have to understand this is a fucking mod, you brainiac. That's like saying TR would cause a resurged interest in Morrowind lmao

Just be thankful for Gothic 1-2 and let this mediocre company die, it's been a long time

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

From a business standpoint, Gothic was never big, and Archolos ain't gonna change that.

Mogged so hard by modders it's over for germcellz

Moron.

Look at the numbers, moron. The Gothic franchise never was, and never will be big.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

They already tried to do it with Risen. A game which many people liked but let's face it was way more janky than Gothic 2.

I understand that people see G2 as the better and more culty game than R1 (so do I), but "way more janky"? I mean, compare the UI and controls between them.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Had a feeling it was pankratz holding them back over the years. Fucker refused to learn, and no company on earth has had as many chances as PB.

Glorified welfare queen of a company.

 

[Kiste]

I never understood why they didn't return to smaller scale games with constant high quality, something of the size of Gothic 1 or between Gothic 1 and 2 would have been perfect. Gothic 3 was already way too large for them, its a shame that they didn't learn their lesson for good back then.

They did? Risen was a much smaller and less ambitious game than Gothic 3.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Nothing they released even came close to being half as good as Gothic 1&2.

Elex should have been the nail that finished PB, a shit show of a game with no redeeming qualities... But no, the fuckers got the chance to make an even worse game, elex 2.

 

[Rhobar121]

Elex 1 was a shitty game. I don't know how I can take seriously a game that is a mixture of all the popular settings that don't fit together at all. So we have medieval warriors with magic fighting post-apocalyptic bandits and futuristic soldiers with plasma weapons.
Seriously?
I'm not saying that you can't combine extremely different settings.
I really like The Lord of the Ice Garden, where the author combined typical fantasy with a science fiction background in an interesting way.
So if you want, you can do it well, but it's definitely not done this way.

By some damn miracle, Elex 2 is even worse than Elex 1 in almost every way.
The game even looks worse in terms of graphics. It's the first time I've seen something like this.

The last good game was Risen 1 and the game was good until the end of the 2nd act. After that, the game quickly became shitty.
How come they had a good combat system in Risen 1 and created something so retarded in other games?

 

[Rhobar121]

I'm going to die laughing when it turns out that this remake will be better than anything the germans have created in the last 20 years (it's not a high level).

 

[harhar!]

From a business standpoint, not returning to Gothic with the resurged interest after Archolos and a 'remake' of G1 in the works seems pretty stupid. People would D1P that shit en masse no matter how bad it would be.

Dumb and purely patriotic take

ELEX was a failure, no one "dipped" ELEX 2 and no one would "dip" ELEX 3

About Archolos, you have to understand this is a fucking mod, you brainiac. That's like saying TR would cause a resurged interest in Morrowind lmao

Just be thankful for Gothic 1-2 and let this mediocre company die, it's been a long time

Interestingly, more people are playing Gothic than ever before on Steam:

https://steamcharts.com/app/39510#All

Compare with ELEX and ELEX II:

https://steamcharts.com/app/411300#All

https://steamcharts.com/app/900040#All

Probably some of the increase is people's disks being destroyed and them repurchasing the games on Steam. I still find it remarkable that a 20+ year old game still has solid and rising interest, while their game from 2 years ago flatlined. It's also remarkable that a mod for a 20+ year old game can generate more interest than a recent release.

 

[Infinitron]

No doubt a whole lot of people have picked up Gothic 2 on sale for pennies over the years. Years later, a mod comes out and gets some positive buzz. Mods are free. Suddenly, big numbers.