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Piranha Bytes, Nordic Games Announce Sci-Fi RPG, ELEX

Ben-Dutka 10 Comments

We love ambitious projects.

Developer Piranha Bytes, the studio that brought you games like Risen and Gothic , has announced a new game. It's called ELEX , and it's an open-world role-playing adventure that is described as "Eclectic, Lavish, Exhilarating, Xenial."

The title is being developed in collaboration with Nordic Games, who most notably purchased the Darksiders IP from the fallen THQ. Nordic says it's "by far the most ambitious project" they've tackled to date and director Reinhard Pollice said: "ELEX is going to be edgy, dark, uncompromising, complex, and we love it already."

You can learn more at the game's website , where the setting is called a "brand new post-apocalyptic science-fantasy universe." ELEX is tentatively scheduled to launch in the winter of 2016/2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, and it will make its public debut at Gamescom early next month. Gotta see more of this one.

Related Game(s): ELEX

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THQ Is Gone, But Its Logo Will Live On

Ben-Dutka 5 Comments

THQ is dead. …but you know, it won't appear that way.

After closing down last year, Nordic Games acquired several of THQ's most important IPs during an auction. But as general manager Klemens Kruezer told Polygon , nobody has really heard of Nordic Games:

"It was kind of surprise to some industry veterans and players that we were the winner of the auction of the THQ titles. The challenging fact is nobody has ever heard about Nordic Games before [the THQ auction]. There were so many articles with the headlines ‘Who the fu** is Nordic Games?’ We said, okay they were right.

So, Nordic made a second deal with the now-defunct THQ company and landed the recognizable logo, which will be affixed to any games Nordic produces that arose from THQ's catalog. Kruezer added that "we are a small team" and that expectations concerning a few of those IPs are extremely high. For instance, gamers were asking about a new Darksiders on Nordic's Facebook page. They'll have to wait, though:

"This is where we need some more patience from the fans, because we want to be able to do it right. The owner of Nordic Games has given [interviews] where he has said that he doesn’t want to make a shi*** sequel."

Kruezer finished by saying they'd have some announcements to make at GamesCom in August. As for that THQ logo popping back up, I'm cool with that. Unless you're a core gamer and you follow industry news, you probably have no idea that THQ bit the dust, anyway.

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Darksiders, Red Faction Collections Coming Your Way Soon

Ben-Dutka 5 Comments

If you missed out on either franchise, it will soon be time to play catch-up.

Nordic Games grabbed some great IPs during the THQ auction last year, and the new owner's first move is to create a couple collections.

As revealed by Eurogamer , publisher Nordic Games will bring us collections for both Darksiders and Red Faction during the second quarter of this year (April to June).

The Darksiders compilation will boast the first two titles and the Season Pass, and it'll retail for £34.99 (about $60). It'll launch for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The Red Faction collection features Red Faction , Red Faction 2 , Red Faction: Guerrilla , Red Faction: Armageddon , and the latter's Path to War DLC. This will come to the PS3 and PC for £24.99 (about $40), but it won't arrive for the 360 due to a failure to comply with Microsoft's "guidelines for such a pack."

No, these bundles won't feature any new content, so they're probably only worthwhile if you've never played several of the games included. I just wanna hear about Darksiders III …

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Nordic Games Knows Darksiders Is “Big,” Seeks A Partner

Ben-Dutka 4 Comments

After THQ went down, we just wanted to know one thing: Where will Darksiders end up?

Well, it ended up at Nordic Games, a company that spent $4.9 million to gather up Darksiders , Red Faction , MX vs. ATV and Titan Quest . They intend to "carefully select" which of those franchises will get a sequel or new installment. But as Nordic's Reinhard Pollice told Joystiq , his company is "just the middle man." They don't have internal studios or the resources to generate AAA sequels:

"Darksiders is really big. We know we need a partner for that. An established development team that can pull out such a big action adventure. We obviously talked to former team members and, if they are free, we want to somehow involve them. If they are allowed to because, you know, some of them found other jobs or are with Crytek now."

Yeah, well, don't bring it to Crytek. It'll become a FPS overnight. Anyway, Pollice made it plain that Darksiders is the one franchise they don't want to screw up. That's good to hear but at the same time, it means there will be a significant chunk of time before we see the third entry. Like over two years from now. But hey, we can deal with that provided the end result is awesome! This is one series that definitely shouldn't die.

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Nordic Games: We Won’t Bring You A “Sh**** Darksiders Sequel”

John-Shepard 6 Comments

Publisher Nordic Games has just purchased several former THQ IPs , and one of them is the popular and acclaimed Darksiders franchise.

So now that the super fun series has a new home, when can we expect a new installment? Well, not this year, at any rate. In speaking to Game Informer , Nordic Games CEO Lars Wingefors said the company intends to speak with various partners to discuss the future of the Darksiders IP next week.

"Officially, we haven't talked to any partners. My colleagues in Austria are handling the business development and are handling all those contacts. We'll be sitting down, I think, in the next week to discuss all those options. It takes a very long time to make games. You won't see a new Darksiders this year. I don't believe in bringing out a s***** sequel."

As for the other brands Nordic Games nabbed, Wingefors says he respects that many gamers love the franchises in question. He also reminded everyone that Nordic is not a developer, and we should see them as a "middleman" that will help generate great new sequels:

"I'm impressed with the love and interest that those IPs, especially Darksiders, are bringing it. You can see Nordic Game as a middleman in order to create great new sequels. If we can find the right team with the right terms, I'm sure we can find the right financial solution to make it happen."

Yes, see what you can do about getting some talented developers behind fresh Red Faction and Summoner reboots, please. Darksiders is a definite priority in our eyes, though.

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