"Cralon": Former "Gothic" developers release dungeon crawler

They used to work on “Gothic”, and after Piranha Bytes closed down, they founded their studio: Jennifer and Björn Pankratz have released their first own game under “Pithead Studio”. “Cralon” is a dungeon crawler that is said to place particular emphasis on exploration and story.

“Cralon” was announced last year, and a free demo was released in February. The feedback on the demo was mixed, with technical deficiencies in particular clouding the picture. The final version, released on April 17, is currently only receiving mediocre reviews: 65 percent of the total 61 Steam reviewers recommend the game. The combat system, in particular, is frequently criticized. In general, it is noticeable: Many reviewers have only played for one or two hours, so the significance of the reviews is limited.

The few gaming media outlets that were able to play “Cralon” in advance are not enthusiastic: The German version of IGN awards it 5 out of 10 points, Gamestar awards 66 out of 100 points, and the Swiss gaming magazine Games.ch awards a respectable 68 points. There are not yet enough user reviews on Metacritic for an overall score. Pithead Studio is charging 20 euros for the indie game, which is available for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Playstation 5. The demo is still available.

Jennifer and Björn Pankratz left their former studio Piranha Bytes back in November 2023, before the studio was closed in 2024. In July 2024, the two finally founded their studio called Pithead in Bochum.

“Rootbound” and “Gothic 1 Remake”

“Cralon” is just one of several projects by former Piranha Bytes developers. Several former developers of “Gothic” and “Elex” are working as Brainlag Studios on a physics-based adventure game called “Rootbound”, which was also announced last year. In “Rootbound”, players control a living tree creature that explores a partially open game world together with its backpack, fights enemies, and solves puzzles. The backpack, which serves as an inventory, is alive and sometimes has a will of its own.

Fans of “Gothic” can also look forward to the remake of the first part, which is being developed by the Spanish studio Alkimia Interactive. The title is scheduled for release on June 5, and a demo is already available.

(dahe)