For the record, Divine Divinity was also a 2002 game. Gothic premiered in Germany on March 15, 2001.
At that time it was one of a kind. It was the first real seamless open world RPG where you could see stuff in the far distance and actually go there without a loading screen in between.
It was an incredibly awesome experience at a time when most RPGs were claustrophobic Infinity engine top-down point&click borefests on tiny maps (oh yes, can ya smell the flamebait, hm?
).
Do we know anything about PB's next
game?
Very little as always.
- Björn Pankratz (Risen 3 project director) said a few months ago in an interview that they already do have concrete plans for the next project. In the same interview he said that they have no current plans for a Gothic sequel. He also said that Risen 3 is the conclusion of the Risen series.
So we know from Björn that they are already working on a next game and that it is not a Gothic game and no Risen either.
- Then Harald Iken (design/story/dialogue guy) said in a Gamestar video that Risen 3 may not be the end of the road for Risen but that anything is possible and all options are on the table.
So, contrary to what Pankratz said, it could be that they are working on another Risen.
- And finally out of the blue this week came Michael "Mike" Hoge, the only remaining founding member of Piranha Bytes, who had simply disappeared from PB after Risen 2. He made a
post at the WoR forums which unfortunately does not clarify whether he is still affiliated with PB or not. The post says…
Mattias Filler [ed: ex-PB story guy] made me aware of this thread. It seems that there are more than this one [ed: referring to threads about him] so here is a short statement for everyone who is curious:
1. I was not involved in the making of Risen 3.
2. I did indeed lock myself up for two years in order to work on a new concept, albeit not related to Gothic. A prototype based on this concept is being developed by a small core team since the beginning of this month.
3. Before you ask: I can not give you any more information at this point. First, we deliberately want to take our time with everything and secondly this is not the right place to divulge further details.
Thank you for your understanding that I do not yet want to reveal anything about this new project. Those of you who are interested won't have to wait too much longer though.
So, whether Hoge's new project has anything to do with PB or not remains to be seen.
It doesn't sound like it but I wouldn't totally chalk it off either quite yet.
It is possible that PB had a contract with DS to make a Risen trilogy. There are also lots of indications that Risen 2 was a commercial failure.
It seems possible to me that Michael Hoge officially left PB after Risen 2 to work on concepts to ensure PB's future post-Risen 3.
Whatever it is that Hoge is working on, it sounds like a crowdfunding project to me. Why else would we get any info based on concepts and a prototype soon? A publisher would immediately put Hoge on the NDA leash. So the only possibility is it's either self-funded or he's going to try his luck on Kickstarter.
