First Game From Pithead Studio Is Cralon

After the end of Piranha Bytes and going indie, Jennifer and Björn Pankratz have announced their first game. It is the 3D dungeon crawler Cralon, inspired by dungeon classics and developed with Unreal Engine 5.

Cralon is a 3D dungeon crawler with RPG and adventure elements, inspired by classics such as Arx Fatalis and Ultima Underworld. In the game, Cralon the Brave was hunting a demon when he fell into the abyss of an old mine. A maze of corridors and secrets lies ahead, and players must find a way out to avert the impending doom. But the deeper Cralon ventures into the underworld, the more he senses that something is wrong.

Combining dungeon crawler, RPG and adventure, Cralon features a huge dungeon with seamless levels, environmental variety, story twists and dialogue with multiple choices. "The opportunity to upgrade and improve the character, combat, hidden puzzles and traps and a lot of lore, like documents and pictures with clues and background information, also contribute to the experience," Jenny and Björn Pankratz said.

In July 2024, Jenny and Björn Pankratz founded Pithead Studio in Sankt Augustin, after Piranha Bytes closed down after more than a quarter of a century of RPG development (Gothic, Risen, Elex). Pithead symbolises both the light at the end of the tunnel and a love of the industrial culture of its home region, the Ruhr area.

Björn Pankratz has been Creative Director, Project Manager and Game Designer at Piranha Bytes since 1999. He has been heavily involved in the Gothic trilogy, the Risen trilogy and most recently Elex and Elex 2. He has often represented the studio externally. Earlier this year, when rumours of the closure of the venerable German studio Piranha Bytes began to circulate, several sources reported that Pankratz had stopped working at Piranha Bytes in November 2023. Jennifer Pankratz has been working as a game designer at Piranha Bytes since October 2008, starting with Risen.

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