After tackling fantasy with the Gothic series, and the pirate tradition with Risen, the team at Piranha Bytes is taking on fantasy, science fiction, and the post-apocalypse all at once with its new game Elex—and we'll be able to see the results sometime this year. You watched nine minutes of the jetpack-toting RPG last year, and some newer footage out of the PC Gamer Weekender a few weeks ago , but you're probably wondering why laser rifles, swords and sorcery, and the end of the world are intermingling in the first place. If so, you're in luck, as a new trailer has arrived to introduce and explain Elex's wacky premise.

It's all to do with a comet that came hurtling towards the world of Magalan, ruining much of civilization and seeing the rise of three distinct factions: the Medieval-ish Beserkers, the science-minded Clerics, and the Outlaws. But the comet also brought a mysterious substance, Elex, that would give the Berserkers magical powers, the Clerics advanced technology, and turn the Outlaws into drug-addled Elex addicts. The most addicted were transformed into ferocious mutants, while more strong-willed users—the Albs, seemingly the main baddies of the game—were able to harness Elex and become super-human, at the cost of their emotions.

There's still no release date for Elex, other than 'Q3 2017', so hopefully we'll get a firmer launch date soon.