Deck13 Interactive GmbH (formerly TriggerLab GmbH) is a German video game developer and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. The company was founded in July 2001 by the team behind Artex Software, a studio that primarily developed video games for

RISC OS RISC OS is a computer operating system originally designed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England. First released in 1987, it was designed to run on the ARM chipset, which Acorn had designed concurrently for use in its new line of Archi ...

, such as '' Ankh: The Tales of Mystery''. Originally bearing the name TriggerLab, the company was renamed to Deck13 after the release of its first game, ''Stealth Combat'', in 2002. Deck13 is best known for developing the action role-playing games '' Lords of the Fallen'' and '' The Surge''. Deck13 also operates a

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

-based subsidiary studio, Deck13 Hamburg.

History

Deck13 is the successor to Artex Software, a development team that created the game ''Ankh'' for

. The company was founded as TriggerLab in 2001 by Jan Klose and Florian Stadlbauer. TriggerLab developed ''Stealth Combat'', which was first released in Germany on 25 February 2002; shortly thereafter, on 2 April 2002, the company was renamed as Deck13 Interactive. The name "Deck13" was derived from "DM-Deck16", a game map from ''

Unreal Tournament ''Unreal Tournament'' is a first-person arena shooter video game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Microsoft Windows, and late ...

'' (1999). In 2005, the humorous adventure game ''

Ankh Progressive ankylosis protein homolog (ANK ilosis H omolog) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ANKH'' gene. This gene encodes a multipass transmembrane protein that is expressed in joints and other tissues and controls pyrophosphat ...

'' was released, which was a remake of the 1997 game '' Ankh: The Tales of Mystery'' by Artex Software. As the product sold very well and won several awards (especially in Germany), the sequel '' Ankh: Heart of Osiris'' was produced and released almost exactly one year later, reusing elements of the previous title. In August 2007, the adventure game ''

Jack Keane John M. "Jack" Keane (born February 1, 1943) is a retired American four-star general, a former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is a national security analyst, primarily on F ...

'' was released which was similar to the ''Ankh'' series in terms of graphics and gameplay but which was set in England and colonial India. The third part of the ''Ankh'' series, ''The Battle of the Gods'', was released in Germany on 19 November 2007. One of their latest games, the role-playing game called ''

Venetica ''Venetica'' is a 2009 fantasy-themed action role-playing video game developed by Deck13 and published by DTP Entertainment. It was first released in Europe on 4 September 2009 for Microsoft Windows, with ports for the Xbox 360, and PlayStation ...

'' was released in September 2009 and was the first RPG to be published by the company. Afterwards, Deck13 Interactive was working on ''

Blood Knights ''Blood Knights'' is an action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 (through PlayStation Network), and Xbox 360 (through Xbox Live Arcade). The game was developed by German studio Deck13 Interactive and published by Kalypso Med ...

'', a comic

hack-and-slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

for Microsoft Windows,

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

, which was released in 2013. In 2015, Deck13 released '' Lords of the Fallen'' in co-operation

CI Games CI Games S.A. (formerly City Interactive S.A.) is a Polish video game developer and publisher based in Warsaw. Founded in 2002, originally as a budget-range game company, CI Games is best known for the '' Sniper: Ghost Warrior'' and '' Lords ...

. While a sequel was announced by the publisher, Deck13 was not named as the developer. Instead, the studio was announced to be working with

Focus Home Interactive Focus Entertainment (formerly Focus Home Interactive) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris, France. Founded in 1996, Focus has published and distributed original titles such as ''Sherlock Holmes'', ''TrackMania'', ''Runa ...

on the then-upcoming '' The Surge''. In September 2016,

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Florian Stadlbauer announced that he had left the company and had since replaced by Mathias Reichert. In June 2020, Focus Home Interactive acquired the company for €7.1 million. In February 2021, Deck13 opened a development studio in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Games developed

Cancelled

* ''The Mystery of the Seven Symbols'' * ''Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 2: Die Bruderschaft'' * ''Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 3: Das geheime Dossier'' * ''Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 4: Der Weg in die Finsternis'' * ''Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 5: Die Geister der Vergangenheit'' * ''Jade Rousseau: Die Geheimen Evangelien – Episode 6: Der Zorn Gottes''

Games published

References

External links