In a multi-part docu-series, the brothers behind Crytek tell the story of the early days of the studio and their biggest inspirations

July 25, 2025 | 04:53am

Crytek Releases Documentary On Its Early Days And What's To Come

In a multi-part docu-series, the brothers behind Crytek tell the story of the early days of the studio and their biggest inspirations

Initially based in Coburg, Germany, the studio aimed to push the boundaries of real-time 3D graphics in video games. Their early tech demos, such as X-Isle, caught the attention of Nvidia and led to a publishing deal with Ubisoft for their first major game, Far Cry, released in 2004.

The first part mostly covers the development of Crysis and how they wanted to take what they learned from Far Cry and expand on that, pushing the limits on graphics at the time.

"In Far Cry, the art department created a natural environment as they have imagined it. Like they built the jungle out of their head, so to say. And in Crysis, we mimicked nature as closely as possible. I think that made a massive difference. Even though in some areas, the technology wasn't so different," said Crysis 3D artist, Marcel Schaika.

"The way we built the environment, the way we used the technology, like really specifically trying to mimic, how nature behaves, how leaves look like when the sun shines through them how the ocean looks like, how the water refracts, and so on," Schaika continued. "The artists working together with the engineers to really try to create a virtual environment that looks just like the references that we have gathered. I think that mindset made Crysis stand out so much in comparison as well."

Part one is only 20 minutes long, and it's unclear how many parts of the documentary will be released.

In other Crytek news, the studio underwent layoffs earlier this year, resulting in a new Crysis sequel being put on hold.

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