You probably haven't heard of Elveon. It was based on the book of elves and due to be released in 2008 but due to complications had to be abandoned. Well now a group of the original developers has reacquired the assets and rights.

The history of the Elveon project dates back into 2003 when a small team started working on an idea of a fantasy world and game that would bring to life a new perspective - a story set in the „early days" of a fantasy world - a time when the Elves were not yet the old, declining population, guarding the ancient ways, but still a young, emerging race, struggling to take their place in a world dominated by Gods and divine powers. During 2004 to 2007, the project grew and the team expanded up to a peak size of over 70 developers and - utilizing architexts, painters and sculptors, managed to give the idea a stunning visual facade that - at its time - represented a benchmark in fantasy design and real-time graphical quality. In 2008, after a series of complications and before a serious attempt for a release could be made, the project had to be abandoned and the team has gradually dissolved. A long period of slumber resulted, with the Rights and Assets being held by different entities. The idea however, did not die with the original project...

In 2015, after several years of work and preparation, a few members of the original team have succeeded in obtaining all Rights and Assets and give the idea a new beginning.

There is a lore update on the Parthans. Be sure to check out the rest of the website if you are interested.

Shacknews has an interview with 10Tacle's Slavo Hazucha about their fantasy combat game, Elveon.  There's been some conjecture about the strength of the RPG elements in this game but it seems 10Tacle sees it as action/RPG at any rate:

Shack: What type of game is Elveon, exactly?

Slavo Hazucha: It is not that easy to assign Elveon to a specific genre. At its core, the game is an action RPG, where the action is definitely the main part of Elveon's gameplay. Several RPG and exploration elements support the action.

Hooked Gamers serves up a preview of 10Tacle's action/RPG Elveon:

The various arenas where gamers will find themselves have also been tailored to create as much realism as possible. In old, overgrown ruins, trees and plants have erupted through the stone foundations, creating debris which remains instead of mysteriously having been removed, as was the graphic style not that long ago. In one of the forest scenarios, light filtered convincingly through the trees, creating shades and illuminated pockets on the grass the swayed in the occasional breeze.

CVG has a hands-on preview of 10tacle's action RPG-lite Elveon, although there's not a lot of substance in the article for having seen the game first-hand:

With Elveon, your weapon doesn't hit a vague sphere, it hits their weapon - or better still, their face. So the main difference is that it should become less frustrating the better you get. However, we'll only find out if that's true when we get a chance to get better at it. Fantasy devotees can relax; it's deadly earnest. If any of you have learned enough Klingon to get by on an away-break to the home-planet, you'll be pleased to know the entire game is voiced in Elvish, with subtitles, so you get all the smug pleasure of feeling like you're watching something sophisticated and foreign, without the burning resentment that someone out there is probably enjoying the dialogue more than you are. Ingenious, really.

Quick Journal got a chance to chat with Slavo Hazucha, Managing Director of Studio Slovakia, about the fantasy RPG Elveon from 10Tactle Stuidos. Such interesting points as Elveon's use of the Unreal Engine 3 and its eclectic use of gameplay modes to drive the story along are covered.

QJ: On the aspect of gameplay, there are going to be three other modes or gameplay styles supplementary to the main hero's campaign: a Dragon Room to unlock the hero's skills, a griffon-riding mode that's built on an arcade-style rail shooter, and a "Legend" mode that allows you to play the backstory. How often do these mini-missions occur? Are there going to be other "unlockable" game modes?

Slavo: The game tells a story about the main characters journey, on which he comes on the trail of an ancient elvish legend. To explain the legend and the backgrounds, we use these special modes, where the player, instead of simply hearing or reading what has happened, will actively play the past himself and witness the events first-hand. We intend to bring the player a strong emotional experience, we let him play trough all the important events of our story and backstory. This is the use of the Legend Mode and the Dragon room.

Special gameplay modes, such as the Griffon ride serve the purpose to alter the gameplay pace at suitable moments, providing fast-paced action seen from a new perspective. They will however not occur too often and are just a supporting element of the main gameplay mode. Among others, they will also be unlockable game modes.

Action Trip is sporting a brand spanking new interview with 10Tacle Studio's Slavo Hazucha.

Action Trip: What's your approach in terms of level design? How much freedom of movement will players have in the game (free-roam, linear or something in between)?

Slavo Hazucha: The story covers an ancient elvish legend and will be told in a non-linear way - so that you will have the opportunity to see some levels both in "present" time and in the past - we want to give the world a very mythical dream-like look and feel so that the player will feel like he is really walking in an ancient heroic legend. There will be multiple ways to finish the game and find the answers questions related to the story. Basically, players won't experience everything they unless they play through the game more than once. The setting and story, going hand in hand with the gameplay and the character development system, will also encourage replayability.

The second part of Jonric's interview with 10Tacle on their action/RPG-lite Elveon is now up.  Here's a clip on the real focus:

Jonric: What would you like us to know about the combat system in Elveon, how important it will be, and what balance you're aiming for among fighting and other forms of gameplay like stealth and puzzle-solving?

Slavo Hazucha: Elveon focuses on its action gameplay, and so it is very important to present a very attractive combat system, which is the core of the game. We have hired our own martial arts crew, and they have developed a very unique "elvish" fighting style that represents the honourable and powerful skills of these characters. It's basically a mixture of medieval and modern European and Asian fight techniques.

The action gameplay of Elveon focuses mainly on thrilling and well balanced duels with equal Elvish or divine opponents, but there will be several other gameplay modes such as fights with multiple opponents, ranged combats and stealth (often combined with ranged combat) as well as exploration and puzzle solving sequences.

RPG Vault's Jonric has interviewed Slavo Hazucha from 10tacle on Elveon with the first part now online.  Let's start with a description:

Jonric: For those readers who may not know about Elveon yet, what type of game are you intending it to be, and what is it about?

Slavo Hazucha: Elveon does not fit precisely into a pre-defined genre or sub-genre. We saw the challenge of the new platform on the gameplay and storytelling levels respectively, so Elveon, while generally being an action RPG, will introduce several innovative concepts and alterations to standards existing on the current consoles and PCs.

To tell the whole story of Elveon would be too long for this interview, but let me try to summarize the story in short. The gods have left the world of Naon in a rush; it is the place they had wanted to transform into their paradise. The Neamas, the Elves of the ancient times and fellows of the gods have remained there all alone. A smoldering conflict is gaining more and more importance, and a new era starts, which is marked by envy, malevolence and relentless wars that prevent the gods' descendants from fulfilling their inheritance. You are the hero of this epic, and your mission is to achieve your objective, the fulfilment of the prophecy - namely the liberation of the city of Nimathar - as the mightiest warrior of Naon because this task would require the powers of a god.

As is their usual style, Games Radar has a very short preview of Elveon:

The secret seems to be in the Unreal 3 engine. Because - while the code-shunting behemoth has been seen in a hundred futuristic shooters - it hasn't been given free-reign in a third-person fantasy world before. And with it handling the zeros and ones, the 10tacle development team and its artist and architect associates have been given the freedom to create a realm so lush as to make your monitor drop to its knees in sobbing appreciation. Go on, click on the Movies tab above to see it for yourself.

CVG has spoken to 10Tacle about their fantasy action game, Elveon:

Will the game be essentially linear, or is it possible to free-roam?

Hazucha: The game will take place in levels, but the story covers a millennia-old ancient Elvish legend and will be told in a non-linear way - so that you will have the opportunity to see some levels both in 'present' time and in the past - we want to give the world a very mythical dream-like look and feel, so that the player will feel like he is really walking in an ancient heroic legend. There will be multiple possible ways, endings and answers in Elveon. And you wont know it all unless you try more than once. The gameplay and the character development system will also encourage replayability. Elveon will be playable in multiple ways and will always bring new viewpoints.

Though it's still coming together, Elveon has the potential to be quite interesting. The more measured, thoughtful combat is pretty enjoyable, though it remains to be seen how much the developers' focus on creating extensive background materials will pay off in the actual game. It'll be quite a while before the world finds out, as Elveon is currently slated to come in next summer. You can bet we'll have more in the interim, assuming we can decipher all of the Elvish-language PR material.

Nothing is set in stone yet, but there may be some differences between the Xbox 360 and PC versions when they hit retail. After looking at some sales data, the developers are toying with the idea of including more RPG elements in the PC version and keeping the 360 build as a more streamlined action title. There are also plans to make full use of the Xbox Live Marketplace so that gamers can easily download new places and equipment to further customize their characters. Downloading extra armor and weapons might be more important than you first think. That's because both the PC and 360 versions will have an online tournament mode where players can take their character from the game online to fight others one-on-one.

After a false start during E3, 10tacle Studios has re-released the combat training movie for Elveon, showing their upcoming fantasy third-person action game in motion. As before, this movie comes in medium and very high resolutions to demonstrate the variety of combat moves in three and a half minutes of in-engine action.