ELEX

If you played Gothic or Risen series you know what to expect. There is a bit of clank where it comes to combat system, some dialogues are weird (i played polish translation with dubbing - maybe this is the case), there is a difficulty spike at the beginning... BUTT! If you give this game bit of attention and play more than 3-5 hours, you can discover 'your new favorite RPG'. Exploration is rewarding (jetpack is cool) traversing handcrafted map is joy, worldbuilding is interesting, quests are engageing (even fetch quest has some story to it), story is different than in any american or japanese roleplaying, atmosphere is unique. AA (or B?) RPG with a soul.

This game has many greats: exploration, story, combat. It is very challenging at first, but by the end no enemy is able to stand next to you. There are plenty of cut scene, with lots of lore and interesting commentary, but you need to like the story more than the grind. Excellent graphics. This game say choices matter but the true is most choices matter little. Spoiler: The game has 3 endings, yet all the choices do not matter like the in game plays. Worse yet the choices you made do not carry over into Elix 2.

Why didn't I know about this earlier? Now I'm sad the studio behind this underrated gem doesn't exist anymore. This game has a heart, and I love it despite its little quirks and shortcomings. People say Elex is janky, but it's pretty much the same sort of jankiness that Bethesda kept getting away with for 2 decades.

Just amazing, it says it all. Do recommend for all Gothic & Risen fans, newcommers are also welcome) What I miss a bit is music experience and actors' voices (localization) which should make you drown into the game, which is perfect in G & R , Witcher series either, but i feel like not enough of it in Elex 1. This is purely personal, may not be the case for you. Good luck!

I am not much of a fan of the sci-fi genre, but I admit I found the blend between fantasy and sci-fi pretty interesting. I will start with the positives first. The story and the lore were good, with several unexpected twists along the way. The open world is massive, PB's biggest one yet and it feels very well done, with different variety of enemies in the different environments, similar to Gothic 3. In terms of exploration there is a lot to see and find, helped by the ability to use a jetpack which also gives the option of vertical exploration. Most of the quests are interesting with at least a couple of ways to complete them. You can definitely feel Gothic vibes in some of the quests and also in some of the factions' motivations (An orderly camp, a religious camp and a lawless camp that values profit above all else, sounds familiar?). The combat can be pretty clunky until you get used to it or acquire certain skills. Ranged combat is far superior to melee combat. You can clearly feel the progression in the game, in the beginning you practically can't kill almost anything and near the mid to end-game you become an absolute wrecking ball, killing most enemies with a couple of shots. I did not encounter any game-breaking bugs, but the game definitely lacks polish when it comes to quest triggers, dialogue, AI, etc. Visually the world is beautiful. (I edited the config file to remove fog, without it I think the game looks better and it runs smoother). However the character models look pretty dated and lack variety. I did not like that PB has added respawn to the game, unlike previous games, but that is a personal preference. I also did not like that in the end sequence you don't really have a choice to make, it all depends on your "cold rating", so keep that in mind. Overall the game is certainly no as good as Gothic 1 or 2 or even Risen 1, but it can be fun. I give it 3.5 stars. For a 2017 game, it is a little pricy, on a sale the game is an absolute steal.