ELEX

The fighty with some strange hit boxes is somewhat janky but the storyis good. The falseness of each factions belief systems is interesting and having your deciscions impact on interactions and tasks is good. Also having pointers to where to go for each task is well done. This is a much superior game than Elex 2.

I am not sure where to begin. Yes. All the things mentioned by other posters are true. Combat is clunky. Game is difficult. The game does not hold your hand. In my mind, only the first thing is an actual issue. The combat can make you hesitate whether the game is worth it. If there was an iron mode, I would not last long.. and I was playing normal difficulty. But the game manages to pull it off regardless of countless deaths and minor annoyances. The levelling system mostly works. It is not ideal, but it does force you to forage and explore; the quests are what you would expect from an MMO ( bring me stuff I am too lazy to get myself ), but they tend to have a little twist to them ( as in, sure I will help you, but how about you give me that neat piece of tech that was saving your ass for the past 3 levels as a payment). Choices have strategic consequences. Oddly, if you treat as an MMO, it becomes a lot easier. You kite and your companion takes hostiles down. You consider your build as a whole and you end up ahead of the game. Still, game is hard. Fallout type hard. You start the game with the understanding that anything can one shot you if you are unlucky. So you do not fight. You bide your time. You sneak past and fight only if you are forced into it. And you slowly get better as you explore the world. I am not sure how to explain this game, because it is a lot at once: Skyrim, Fallout, Prey, The last of us.. Story is serviceable, but initially you are too focused on survival to worry about it. If it changes substantially, I will post an update. Oh yeah, odd issues came up when I first started and was welcomed by black screen ( eventually turned out that I had way too many things open -- still at 16GB ram I figured it would not be an issue ). I am only mentioning it in case it helps someone. I guess what I am saying is that it is worth a try. It is good. It is messing up with my sleep pattern good.

I docked this game one star, so let's get the negatives out of the way first. This game can be buggy (map taking a bit too long to open occasionally, weird hitboxes during combat, occasional camera issues), the animations are not the best, and the voice acting is hit or miss. With all that, I still gave this game 5 stars because it is so FUN. In true Piranha Bytes/Gotic style, you start out weak as a kitten. You barely have enough stamina for 3 attacks in a row. You do virtually no damage. You spend the first part of the game running away from random low-level mobs that can easily kill you. Slowly, as you explore the wonderfully realized game world, you get stronger and stronger. You return to those places and monsters that owned you before and wreak your terrible vengeance. There are multiple characters and factions in the game, and the game is HUGE. I've played 20 hours and still haven't even joined a faction. Your choices matter - characters will remember your actions, and will sometimes come seeking revenge for past wrongs. You can't do everything in one playthough. Forget Risen, this is the true successor to Gothic and Gothic 2. If you liked those games, which means you can overlook a little bit of Eurojank, then I can personally guarantee you will love Elex. I haven't enjoyed a game this much in a long, long time. PS - the jetpack rules

At first you may think the "mini map" being only radar... is no big deal. I did.... at first. Well, having totally blank "radar", with a few dots on it, as my mini map, is the biggest pain in the A** and takes away from the enjoyment of the game. Having to pause .. constantly.... so you can press the "M key" to view the map on your "arm band", then more clicks to get you back into the game, detracts from the concentration and fluidity of the play experience. I don't like having my "hand held" and don't play games that insist on doing this. But, give those of us who enjoy the ease of glancing at a mini map, a mini map. Those of us who don't appreciate having to stop the game just to get our bearings. Bearings that are only a GLANCE away with the usual mini map. You want to shove radar down our throats, fine... but for the kind of money you're are asking for a DOWNLOAD.... you should afford the option of using what makes the game enjoyable for the player... Gone are the days when we'd make our own maps. The advent of the mini map was one of the few boons to the "new, improved, modern blah blah blah, games". What idiot decided a dot on a dark screen would be fun. Try playing the game with your finger on the "M" key, pausing and pressing it constantly, just so you have SOME idea where you are. See what happens to the "flow" of your gaming action and concentration. Some folks enjoy the radar. MORE don't. And I resent this company not giving me the option of, not using the useless radar, over the more helpful enjoyment of the mini map. Won't be anymore like this added to my library.

ELEX is an exploration-focused Open-World Action-RPG from the makers of the classic Gothic series. It takes place in a world ravaged by a comet that left a material, the titular ELEX, whose control has divided the remnants of humanity. The game immediately places you in the brutal open world with no guidance, leaving you to piece together the combat system and exploring a huge world whose setting and story, while refreshingly juvenile (it acts as a pretext to cram in as many cool-stuff as possible), are nonetheless very enjoyable and endearing. And exploration is undoubtedly the high point of the game, as the massive (and I mean massive), seamless, hand-crafted world has superb level design and huge amount of love and care put into it. All this made possible by an excellent engine that offers zero loading times, astounding draw distance, and top-notch lighting. As for the panned combat system, it's actually quite fun and deep, but requires practice (and some character stamina) to enjoy. The graphics are great, with excellent art design offering one impressive vista after another. The music is nice ambient that doesn't wear it's welcome after many hours. Sound is solid but weapons need more oomph, and voice actors do a good job. As for cons, there are quite a few, but none that prevent enjoyment in my view. They include: wrong or non-existent explanations of key mechanics, poor balance among factions/skills/items, dubious voice acting direction (characters reading lines that aren't theirs, out-of context delivery), rough edges on out-of-the-way landscapes (floating assets, low-poly terrain), non-aesthetic and non-functional console-inspired interface (needs more quickslots!), rough spots on quests near the end of the game (triggered dialog that is incoherent or doesn't correspond to your choice). In short, the game sadly required extra spit-and-polish. All said, this is a labor of love and a master-class in open-world design with limited resources. Recommended.