ELEX

This Game brought back so many good memories. I was a huge Fan of Gothic II. Gothic III and the Risen Games never felt like Gohtic II did. Now 15 years later there is Elex. And it feels like coming home. The graphics are really nice, not detailed but excellent for a game like this. The story is not really new, you have to fight a mighty evil organisation which want to wipe out humanity. You do this by joining one of the three fractions: Berserkers, Clerics or Outlaws. There are lots of Quests and things to explore. Yes, there are still some bugs and fighting is sometimes a bit annoying and not so easy. You often die because there are enemies that are way to strong for you. BUT this is just some good old RPG action. Finally after Witcher 3 there is another RPG I can totally get lost in. Also a whole village tried to kill me because I stole an apple.

I hesitated to buy Elex when it first came out despite the fact that it seemed right up my alley. After picking it up on sale, I regret that hesitation. Elex is everything I wanted it to be. I think it's important to understand what sort of niche Elex fills. It's the same sort of wonky open-world RPG that you see with games like Arcanum or Vampire: Bloodlines: very wide open, free, and wonky in a way you're meant to adapt to and exploit. It doesn't really hold you hand the way other RPGs do, which can be both a bug and a feature. Once you get the feel of it, though, it really rewards you with dynamic, world-changing-quests, a huge variety of choices, deep customization and a rich world filled with lore to explore. I do recommend going through some guides if you want to play it: it's especially difficult to find your feet in the game and some advancement choices are definitely worse than others. I had to discard my first run throw and do it all over again with the lessons I learned. Flaws aside, I think this is an amazing AA game and well worth the price of admission.

The Piranha Bytes game - this time with a named hero ! Yet another game with 3 factions you can join (I guess they'll just repeat Gothic I till the end of time), combat is the worst out of all PB games I played (Gothic 1 - 3, Risen 1), quests are bugged (didnt happen in previous PB games -e.g. you cant finish Abessa Dispute if you talked to 1 npc once !), jet - pack is pretty much just for exploration - in combat its pretty much useless as even monsters have ranged attacks. However, despite it's obvious flaws I enjoy my time with it. Basically just another PB game.

If you are someone who has enjoyed the Gothic and Risen series you will know what to expect. Elex is a solid Piranha Bytes game that lives up to the expectations set by its predecessors. The world atmosphere and music are outstanding. Exploring the world with a jetpack is a pleasure that will spoil other open-world RPGs for you. Loading times are extremely fast. Your character starts extremely weak and becomes powerful later in a very satisfying way. Your character's choices matter and the different factions and playstyles add a satisfying amount of replayability. Bear in mind the studio that made the game is a small team of around 32 people. Many of the face textures are similar/identical, the graphics look dated by today's standards, and there are occasional typos in the closed captions. Overall a memorable single-player RPG experience with pretty good replayability.

Boring story, boring characters, boring loot, boring world, boring factions, boring progression. I'm a fan of Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Risen 2, and Risen 3. You esentially start in a tutorial corridor (why does Piranha game even have one?) before some NPC forces you into a lecture about factions, his opinions and life mottos. Who listens to this? Then he leads me to Goliet. Classic Gothic move-I lure an enemy to him so he kills it for me. Except... he dies. Yes. The first F*CKING ENEMY (a Reaver) killed him. Turns out, it had a skull icon, meaning it was way higher level. Then? in Goliet DOZENS OF MINUTES OF DIALOGUE. Everyone asks about factions. The city is huge, yet lifeless. NPCs are braindead—steal something, and everyone aggros on you. But lure them to a skull-level troll, and they all die. Free loot! But it's still just junk. Stealing? Pointless. NPCs don’t care if you rob them, but everything is junk. I stole a sword from Goliet’s second-highest official-only five more damage than my current garbage weapon. The Skill System – Wasting Time Spent four levels to get better shop prices. Turns out, it’s 5% better. FIVE. If something costs 10 Elexit, it still costs 10 Elexit after this useless perk. And it’s like this for everything. The skill tree is bloated with pointless perks. The Bugs Piranha Bytes games have bugs. It’s part of their charm. But ELEX is something else. If an city NPC is mad at you, ALL OTHER enemies on map ignore you. Combat Combat is dull. Every enemy has two attacks: 1. Stupid charge attack 2. Stupid ranged attack (because you have a jetpack, so everyone has range attack now) Bows? Useless. In Gothic, enemies staggered when hit, in ELEX, they don’t. The world is huge, but empty. Everything is a reskinned Gothic asset with a new name. Healing plants? Different name. Mana plants? Different name. Meatbugs? Different name. And I just don’t care. Looting is pointless. A "skull" enemy camp had a lockpick, wine, spoon, arrows in chests. Soulless.