ELEX

First of all, I have to admit I that I probably wouldn't have touched this game if a friend hadn't gifted it to me for Christmas. I was a huge fan of both Gothic 1 and 2 (the less said about Gothic 3 the better). I thought Risen was mostly decent, but after the disappointment that was Risen 2 and the devastating reviews on Risen 3 I concluded that Piranha Bytes had simply lost their touch, and stopped following what they did. Enter Elex. Yes, the difficulty is daunting, especially at the beginning. The world is a dangerous place, and the game drives that point home with all the subtlety of a mallet. I play RPGs for their story, not for the combat, and even on the lowest difficulty setting I was having a hard time. The first thing to learn is how to avoid fights - there are usually ways around enemies, and you can always come back later and give them a good whacking once you get a few levels under your belt. The game's big strength is its setting. I'm not normally into post-apocalyptic stories, but this one is really well done. I went into the game with rather low expectations, and was surprised when I realised at one point that I really wanted to know how the story would continue. The dialog writing, as usual, isn't exactly brilliant (PB really should hire a writer or two), but the narrative design was a lot better than I expected. Exploring is encouraged and rewarded - there are a ton of little snippets of information scattered all over the world, and collecting and reading them helps put together a picture of the world just before and right after the apocalypse hit. Unlike Gothic 1 and 2, Elex lets you wander around with a companion (almost) all the time. There are several companions to choose from, each with their own personality and moral stance. Having a companion along makes some of those fights a bit easier, although you can't expect them to carry you. In short: as others have already said, if you liked Gothic 1 and 2, you should give Elex a chance!

Just to give a little bit of a background, I am a veteran of the RPG genre, having played many, many RPGs from early 1980s to modern day games, including most of the greatest ones. ELEX is by no means a perfect game, but it is one of those RPGs that any serious and sophisticated fan of the genre absolutely must play. Because of how the real world works, and how mainstream gaming websites are controlled by advertising revenue, games often do not get a fair shake when it comes to reviews and publicity, and gamers must rely more on word of mouth from other people. For these reasons, ELEX received reviews ranging from bad to lukewarm from most places, despite the fact that most of the critiques were either shallow (lack of cutting edge graphics from a team on a small budget), wrong (bugginess when the game is actually very stable compared to most open world releases), or biased (ELEX's combat system was picked on for all its issues, when far worse combat systems from more established studios get a pass, e.g. Bethesda games). But if you ever talk to sophisticated RPG fans, most of them had a fairly positive experience with ELEX. This game is simply oustanding in certain areas. It features a massive open world with a highly original setting. At first, the mixture of sci-fi, medieval fantasy, and post-apocalypse seems very cheesy, but as you play it, it all starts coming together in elegant ways, and provides an intriguing contrast to the usual RPG settings. The ELEX world also makes use of verticality, or 3rd dimension, in a way no other RPG I have ever played before did. This is accomplished with a combination of rapid altitude changes in the terrain (mountains, cliffs, towers, sheer drops, etc) and the player's jetpack. The combination of the huge open world, the interesting setting and lore, and this verticality creates for some first rate exploration. Another area where the game shines is the quality and quantity of quests. It has something in the neighborhood of 500 quests, which dwarfs most other RPGs. But these aren't just some simple fetch quests which so often plague the genre. Most are deep, involved missions, that are tied in the world at large, allow the player multiple ways of tackling them, present various choices, and have an effect on the game world. The combat system is probably the worst of the major elements of this RPG, but it's still better than many popular games such as Skyrim, Fallout 3 or Mass Effect. It could have used more time and money, without a doubt, and can be a bit clunky at times, but theres some depth to it, and it's tied in to the character's RPG progression. It's also very challenging, especially early on, so be prepared to die quite a bit. At the end of the day, if you are into cutting edge graphics, world-class voice-acting, or mindless auto-pilot modern day RPGs, ELEX will not be for you. But if you want to see how one of the great companies in the history of RPGs is trying to move the genre forward in meaningful ways (despite being severely limited in money), then you can't go wrong.

Piranha Bytes truly went to the next level with this game. This game borrows all the good aspects from the previous PB's games, while creating a completely new setting (because of this, I initially viewed this game with extreme skepticism) and adding a new semi-morality system (it's complicated actually). As mentioned above, a new feature in this game (compared to previous PB titles) is the "cold" system. Essentially it's a theme of "emotion vs cold logic" (NOTE: it's not "evil vs good", although you can be a dick if that's your intention) , during quests you will be able to choose different outcomes which will affect your aligment and will unlock new choices on later quests based on your aligment. The atmosphere is by far the game's best aspect. Elex's world is a mixture of Fallout, post-apocalyptic natural sceneries (you know, those melancholic wallpapers of forests "swallowing" rusted sattelites) and some high-tech cities. Awesome ambient music also further enhances the experience. Finally, you can actually discover a LOT of the game's lore by exploring as there are many old notes,diaries,recordings and knowledgeable people to interact with. Also let's address the elephant in the room: the combat. First things first: it's not polished but it's not bad either (it's actually an improvement over previous PB's games combat). Just remember 3 facts: - some bugs sexist. - it's not designed with button-smashing in mind, you are supposed to wait for an opening in order to strike (dodge/block till the opportunity arises). - use ONLY combos (light attack + heavy attack + Q etc). and you should be fine (you might even enjoy it as I did). A final point I'd like to raise is that Elex's devs had promised that this game will be one-time buy, with full content. And since they kept their promises, by supporting them you are in a way contributing to combating this recent mess about excessive DLCs or predatory microtransactions that's plaguing the video game industry.

This was a game I will remember. I played it all last winter and it got me through the tough winter months. It is a TRUE open world experience. And it has a LOT of variety. The thing about this game which you should be aware of is that it starts off kind of lame...but begins to chug after about 7 to 12 hours of game time. At first, the combat might feel kind of dopey, but again, in time, it gets really fun. There's a lot of 'timing' to the combat, so unlike other games, you actually have to get good at it as opposed to mindless button mashing. The world is vast and very fun. The weapon selection is super cool. Yes, you CAN become incredibly overpowered if you work to get a hold of the strongest particle beam rifle in the game, but even so, it can take a long time to get it...and once you get it, the game will be at least half to 3/4 done. The game can be pretty tough if you wander into an area where there are a lot of high level enemies...so if you wish to explore the vast world ahead of the story...be prepared to do so only at night, while sneaking... which is what I myself did, and I enjoyed it very much. The variety of factions can be fun, and a few times I actually laughed out loud at some of the quest characters delivery. Which reminds me : You like quests? More quests? And lots more quests after that? The game has an abundance of quests. I had some experiences with this game that I will never forget, and the game allows you over come certain higher level enemies with a creative use of what is available to you, be it explosives, or any number of other things like fire arrows etc. It is just a fun game if you truly love playing TRUE open world type games. Graphics : Somewhat out of date, but not really. It holds up as it is, and it looks pretty good, and in some areas of the world, it looks FANTASTIC. I'm picky about graphics, and this game never had me feeling bad about its 'look'. In all of the 200 hours or so that I played, I did not encounter a single bug, and I think I may have had to restart only once or twice...so, for me, it was a rock solid gaming experience and I truly hope they make another one... I myself paid full price for this game when it was released, and I don't have any regrets. Just remember that the game's first few hours can be somewhat bland....before it gets going and becomes super fun. I enjoyed being able to play one faction against another. I also liked the whore-ish companion with the tattoo's and bad language.

Due to the interesting general concepts and story introduced at the start of the game, and because the game borrows heavily from Gothic series (especially Gothic 3), I started playing this on a hopeful note. The moralizing system for classifying the player based on decisions is good, and the mobility of the character is probaby one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. Unfortunately, the more I played it, the more I despised the game designers for ruining something that could have been great. It's a space magic game filled with tedium.