Posted on: June 25, 2018

polarbear2369

Games: 76 Reviews: 7

Just another Gothic clone gone wrong

I really liked the Gothic series and open-world RPGs in general, so I thought I give this game a try. I´ve played it for many hours now and it's time for a review, but mainly in order to warn others not to waste their mony. First impression was: this game is hard. I died as soon as I stepped outside the door, literally. So I thought, ok, this is an open world game, you need to learn yourself where you can go and where you can't. So I learnt that I could not go anywhere at all. Then I thought, I just need to get more levels and some decent equipment and it'll get better. So I somehow made my way through, dying all the time, running for my life from everything, until I joined a faction and got some decent armor and weapons. But still, I died as soon as I stepped out the door. So I finally turned all the difficulties down (the game has even several options for this), and tried with the easiest setting possible. Guess what.. I die as soon as I step out the door. After many hours I have come to the conclusion that it has nothing to do with levels or equipment, but this game is simply awfully balanced. Add a few bugs including quest stoppers (a person needed to complete a quest simply disappeared by falling into the ground right in front of me, maybe some clipping problem), and what remains is just another Gothic clone gone wrong. Pity because it looked promising. It might have been great with more development time, but in this state, the game is not ready for release. Balancing, fighting system, mini-games and bugs still need some major work done. So I hate to say it, but don´t waste your time and money.

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Posted on: November 7, 2020

deadoceans

Verified owner

Games: 258 Reviews: 6

It's a different experience.

The main thing I can say about this game is that it's best played with an open mind. Throw out your preconceptions of what you think a good open-world RPG is and just try it out. You might actually like it. But definitely pick it up on sale. I haven't played the Gothic games before, but from what I've heard they have that strange awkwardness and clunkiness that is also present in ELEX. It was hard to get used to at first. The dialogue between characters seemed contrived and forced. The melee combat was certainly no dark souls and is bound to piss a lot of players off. The plot wasn't exactly compelling or unique. After pushing through the first few hours, none of that really mattered to me though. ELEX has a beautiful, vast world that is a lot of fun to explore and actually rewards exploration. The areas seemed to all be varied and unique, and it suprised me that a small team was able to create a landscape and environment with very minimal repetition and a surprising amount of intricacy. This was one of my favorite features of the game. Once I accepted the fact that I wasn't playing one of the more modern RPGs that tries to outdo its predecessors in every way possible with a massive budget, I really started to enjoy ELEX. Give it a chance. You will either hate it and never play it again, or it will start to grow on you when you realize you can't play many other modern RPGs that are this strangely flawed. It kept me coming back to see the game fully completed, and although I will probably be moving onto another game now, I will probably replay it in the future and enjoy entering a different faction with another build. The replayability in this game isn't limitless, but it's at least worth a solid 1-2 playthroughs for the experience.

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Posted on: June 8, 2022

Piroknight_13

Verified owner

Games: 431 Reviews: 12

Very interesting setting and lore

Well, long story short - interesting mix of tech and magic, open world, interesting and appealing characters, skills and weapon that you can modify and upgrade. Really different and unique fractions. All in all, very cool, but combat system not that good, AI also dumb.

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Posted on: October 18, 2023

giuliom

Verified owner

Games: 106 Reviews: 4

Masterpiece !!!

This game has only one flaw, the usual PB politic that you MUST join a faction (which does not change a bit to you). Except for that, you play in a fantastic post apocalypse world, what remains of the old world is stunning, full of recorded stories of the people that didn't survive, their belongings etc... plus, magic ! Everything is really cool but totally unbalanced: The monsters are everywhere, and not located according to your level. You can find big trolls and cyclops near the walls of a city or a main road or a simple rat in the woods because they live there, not because you must be cuddled. It's up to you to understand where you can survive and how...and of course it's up to your equipment and your skills. And here comes the big news in this game....the JETPACK. With that and a smart brain, you can explore the entire map even if you can't slay a chicken, and there is a lot to see.

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Posted on: February 8, 2020

Verified owner

Games: 0 Reviews: 23

A great game for hardcore gamers.

I must be honest, I bought this game without doing proper research beforehand and because I recevied a special offerfrom GOG via email. WARNING: The game is extremely hard. The graphics are not too bad. The world is beautiful. Some of the characters have been beaten with the ugly stick (esecially the women of the berserkers). The world and the lore itself seems pretty interesting from what I have seen (which is, unfortunately, not that much because of the insane difficutly). It is a very interesting blend of SCIFI and fantasy which I haven't encountered anywhere else. There is no character customisation (appearance), you take the role of a character who already has a background story. The leveling system is quite complex with a lot of perks to choose from as well as attributes to distribute points among. Dialogues are fully voiced over and you have to make choices which have consequences. This game does not "hold your hand", meaning that you have to discover everything through exploration, which can be hard to do as the enemies at the points of interest tend to be very strong. The economy is harsh. Money is pretty hard to come by so you really have to think about what you are buying. Advantages: - Interesting setting. - Guns range from a simple pipe to futuristic energy weapons. - Interesting lore. - Immersive and beautiful world. - Jetpack is very fun. - Voiced dialogue. Disadvantages: - The difficutly. - Most experinece comes from quests, the combat is difficult and you have to dodge the enemy most of the time by walking around them (it kind of limits exploration). - The characters are not pretty to look at. - Hit boxes sometimes seem sketchy. - Slow progression. Overall: If you are a hardcore player or have experience with the previous titles of the same devs you will enjoy this game. If you are looking for more of a Skyrim or Kingdoms of Amalur experince I would reconsider. Disclamer: Excuse my English errors.

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