ELEX

PROS: + large open world to explore with no hand-holding + no map full of question marks and markers + blends fantasy, sci-fi & post-apocalypse + jetpack allows for (limited) vertical exploration + actions and consequences CONS: -- combat is typical Piranha Bytes jank: it's terrible - mediocre presentation, outdated graphics, wooden animations, bad sounds and mediocre voice acting, repetitive character models - AI pretty bad - conversations carry on during combat - menues are horrible to navigate - "cold meter" (this game's version of a moral meter) is only shown as a single word - bland quests - bad writing/script BOTTOM LINE: If you are like me and love to explore huge open worlds to the fullest but hate the hand-holding and map markers and flashy GPS symbols everywhere, then ELEX will keep you occupied for a very long time, if you are willing to ignore the typical Piranha Bytes jank and baggage. The combat is clunky and bad. It is easily the worst part of the game and somewhat reminiscent of their earlier games (GOTHIC series). It also maintains key features of these games, such as the slow progression from stick wielding wimp to somewhat capable fighter, the division of the games in difficulty zones (you are free to go wherever you want but the enemies are not scaled to your level), and the different factions. On the ugly side you got the mediocre presentation: while the landscape looks good and offers a lot of diversity, character models don't, many of which a copy & paste jobs (female models in particular), animations are stiff, sound effects poor and the voice acting mediocre at best. I did not care for the writing in the game and the quest design, which kind of makes you everyone's biatch with your tedious, standard fetch & collect quests. Overall I kinda liked it for the most part, but it has some serious flaws and jank to it as well. I recommend buying at a sale ($10 max.).

I bought this game on sale. Aftering readin some of the reviews I thought it best to wait for a sale. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Yes, it definitely has it faults (but then again what game doesn't?). Some of the reviews about its glitchiness are legitimate, but not all. So read them with a grain of salt. Anyway, I found the transition to cut scenes a bit jarring because it seemed to happen at the most inopportune moments. Controls for the combat system seem to not register as one might expect, certainly not instant to my key presses. I am using a Razer Huntsman TE TKL keyboard so the linear switches sensitivity could have some effect, I expected a quicker response to my key presses but this was not the case, nevertheless I will test this when I do another playthough with a different keybaord. So, combat and cutscenes were the main issues for me but by no means did these make the game unplayable, for me. What I enjoyed was the exploration, the story, the build up to getting stronger in combat strength etc...as I leveled up. The side quests and choice system and its impact to the story. the jet pack. I can't wait for Elex 2 and the hopeful continuation of the story. I think it's worth a buy on sale.

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.

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.

Objectively, I can't give Elex 5 stars, maybe not even 4 stars if you think combat is an essential part of the gameplay. I am still bias as hell for this game though. The reviews by ACG and Mortismal Gaming say a lot of what I want to say, just better. Go watch them. I'll only drop a few random thoughts here. Elex to me feels like someone took one of the better vaults in Fallout and expanded it into a whole game. From the intertwined mysteries behind the overarching plot to the easily missable story of a serial killer told through just two in-game notes, Elex constantly motivated me to dig deeper into the world. Exploring that world can be frustrating though, due to the almost nonexistent pacing of the game. Only a few hours into the game, I had to grind a mid-late game enemy to death with my beginner bow over at least 30 minutes (with multiple saves/loads), while my companion sacrificed himself dozens of times. It was my most memorable fight in the game, and I got a sword in the stone at the end. I just wish Elex's in-game map gave me some icons I could add to the it to mark points of interest to return to later. The game is NOT meant to be played linearly where you clear an area, even one that you go to for a beginner quest, before moving on to the next. If you feel very challenged on normal difficulty, you are playing the game wrong. Forget Gothic. Forget that it is even an action RPG. Elex is a nonlinear RPG where you have to find the path of least resistance in the world as you take in its sights, discovery its secrets, and just have fun interacting with it. Zen gamers will enjoy Elex a lot more than players looking for a focused, driven experience. Pro tip: Don't be fooled by all the advice on using a flamethrower. The best flamethrower is only available to Clerics. If you are a Cleric, you should be using a plasma rifle. You get several for free while doing quests. Melee combat is also entirely viable but demands higher tier gear than ranged combat.