As a HEMA practitioner, I would like to praise this game for its realism in combat - and I'm not talking about wounds or weapons. I'm talking about fencing style and efficiency - if you are familiar with (at least read some manuals) German longsword - you will be efficient with Isabella (longsword fencer). And if you read something about Destreza... I was surprised by how well the idea was implemented. Ofc the game still needs some balance, lots of polishing, etc. But the current progress makes me happy.
As other people mentioned - it's a hexagonal game, not an RPG. I was planning to get a refund, because I was expecting one thing, and got another one - but decided to spend some more time in the game - I really enjoyed its graphical style. After several hours I understood that it's still not an RPG, but a decent strategy and overall I like it. P.S. Please add artbook as an extra.
After about 15 hours in the game, I never faced a single bug. Stylish graphics, and nice audio. Gameplay has no random (except maps/bonuses, etc), everything on the battlefield is up to you. And one mistake could cost you a lot. If you like roguelikes/likes and party skills combinations - this game is for you.
It was already a solid AA RPG game with a nice campaign, but with the latest addition - multiplayer - I can play coop with famility/friends. And there are only few modern RPGs with that option.
I have about 500+ hours in this game, and it's one of the best cRPG of all time. Still, there are two issues - bugs (some are not fixed, some are added with each new patch) and weird "core+" difficulty. With so many hours in this game - a very rare fight could be a problem for me, still, the problem of this game design is that the game by itself is a "party buff" marathon. Every N minutes you need to rebuff your party. It will take a minute or two. W/o buffs - your party will die in a matter of seconds. With correct buffs - you will kill bosses in a few battle rounds. Rest? Ok, a few minutes of buffing each party member with all spells that you will need. It's becoming annoying. Some mods fix this issue, still, it's the most repetitive and annoying process in the game. And you will need to do it dozens/or hundreds of times.
Pros: the game will force you to take the role of a survivor in a harsh environment Cons: it's not a cRPG. It's focused on low lvl party (so no tricky builds), with a lack of base equipment and monsters with immunes and stats/conditions degrade. On Core diff (when you can't even remove disease on rest and do not have spells re remove it due to low lvl) game starting to become a save/load spam. Owls added interactive objects, so you should drop barrels/stones on monsters to ease a fight (or have a possibility to do anything), so if you played Commandos/Desperados/etc - it will be easy. Still - low lvl + crap equipment makes the game kinda... tunneled.
I would say that game is 3.5 stars. Main issue - clunky combat. Spells/skills are missing, it's very, very annoying. Still, story/quests are at least "ok", music is "ok+", completed the game, and faced just a few minor bugs. If you liked the first Elex - you will like this one.
It's hard to find a good turn-based roguelike, and this one is good. Lots of skills, combos, builds that you can create. Nice graphics and really awesome music. I hope devs will make a sequel one day - something even bigger.
