ive played this game orginally on xbox one and it was good enough for me to wanna replay on pc with better fps and graphics the thing that holds this game back really is some the voice acting and combat to people who arnt use to the sort of combat system this game has otherwise i say its a good rpg and i enjoy the story and world enough i havent gotten to elex 2 but im sure that one makes some good improvments in some the areas i mentioned worth it to thoses who want a solid rpg.
Piranha Bytes have shown again that they are masters of game world creation. No easy way out via level scaling and respawning loot (looking at you Bethesda), every item is carefully hand-placed to keep the pace of the game, there are almost no artificial terrain gates that keep you from content the devs thought you should not see for some reason, which means every discovery you make feels very rewarding. And did I mention the jet pack? I was afraid it would break the game but instead it adds a whole new level of fun!
Player that are not familiar with the formula this studio uses to create its games may struggle and find it unfair, player who are used to be pampered by uber graphics might be disappointed, players used to handholding/level scaling/follow-this-little-arrow-and-you-can't-go-wrong-type-of-gameplay might feel lost. That's ok. These games are demanding on the player, but the rewards are great. Free roaming around the world of Magellan, if you put the time and skill into it (aka avoid getting killed/eaten etc). Meaningful exclusive factions, which are by no means black and white. World that exists just fine without you and where you have to work from the bottom to make it take notice of you... and the great sense of reward for your achievement, because you know you earned it yourself and wasn't just given an emtpy title/cosmetic item.
I am a big fan of the original two Gothic titles and the first Risen (though inferior in my opinion) and I have been waiting long for something that would fill the need for such games. And Elex delivered. It is by no means perfect and might not be for everyone but know that your gaming experience would be much poorer if you don't give it a chance.
This is a thoroughly mediocre game, bordering on being poorly made. It comes across as a half-hearted attempt at a game, like the devs wanted to make something but just couldn't motivate themselves to put in the effort. The controls are dodgy and unintuitive. World-building is confused, as if the writers and designers didn't know what they really wanted to do and couldn't decide or agree on anything. The writing is very strange, as if each line were written by a different person and characters will often repeat themselves and respond to things that the player didn't even say. Pacing is non-existent.
That said, I'm still playing it a lot. I keep thinking to drop it and get a refund but then I keep playing. I don't know if I just hope it will get better or if I'm starved for a new open-world game. I would've scored it a 2 if not for the addictive open-world.
It's not a good game, it's not well-made at all. But it's still fun. Annoyingly fun.
(Maybe it's simply unfinished. It could do with a lot of polish.)
Bonoobo's review is probably the best description of my experience with Elex. Bugs, terrible voice acting for most of the cast, clunky combat, strange difficulty spikes, and terribly slow character stat progression. Although, I'm a little more forgiving and gave the game 3 stars.
The game could've used more polish, but it's likely that PB just didn't have the budget to put anymore time into the game.
