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.
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.
The story's intro cinematic was initially promising: three factions fighting each other in a post-apocalyptic world with a newfound source of McGuffin power a la the Elex. But then a select few are better at handling it than others and now the 3 factions are semi-united against those guys? Suddenly this got a lot less interesting. It would've been more intriguing to see all factions on somewhat equal footing, fighting each other as opposed to whatever this turned into.
The PC controls are unbelievably unintuitive. Who combines the "use item" function with the generic "interact with world items" action? If you want to pick something up like the bones of the dead rat you just pummeled with your iron pipe, you have to first put away said pipe before interacting with that item. You can't even reconfigure them because both actions are set to be on the same key binding. Just ridiculous.
Graphically, unimpressive. It looks like something that was released in the late 90s. The voice acting is serviceable, but stilted, which is disappointing considering that our character is fully voiced as well.
Overall, this was a huge disappointment. A well-modded Skyrim could reach heights greater than this.
As someone who didn't enjoy Gothic or Risen, this one surprised me as I found it to be a fun, albeit clunky raw gem.
The story is pretty good. The world is immersive with fairly distinct factions. The characters are good, some are even great.
The game could use some quality of life improvements, namely better quest markers, a better skill system (finding teachers is too old school and inconvenient imo - not a no go though, reminds me of the good ole Might and Magic days heh) and definitely better controls & camera (and more fuel for the jetpack).
Other than that I really don't have much to complain. The graphics are decent, though not the greatest.
Actually there's one more thing that "bothered" me: You are insanely weak in the beginning, but you can mow down anything in a few shots / hits in the late game. Difficulty scaling is NOT this game's strong suit. So if a steep difficulty curve is not for you I would recommend to avoid this game.
Steam purchase btw.
