Welcome to our review of Elex II, a game I was really looking forward to and it kind of disappointed me.
Elex II is the sequel to Elex, the vintage open-world role-playing experience from the award-winning creators of the Gothic and Risen series, Piranha Bytes. ELEX II returns to the post-apocalyptic Science Fantasy world of Magalan – with massive environments that can be explored with unrivaled freedom via jetpack, you will be able to move through the epic story any way you want.
Several years after Jax defeated the Hybrid, a new threat arrives from the sky, unleashing the dangerous powers of dark Elex and endangering all life on the planet. In order to defend the peace on Magalan and the safety of his own family, Jax has to go on a mission to convince the factions to unite against the invaders and find his own son, Dex, who got separated from him … Dive into a huge, hand-crafted, completely unique world with multiple factions and diverse environments set in a post-apocalyptic science fantasy universe.
The game allows you to explore the planet of Magalan with unprecedented freedom, using your trusted jetpack to traverse the map and even fly! Interact with a lived-in world, full of unique NPCs, who will remember what you’ve done and react accordingly, will join or leave your group depending on how you behave. Also are able to be killed, which will have an effect on the story. engage in fluid close and ranged combat with a massively improved control system. Experience a story where your actions have consequences, immersing you in a world of moral decisions.
In all honesty, I do own Elex 1 but never played it. I had heard of the game having some minor issues and I was actually going to play it after finishing Elex II, at least that was the plan. I have to admit this game really disappointed me in more than one way. From lackluster NPC animations to stuttering camera movements, something you would expect from a game running on old tech, but I played it on the new Series X. It just all fell apart from there.
Straight from the start, I just felt like the game was not a current-generation game, from weird design choices, lack of animations and so much more. Like take for example talking to an NPC, they are interesting in themselves but do not even come close to being refined. I often felt they were from the early Xbox One era, from when your NPC was polished in looks only. While this does not influence the game itself, it does influence the general idea you get from the game. Like how you need to tag a mission in the menu in order to track it, just does not make a lot of sense to me, maybe I somehow skipped how to do this automatically, but I already ended up free-roaming a few times too many.
What I do like, the enemies seem to be well crafted and I would have loved to be more invested to the extent of meeting more powerful foes. But the story for Elex II ends here already, I just could not get invested, too many small annoyances kept me from enjoying the game. Getting lost, dull and complicated menus, lackluster NPCs and the entire crafting system is just weird.
If Elex II achieved something for me, it is my desire to play the original game, that is gone now. I know I sound harsher than usual, but it just is what it is. From what I heard the first game is supposedly better, which is also a shame. I had heard a friend describe the second game as the first game stripped of its fun, quite possibly the strongest statement I have heard him say in a very long time.
In conclusion, the story in Elex II may be good, I just wonder if the list of grievances is not too big for this game to possibly succeed?
