Elex

A flawed jewel. Beneath its layers a sophisticated game is hidden, created with love yet with bugs and poor technical design. The game mechanics are the top, but they are nowadays detrimental. Whoever wants to find a treasure in Elex, must try very hard.

ELEX is the very opposite of the accessible games that have revolutionised the open world RPG in recent years. I enjoyed it as a modern looking take on the Gothic series, but newcomers will have to be prepared to fight against the systems through the beginning of the game. This has resulted in the game quickly gaining a cult following who celebrate its obscurity and lack of accessibility. I don’t agree with this take and would argue that the best aspects of the game would only be improved by a more polished and refined presentation.

Despite new setting it’s obvious from the start who made this game. If you enjoyed Gothic or Risen series, you will probably have fun with Elex, because you’re used to turning a blind eye to numerous problems infesting Piranha Bytes’ titles. You will just have to give the story enough time to pick up speed, because the beginning is painfully slow and boring. [12/2017, p.74]

If not for some serious technical issues, Elex would have become one of the best Role Playing titles of this year. Yet its dark and compelling story along with huge world full of different stuff to do will surely make it worthy of some of your hours.

The world building is excellent, the game building is deeply flawed. [Issue#268, p.72]

Like so many Piranha Bytes games, it's easy to feel some affection for the sheer ambition and quirky execution of the premise. Even some of the messy, so-bad-it's-good acting has a bit of hokey charm. The reality is that Elex is several significant patches away from any greatness and even then, some fundamental mechanics are too hardwired into the game to be patched away. As I played Elex, I kept wishing that a triple-A developer could get its hands on the story, setting, and concept. Then again, maybe the appeal of Elex lies in it being messy, broken, and ambitious, and not the product of a bland corporate insecurity.

You can enjoy Elex only if you are a true fan of Gothic series. If you are not, playing it will be simply painful.

ELEX is an ode to fans of Gothic and Risen, and fans will most likely be satisfied. How detailed the title is makes it clear: Piranha Bytes isn’t trying to cash in on an aging franchise. That being said, the issues cannot be brushed aside. It’s been nearly two decades since the studio published its first game, Gothic I, and what plagued the earlier titles affects ELEX as well. And that is a problem.

Inventive in some ways and stagnant in others, Elex will appeal to die-hard RPG fans and few others.

Elex is an attractive old-school RPG game that fails when it comes to graphics and AI.

ELEX is pretty much the gaming incarnation of a mixed bag. While exploring the massive world of Magalan is an enjoyable experience and the lore easily pulls players in with lots of interesting quests, the mediocre combat, poor companions AI and severe balance issues prevent it from securing a spot in the ever more crowded RPG limelight.

ELEX is a game with great ideas and a huge open world. However, thanks to its terrible combat system and the graphics of a game from 2007, this game is just for the most hardcore fans of open worlds and exploration.

Elex has, somewhere, a good game under all the apathy on its surface. There are some good ideas that one can easily miss because of its poor narrative, gameplay and aesthetics.

All in all, if you're a fan of open-world exploration and complex combat, ELEX may be the game for you, though I would add the caveat that you may want to see how things improve over the coming months.

ELEX gives us freedom, choices and replayability. It's a quite old-school RPG that falls short when it comes to graphics and AI. If you've played and enjoyed any of the previous Piranha Bytes games, make sure you give this one a try.

Aliens, armored knights, mechs, mutants and dinosaurs with laser beams, spells and machine guns: whatever you saw or played in a videogame, just name it, and you'll probably find it in ELEX. A potpourri so weird it could have been amazing, ruined by an uninspired main quest and the usual, flawed combat system by Piranha Bytes.