This game may have flown under the radar for a lot of people but in my opinion it is one of the best games of this year. ELEX is a game created by Piranha Bytes, famous for their Gothic and Risen games. The game reintroduces a lot of aspects that made Gothic 1 and 2 such great games.
Exploration is rewarding. Not only is the open world stunningly beautiful, exploration is actively encouraged and necessary for progressing in the game. Gear is the major factor in determining your strength, so exploring the world in search for better armour and money is a very worthwhile activity. The jetpack is super awesome and removes a lot of the frustrations people might have had with previous entries.
ELEX has great worldbuilding. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic setting with some fantasy elements on top of it. The world, called Magalan, truly feels like a place of two times. On the one hand there are ruins of the Old World scattered about yet at the same time the various factions are moving on. Contrary to Fallout 4 people do not live in half destroyed shacks but every faction has rebuilt civilisation suited to its own needs and aesthetics. Its inhabitants also reflect this. There are large cities and communities where all people perform their own tasks. This is maybe the defining trademark of Piranha Bytes games. It actually feels like a living world, not just a collection of NPC's waiting for the hero to swoop in.
Its economy is on point. Money is used for everything, from buying gear to crafting skill points to unlocking skills. You'll be constantly looking for ways to make more money, avoiding the pitfalls of a lot of RPG's where you are swimming in money at the midway point.
Choice & consequence are one of the key aspects of the game. Solving quests in a particular way will lock away certain parts of the game and open up new roads. As in every Piranha Bytes game you can choose from different factions, which will also dramatically alter gameplay and how you interact with the world.
There is no level scaling. Even in beginner zones you will encounter enemies that are too tough to handle. You will feel weak at the beginning, having to move around carefully and avoid fights to survive. This contributes to a great experience where you will really become stronger over time and become able to tackle tougher enemies. Thanks to the jetpack it has become a lot more viable to stealthily navigate throughout this treacherous world, which is often a necessity because of the non-linear nature of the game.
Of course, ELEX suffers from the same problems many Piranha Bytes games suffer from. It can be buggy, the movement is unintuitive and overall it is a game with a large amount of eurojank. But despite that it is also a breath of fresh air in an RPG landscape which has largely turned away from offering this amount of freedom and non-linearity in an open world.
All in all if you loved previous Piranha Bytes games you MUST absolutely play ELEX. I can also heavily recommend it to people looking for a more sandbox like open world RPG experience. For me it is one of the biggest surprises of 2017.
Peace out!
Exploration is rewarding. Not only is the open world stunningly beautiful, exploration is actively encouraged and necessary for progressing in the game. Gear is the major factor in determining your strength, so exploring the world in search for better armour and money is a very worthwhile activity. The jetpack is super awesome and removes a lot of the frustrations people might have had with previous entries.
ELEX has great worldbuilding. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic setting with some fantasy elements on top of it. The world, called Magalan, truly feels like a place of two times. On the one hand there are ruins of the Old World scattered about yet at the same time the various factions are moving on. Contrary to Fallout 4 people do not live in half destroyed shacks but every faction has rebuilt civilisation suited to its own needs and aesthetics. Its inhabitants also reflect this. There are large cities and communities where all people perform their own tasks. This is maybe the defining trademark of Piranha Bytes games. It actually feels like a living world, not just a collection of NPC's waiting for the hero to swoop in.
Its economy is on point. Money is used for everything, from buying gear to crafting skill points to unlocking skills. You'll be constantly looking for ways to make more money, avoiding the pitfalls of a lot of RPG's where you are swimming in money at the midway point.
Choice & consequence are one of the key aspects of the game. Solving quests in a particular way will lock away certain parts of the game and open up new roads. As in every Piranha Bytes game you can choose from different factions, which will also dramatically alter gameplay and how you interact with the world.
There is no level scaling. Even in beginner zones you will encounter enemies that are too tough to handle. You will feel weak at the beginning, having to move around carefully and avoid fights to survive. This contributes to a great experience where you will really become stronger over time and become able to tackle tougher enemies. Thanks to the jetpack it has become a lot more viable to stealthily navigate throughout this treacherous world, which is often a necessity because of the non-linear nature of the game.
Of course, ELEX suffers from the same problems many Piranha Bytes games suffer from. It can be buggy, the movement is unintuitive and overall it is a game with a large amount of eurojank. But despite that it is also a breath of fresh air in an RPG landscape which has largely turned away from offering this amount of freedom and non-linearity in an open world.
All in all if you loved previous Piranha Bytes games you MUST absolutely play ELEX. I can also heavily recommend it to people looking for a more sandbox like open world RPG experience. For me it is one of the biggest surprises of 2017.
Peace out!
