RPGWatch Feature - ELEX Gamescom First Look

[Myrthos]

Piranha Bytes has a new game in the works, based on a new IP, named ELEX. Given the history of Piranha Bytes, I was obviously interested and scheduled a meeting with them to find out more. Unfortunately there was not a hands-off demo , but there were some videos and I wrote a summary of what was told.

The story behind ELEX is that it takes place on a planet similar to Earth. At some point in time a big meteor crashed into de planet, wiping out most of its civilization with only a few groups surviving. With this meteor a new substance came to the planet, called Elex.
This substance integrated with everything on the planet, flora and fauna, and it mutated things as well, but can also be used to create powerful weapons and tools.
Furthermore it can be consumed as a drug, which will give the consumer very magical powers, but will also degenerate them in the process, making them lose all of their human feelings and emotions and leaving them without any empathy for others.
The biggest part of the game will be about choosing between using Elex and gaining absolute power while becoming dehumanized or not using it and keeping your humanity.

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

Something new AND some proven Gothic/Risen gameplay elements as well -
I will follow this!

 

[Dajjer]

I'm in.
First 2 Gothics were classics - top of the class
Gothic 3 had bugs but eventually turned out to be a great game.
Risen 1 was a very, very good game with a horrid end boss monster.
Risen 2 was okay but really nothing memorable.
Risen 3 was a very, very good game and it had flying.

And their next game is a hybrid sci fi - fantasy. I don't even have to read anymore, I just have to wait for the release date.

 

[JDR13]

I wish they had kept it under wraps longer. I'm really looking forward to this game, but I hate knowing that it's gonna be almost 2 years before we get it.

I'd rather they had worked on it in secret and then announced it 6 months before release like Bethesda did with FO4.

 

[Thrasher]

Thanks for the rundown Myrthos. I look forward to the release of Elex!

 

[Vahid]

Excellent.
The idea behind the concept reminds me of Equilibrium (film) in which you'd see a security agent who had lost his emotions and had been turned into a cold killing machine. The similar scenario can be a good start for PB after that crappy bullshit story they offered in Risen 2/3. Bravo to PB! But still some of the factions somewhat didn't grab me. The Clerics and the Outlaws seem a little too much dumb and stupid, they seem to be some bunch of fanatic mindless folks with barely or no reasonable view. I hope to see them coming to be more believable and rational. That's my only request of PB… for now!
Everything else is promising.
Thanks for the info.

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Well, this sounds too crazy to be true, but definitely interested here.
But how will this "dehumanizing" work? Will it affect the dialogue…this would require a lot more effort to be convincing, than with occasional obligatory red dialogue options, while keeping the majority of it intact.
On the plus side, this definitely looks to be, by far, the most interesting setting in all of PB games.

 

[Zloth]

Risen 3 was a very, very good game and it had flying.

Good yes. Very very good? Uhh, no. They didn't do the open world right, IMHO. They set it so you can go to any of the islands right away. Unfortunately, the monsters you find on them are fixed so, in order to make it possible for you to go to any island first, every island had to be geared for a low level character. By the third island, combat was completely trivial. You had to push the difficulty up yourself in order to keep the challenge up - basically, manual level scaling where the monsters don't even change.

 

[wiretripped]

The Elves in the game, use and consume Elex and have become very powerful because of that, but have become soulless machines, oppressing all the other groups by using their powers very ruthlessly. The player starts out as one of them.

Elves? Meh. And you *have* to play as one? Meh. That drops my excitement a little.
So what races are there? Just Elves and Humans then?

The rest sounds good, so maybe I'll overcome my distaste for Elves.

ELEX has one big game world, without any loading screens. What you can see on the horizon you can visit. Also entering houses and such will not result in a loading screen.
There is a weather system, with sun and clouds and also a day-night cycle where every NPC has a daily routine and a purpose in the game world. Everything in the world is handmade and is not automatically generated.

That I like big, big time!

 

[Asdraguuhl]

I like what I read. After my personal Risen 3 debacle, I feel my faith in Piranha Bytes is slowly being restored again.

One of the major issues I had with Gothic 3 is the fact that there weren't any women (or children), which gave me a very unimmersive feeling. I do hope that the world population in ELEX is better "balanced" thus making it more believable and immersive.

 

[JDR13]

Elves? Meh. And you *have* to play as one? Meh. That drops my excitement a little.
So what races are there? Just Elves and Humans then?

The rest sounds good, so maybe I'll overcome my distaste for Elves.

I find the concept of Elves in a post-apocalyptic setting kind of neat. It's also interesting that they've chosen to include them now after not having them in any of their previous games which were all in a fantasy setting.

One of the major issues I had with Gothic 3 is the fact that there weren't any women (or children), which gave me a very unimmersive feeling. I do hope that the world population in ELEX is better "balanced" thus making it more believable and immersive.

There were woman in Gothic 3, just not very many.

 

[wiretripped]

One of the major issues I had with Gothic 3 is the fact that there weren't any women (or children), which gave me a very unimmersive feeling. I do hope that the world population in ELEX is better "balanced" thus making it more believable and immersive.

I share that hope.

I find the concept of Elves in a post-apocalyptic setting kind of neat. It's also interesting that they've chosen to include them now after not having them in any of their previous games which were all in a fantasy setting.

Sure, but I just don't like the pointy-eared bastards.
I do hope they're sticking to just two races then, and not introducing other generic fantasy trope races.

There were woman in Gothic 3, just not very many.

There were indeed. A handful. Like 2% of population. None of them named.

 

[Asdraguuhl]

There were woman in Gothic 3, just not very many.

Yes, there was e.g. the occasional female rebel as background filler but the overall number was so extremely low that it didn't affect the feeling of a "men-only" world.

 

[Farflame]

Men's world is "feature" for PB.

Also are you sure that Elves are fantasy-style elves? Maybe its just semi-humorous name for some kind of addicts.

 

[Myrthos]

Elves? Meh. And you *have* to play as one? Meh. That drops my excitement a little.
So what races are there? Just Elves and Humans then?

The rest sounds good, so maybe I'll overcome my distaste for Elves.

There are only humans in the game and thus no races. The Elves are a human faction. They don't have pointy ears.
Forgot to ask them why they named them Elves. Perhaps I just misunderstood and they are named Alfs

 

[JDR13]

Well at least wiretripped can relax now.

Personally, I thought it would have been interesting to have an elf-like race. Oh well...

 

[wiretripped]

There are only humans in the game and thus no races. The Elves are a human faction. They don't have pointy ears.
Forgot to ask them why they named them Elves. Perhaps I just misunderstood and they are named Alfs

Aha. Excellent. Thanks for the clarification.

Well at least wiretripped can relax now.

Personally, I thought it would have been interesting to have an elf-like race. Oh well…

Hehe, well, I'm sure I would have gotten over it.

 

[Farflame]

There are only humans in the game and thus no races. The Elves are a human faction. They don't have pointy ears.
Forgot to ask them why they named them Elves. Perhaps I just misunderstood and they are named Alfs

As I thought…

And afaik you really misunderstood the name. It shouldnt be the Elves. It should be (das) Albs. Which means a "nightmare".
Albs degenerated by consuming Elex too much and became threat to all other factions. So I assume that they are actually an equivalent of Shadows from Risen 3. Also the idea that you should get in touch with all factions and then choose one of them in the story is ala Risen 3. And being former member of Albs wont make the hero "welcomed guest" amongst ppl.

 

[Kyrer]

I loved that Gothic and Risen games (or the ones I played, anyway) but hated the fact I was always required to choose between and join a faction. It's' not only PB games that do this, and I find it really annoying and immersion breaking that my character is forced into something they wouldn't do. However, this game does sound really good to me, so I'll definitely be looking forwards to it.

 

[DArtagnan]

I loved that Gothic and Risen games (or the ones I played, anyway) but hated the fact I was always required to choose between and join a faction. It's' not only PB games that do this, and I find it really annoying and immersion breaking that my character is forced into something they wouldn't do. However, this game does sound really good to me, so I'll definitely be looking forwards to it.

While I don't have a problem with the factions, it would be interesting to see them implement a non-faction storyline with some meaningful consequences.