ELEX - Review @ Eurogamer

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Eurogamer has reviewed ELEX:

Elex review

Tomorrowind.

Hokey, uneven and janky, Elex is nonetheless a compelling throwback to a time before open worlds became choose your own to-do lists.

Without being signed up to work on a big franchise, or having successfully developed one of its own over the course of 20 toilsome years, it can be tough for a studio to launch a new 3D open world RPG in a landscape dominated by Witchers, Mass Effects, Fallouts and Elder Scrolls. Piranha Bytes know this better than most, having birthed the revered Gothic series, only to see its legacy undermined by ongoing tangles over rights. It's not been plain sailing for the studio's subsequent Risen trilogy either, as a decade-long tsunami of icon-drenched Ubi-likes has rather altered perceptions as to what an open world RPG can and should be.

[...]

One can't help but wonder what game might one day arise were Piranha Bytes ever given the development resources of Bethesda, because with less than a quarter of the numbers that worked full-time on making Fallout 4, Piranha Bytes have cobbled together an RPG that in some areas comes close to matching it. Yes, Elex is far, far scrappier overall, the lore is clumsy and unconvincing, and there's enough grit in the combat, presentation and parts of the narrative to have you running for the nearest GOTY Edition chart-topping RPG. But, if you give Elex the benefit of the doubt, it's many freedoms will start to win you over - to the point that on completion you may subsequently find yourself thumbing through this developer's undervalued back catalogue before cracking the seal on the Next Big Thing.
More information.
 
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Played for a few hours, great game for PB fans, enjoying it alot.
 
One can't help but wonder what game might one day arise were Piranha Bytes ever given the development resources of Bethesda, because with less than a quarter of the numbers that worked full-time on making Fallout 4, Piranha Bytes have cobbled together an RPG that in some areas comes close to matching it.

:deal::salute:
 
Fair review. I'm stilling messing around in the Berserker area and thinking of starting over. Combat is wishy washy, and I'm not sure it's an improvement over Risen3. I guess it's slightly harder which might be considered better by some.
 
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Fair review. I'm stilling messing around in the Berserker area and thinking of starting over. Combat is wishy washy, and I'm not sure it's an improvement over Risen3. I guess it's slightly harder which might be considered better by some.

Combat is different to Risen 3, in Risen 3 the enemies just have random attack routines, in Elex, you can see them charging up their attack so you can react accordingly.
 
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uninstalled in 1-2 hours.

its best part is the dialogs, few rpgs have good dialogs ,
second best is word building. looks cool and its rewarding to explore
its mechanics are 70% , i like the jet pack, dodging needs a bit of work, and attack animations combos are sort of clunky

and hte bad parts which i find very important as they break my immersion
- no polish attention to detail (i know generic) showing in
- why does it place a weapon in my inventory , the best part about risen was me finding a branch, i felt like wow , realistic and im in control
- why is the plot so shit. you are a "chosen one" of a race, that that race abandons. wtf. i mean, they give way too much information about the whole thing . if you give away too much , u better make it believable and attractive.
then, you are shot, but not killed ?! by professional soldiers
then you are robbed, but not killed, by a thief.. robbed meaning taking your armor. who in his right mind in such a savage war infested land undresses a dangerous man ))) and walks away. i mean, these designers have brain damage
- leveling up system (skills spells whatever) looks tedious and boring at the same time.

southpark is a much better experience . just looking into one of the superheroes closets gives more immersion than all the elements from elex
 
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you are shot, but not killed ?! by professional soldiers
then you are robbed, but not killed, by a thief.. robbed meaning taking your armor. who in his right mind in such a savage war infested land undresses a dangerous man ))) and walks away. i mean, these designers have brain damage
You're shot and not killed because your ship was shot down by that same soldier for specific reasons you will never learn now after you uninstalled.
You're robbed and not killed by a thief because that thief has his own agenda, will need your help later and will become your sidekick.

I mean… Man, it's like you're asking a question why North Korea still didn't nuke USA or vice versa and declaring lack of an immediate answer as brain damage.
 
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Joxer - thanks for the info there, because having played the game for about 30 mins yesterday before going out, I too felt the opening was even cruder than usual for PB. I am glad to hear that it'll be fleshed out story-wise later.

That said, the fact that the opening seems nonsensicaly-clunky to quite a lot of us does suggest the fault lies with PB rather than the player. Perhaps a voice-over from the player character (or if mute protaganist, you could use the thief to provide commentry) observing that what the player has just seen doesn't make sense… yet…

(eg. "Wow, I've been shot and fallen from a cliff, yet here I am, still alive - either I'm the luckiest guy alive, or something very strange is going on…").

Maybe that's too obvious, but it'd at least acknowledge that what we've just seen. Even so, my initial impression is a step back from "Risen 3 enhanced" (at least in visuals) but maybe that's because the island setting of R3 was more lush and verdant, and the framerate seems worse.

It's still a PB game in all the good ways though - a went off the beaten track, got repeatedly killed by a snapper/scavanger thing, finally defeated it by playing smarter then found some loot and a trinket. Yep, that's PB :)
 
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who had the idea to not put a stats page must be fucking sacked; not even how much hp you have in numbers cant see
 
Joxer - thanks for the info there
Actually, it's spoilers and I wouldn't post anything without tags if there were no hints on things already in the first settlement. A settlement he didn't even reach obviously. ;)
I mean, any criticism if fine by me, but in this case it felt just like a poor excuse for game uninstallation.
who had the idea to not put a stats page must be fucking sacked; not even how much hp you have in numbers cant see
Have to agree on this, menus are mushrooms oriented sadly. :(
More sadly, @borcanu; didn't criticize that but whatever else.
 
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who had the idea to not put a stats page must be fucking sacked; not even how much hp you have in numbers cant see

Yep, I thought I was just missing something at first, but you can't see your exact HP or how much XP you have which is absolutely ridiculous imo. Hopefully they change that in a patch.
 
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Yep, I thought I was just missing something at first, but you can't see your exact HP or how much XP you have which is absolutely ridiculous imo. Hopefully they change that in a patch.

I'm afraid to check my stats anyway, because I get shouted at for my use of 'evil' technology ;-) I now go and skulk in a corner to check the UI....I hadn't seen HP, but assumed that was just me missing something. Seems not. I hope the have a new patch soon to address niggles - small things can really detract from a game and affect reviews.
 
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It's already bought and paid for but I'm afraid to fire it up. Sounds like some Gothic/Risen type of fun gameplay to be had, but too many stupid design decisions getting in the way. Patch, patch, patch, enhance, patch, user patch, a couple mods, patch. Then maybe?
 
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I don't have any stupid design decisions getting in the way, and haven't seen any bugs yet on my end. :thumbsup:

And PB being compared favorably to Fallout 4 is hilarious. 27 person dev team vs. billion $ company. :D Long live PB man. Been saying for years it would be cool to see what they could do with a similar budget.
 
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