RPGWatch Feature - Elex Review

Maylander has penned down a review of ELEX. A game that has received some unfavorable ratings on the internet. In our review of the game, Maylander feels the game is better than those ratings indicate.

Piranha Bytes, the developers of both the Gothic and the Risen series, have decided to create an entirely new series in a new setting: ELEX, set in the world of Magalan, a planet very similar to our own until a comet wiped out most of the civilization.

The comet not only brought destruction; it also brought a new element called Elex. Elex, which is actually not spelled ELEX like the game title, is rather mysterious in nature, and has the ability to act as a power source for machinery, as a magic component if purified or as a form of performance enhancing drug if consumed. As a result, various factions were created among the survivors of the comet's impact, depending on their philosophy for handling Elex: The Albs want to consume it, the Berserkers want to purify it, the Clerics use it as an energy source and the Outlaws really couldn't care less as long as there's profit in it. These factions are currently vying for control of Magalan, or perhaps more importantly, of Elex, similar to the spice of Dune.

This post-apocalyptic setting with hints of Mad Max, magic and sci-fi may be vastly different from what we have seen in former Piranha Bytes titles, but ELEX is still very much a Piranha Bytes game. That means it is easy to recommend it to fans of their previous work, especially since ELEX represents their best work in years, but for everyone else I recommend reading more about it before deciding to buy it. It may seem like Skyrim meets Fallout, but that is not the case.

More information.

Thanks Maylander!

No problem!

People tend to ask for more and more information regarding the content of the reviews, but this has to be some sort of record in lengthy game reviews. I'm counting on feedback from the folks around here to let me know if it's gone too far, and if I should cut down a little for the next one (which I have no idea what might be, by the way).

That's a reasonable review. I agree with you in that the good outweighs the bad. However we disagree in some matters. The factions are very poorly written. Likewise, the world of ELEX is a soulless mishmash of various settings, lacking a cohesive and organic approach to worldbuilding but w/e.

ELEX is a typical PB release with heaps of content and clunky combat. I am willing to accept that.

I haven't finished yet but got good 50+ hours into the game. I broadly agree with the review and agree its "Very Good" game. However I also agree with @luj1 above as well. The world building is bit lacking and I believe its mostly to do with the fantasy sci-fi mix.

Nice review but from what I have seen the combat is not that good unless you on purpose decide to ignore broken weapons like the flamethrower that both disable and do DoT.
And Clerics even have attacks that do that in bigger AoE (Black Hole) that also make all other spells/attacks obsolete. They should have probably limited Black Hole to only work on few enemies or lesser enemies.

EDIT: Also how can you do this review without mentioning wiggling boobs

Originally Posted by Archangel
Nice review but from what I have seen the combat is not that good unless you on purpose decide to ignore broken weapons like the flamethrower that both disable and do DoT.
And Clerics even have attacks that do that in bigger AoE (Black Hole) that also make all other spells/attacks obsolete. They should have probably limited Black Hole to only work on few enemies or lesser enemies.

EDIT: Also how can you do this review without mentioning wiggling boobs

I think the last thing that review needs is even more information.

Edit: Also, I only used flamethrowers and black holes on a few occasions. Sure, they're strong, because of the crowd control component, but there are much faster (and more fun) ways of killing things, especially later in the game.

Great review Maylander and the right length too. I finished it last weekend as a Beserker and I agree the magic was very underwhelming so I ended up sticking with sword/bow but it's also worth mentioning that ranged covers laser rifles etc. and I think it would be worth splitting bows and rifles in terms of skills because by the closing hours of the game I was wiping out enemies en masse with laser/plasma rifles even though at heart I had chosen the medieval/Beserker route.

I loved every minute of the game bar the final chapter really. Not because it was bad per say but because I'm an OCD explorer and by the end I had seen everything more or less and there is a strange sadness to realising you've seen it all. I also regret doing almost every quest available before picking a faction and next play through I will pace myself a bit better because you miss out on some of the satisfaction by doing some of these quests early when you are under-powered and maybe run in grab something and run out avoiding enemies whereas later on having chosen a faction you might be able to complete the quests by taking them on. Neither is the right or wrong way to complete a quest but I personally would feel better doing it the second way.

Completing quests early also meant by the final chapter I had virtually nothing bar main quests to deal with. Perhaps there are new side-quests that become available but other than travelling the world to talk to all named NPCs I'm not sure how I would find them. If there are though let me know.

I also agree translation as usual from PB was dodgy. 'Cold' for one should at the very least have been 'Coldness'. Then I wouldn't have been wondering for the first several hours of the game what the hell Cold was.

Finally I thought all the loot was fixed bar dead bodies as per usual with PB. Did you test the game and find randomly generated loot in chests etc.?

Detailed as usual, thumb up.

I have to comment on something:

I've seen a few reviews claim that the game looks dated, which baffles me. Dated compared to what?

Dunno how you missed quite a few low resolution textures. For example in Clerics' base the ground sometimes look so blurry as if was ripped out from Gothic 1.
Unlike mainstream media however me, a graphics whore, have a bigger problem with horrible hair than with irrelevant surfaces. The same media can't praise more other horrible hair games, but they don't dare to call such hair outdated although it de facto is. All they care about is texture resolution. More important stuff like frames per second don't matter to them.

Thanks Maylander!

Add me to the 'many hours, not finished' list. As others have said, the good outweighs the bad …and I know that my even more positive bias comes from loving PB style of games. Definitely missing KaiRo on the music as well!

For me the review is too long … but I read it all anyway

Nice review and I agree with the review overall. But disagree on the dated comment. Having played current games this game isn't on par with more high-end (or modded) games. I spend a lot of my time on visual quality in games for screenshots and ELEX is certainly nice to look at but it isn't on par, to me at least, with some of the bigger titles.

It doesn't matter to me but it was just the part of the review I disagreed with simply because I have played better looking games.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
Nice review and I agree with the review overall. But disagree on the dated comment. Having played current games this game isn't on par with more high-end (or modded) games. I spend a lot of my time on visual quality in games for screenshots and ELEX is certainly nice to look at but it isn't on par, to me at least, with some of the bigger titles.

It doesn't matter to me but it was just the part of the review I disagreed with simply because I have played better looking games.

Well it is a 50E game compared to 60E that true AAA games with AAA graphics cost.

Great review !
Haven't played the game, but your review explains the true reasons it get so much flak from mainstream press.

Definitely the next on my "to play" list.

Originally Posted by the_dagon
Great review !
Haven't played the game, but your review explains the true reasons it get so much flak from mainstream press.

Definitely the next on my "to play" list.

For me it is on the "wait one year and review again play list"

Originally Posted by BrianOConnell
Completing quests early also meant by the final chapter I had virtually nothing bar main quests to deal with. Perhaps there are new side-quests that become available but other than travelling the world to talk to all named NPCs I'm not sure how I would find them. If there are though let me know.

Yeah, you can complete the majority of the minor quests in the first chapter if you want to take the time to do it. PB's games have always been that way. I like how they leave that choice to the player though.

Originally Posted by BrianOConnell
Finally I thought all the loot was fixed bar dead bodies as per usual with PB. Did you test the game and find randomly generated loot in chests etc.?

All the loot is hand-placed as far as I know. I never saw loot change no matter how many times I reloaded.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
Nice review and I agree with the review overall. But disagree on the dated comment. Having played current games this game isn't on par with more high-end (or modded) games. I spend a lot of my time on visual quality in games for screenshots and ELEX is certainly nice to look at but it isn't on par, to me at least, with some of the bigger titles.

I don't. While it's not as strong visually as the best recent games, I wouldn't call it dated. I also think the art direction makes up for what it lacks from a technical standpoint. Plus I don't think it's fair to compare it to other games after they've been modded.

I have no issues with the graphics…I just found it really hard to get around the robotic NPC's and horrible writing, I'm sure I will go back to this eventually though.

Originally Posted by rune_74
I have no issues with the graphics…I just found it really hard to get around the robotic NPC's and horrible writing, I'm sure I will go back to this eventually though.

I thought the writing and quest design was really good for the most part. Are you talking about dialogue? If so, I agree the dialogue is inconsistent, but that seems more like it's due to translation issues than the actual writing.

Thanks for the great review. I'm really excited about playing this one. Maybe I'm in the minority but I think its a good thing that Pirahna Bites keeps developing new worlds with different flavours.

I'm currently playing and I'd give it about a 75 score. The world is big and full of glowie stuff to pick, but the actual gameplay is lacking for my taste.

Regarding translations:
Details have surfaced that prove that the English translation is total bollocks (as in, more a rewrite than a translation, for no reason at all) - and all other non-German languages are based on that nonsense translation instead of the German one.

So, if you do know German, I'd strongly suggest playing in German.

As for proof:
https://imgur.com/a/1PK4D
Source:
http://community.elexgame.com/thread…tion-is-a-mess

Here's an actual translation of the German text:
-But why the clerics?
-They are the TRUE hipocrites of Magalan.
-Their strongest weapon is infiltration. They act behind your back and finish you off before even YOU realize it.
- They proclaim their false faith and act as if they were the world's police.
- They are far more dangerous than even the albs.

Compare that to what the actual English translations says. It's a rewrite!