So, other than the occasional weird stuttering, the game runs pretty well overall. I can't complain much. Getting 45-ish FPS in a few towns, though. Might need to tweak a setting or two to get that to 60, as there is a bit more lag/noticeable choppiness in those spots.
That said, PB are geniuses. Their Genome Engine is very impressive to me. I can't believe simple things, like how much grass covers the ground at one time. 2006, Oblivion had grass that basically grew in front of your eyes, 20 feet around you as you walk. In Gothic III, you can look over a huge field and see it completely, I mean completely covered in grass, swaying in the breeze and even unique spots that look like wheat fields and so on. And STILL the FPS is close to 95-100! Crazy stuff.
I did edit some .ini settings to increase overall draw distance, but even enemies pop-in at ridiculously far distances. You can stand on a mountain cliff, look over a valley and see tiny little ant-sized enemies moving way in the distance. I couldn't believe how far the view distance was for that as well. And the settlements, which I've found 2 of so far, feel huge and large-scale. Much larger than most other games this size. And these 2 settlements are so close together on this GIANT map, wow. The game/engine somehow pulls this all off and stays fairly stable other than the weird stutter issue.
And to top it off, every game they've made has been in this same engine?! Wow. ELEX included in that. I don't know how they managed to do all of this but whatever it is, it's impressive. I always liked their stuff but never realized just how talented the folks there really are/were.
As for the game, enjoying it a lot after 10 hours or so, which is finally when I started to learn combat.
Melee is very rewarding as you have to time attacks and react properly. The backing up while shooting arrows is a bit weird, though. I take it that early/low level enemies can be handled that way, but tougher enemies will catch you and you can't outrun them. I end up fighting like Legolas or something, run away, jump on a rock and shoot an orc between the eyes. Rinse and repeat.
I do wish they'd patch the engine or something to scale text at high resolution. That and the occasional stutter are the two main issues, but the game is still very playable.
Good stuff. Just wanted to share my thoughts on the engine and a bit more of the game. It's cool so far.