Introduction
The very first thing I noticed was that subtitles were not enabled by default, funny for a game developed by non-Anglo developers, Piranha Bytes. Anyway, I bought it yesterday from the Epic Games Store on sale. I was confused between this game and the Outward Definitive Edition. After playing it for an hour, I am confident that I have made a great choice. Outward appears to be a unique game, but many of its survival elements and lack of saving mechanics are very ambitious. Elex is rather simplified.
Gameplay
After showing a cinematic cutscene that I largely ignored, the game throws me into the world of Elex, which is called Magalan. The first thing I encountered was a monster that I avoided, and I entered some sort of makeshift facility. With a metal pipe in my hand, I killed the other mosnter lurking inside and looted everything that the facility had to offer. I met a friendly Berserker, Duras, and followed his path to his camp, Edan. He let me in as he was recruiting the survivors for his camp.
He later gave me a mission to solve a murder mystery. I put my marker to meet the closest suspect of the murder, a hunter. I realised that I have to follow the compass-like spherical radar that lacked the ability of showing roads or terrains. The bleeps were pretty small to follow, and I had to open my in-game map multiple times. And after some goofing around, I finished my first hour in this game.
Moving forward, I will divide the gameplay review into three sub-sections: traversal, combat, and interactions that I made with named characters.
Traversal
Traversal in Elex is pretty simple; you can walk, run, or fly. The jetpack is helpful to scale tall structures or mountains. Walking and running are the primary mechanisms to navigate the X-axis of the map. Fast travel points are available for you if you get stuck around enemies, although you have to find fast travel points to activate them first; however, fast travel won’t works during combat.
Combat gameplay
Combat is clunky and awkward, and it requires time to get used to it. In addition to it, you are feeble. You can not manage any sort of ranged weapon at the beginning of the game, and you die a lot. You have melee weapons at your disposal to deal with your enemies. However, some enemies can one-hit kill you. Stamina is a crucial yet limited resource in combat, since attacking, blocking/dodging an incoming attack, and running away require it. Stamina management is the name of the game. Thanks to the jetpack, you can recover your stamina mid-air, then land back on the surface and plan your attack, or run away, or just fly away from the combat. However, it didn’t really help me when a companion tagged along with me. Once they picked a fight, they committed to it.
Interactions with Named Characters or Companions
I experienced that some dialogues appeared before I had any information. Let me explain it. Upon arriving at the hunter camp, I interviewed him about the dead warrior. The game presented me with multiple options that I could pick to interview him. Strangely, one of the options was to confront the hunter about dislike for the victim straightaway, something Duras never mentioned.
Depending on your choice of response, you will either get colder or sympathetic in your behaviour. Certain options are also received friendly or harshly by the person you are talking to.
Regardless of that, you will get XP by talking. A unique feature that many games don’t have.
For better or worse, Elex doesn’t paraphrase, in contrast to many BioWare games. I don’t have much to express here; I think both are ok.
Quality of Life Features
On the one hand, this game offers lots of quality-of-life features that other games don’t have. On the other hand, it has its janks. I am going to list everything that I have encountered so far that falls in the category of “Quality of Life”:
- Skippable and pausable cutscenes.
- Customizable auto-save intervals.
- Manual save shows playtime and allows naming.
- Adjustable camera speed for both KBM and Gamepad.
- No fog of war on the map.
- The dialogues thread that triggers the quest is visible on the mission screen, along with the quest description.
- You can set mission markers directly from the mission screen.
Conclusion
Elex is unique in its own terms. The environment is skillfully crafted. The verticality is the name of the game. You can climb any tall structure or cliff you can see in this game, at least from what I have experienced in my first hour. The devs were confident enough to display the scale they had masterfully created. Not brave enough to facilitate a Photo mode, despite the impressive views. Nevertheless, it comes with janks that add complexity to the combat. Your character will be upgraded as you progress through the game, but clunkiness will remain.
If you want to experience a beautiful world or want a difficult challenge for a cheap price, especially considering how expensive Souls-like games often are, Elex is for you.
