Elex

One thin could be say for sure about Pyranha Bytes - nobody else is making games like them. I mean in in the good and bad way. Games made by them are original and has many great ideas, but also they are almost always unpolished and not well-thought out. And Elex istn't any different, although it is worse than their best game in my opinion, which is Gothic 2.

This game is different from the previous titles made by this developer, because this time the setting is not high-fantasy, but it is mixed with sci-fi elements. It's not a bad idea. Sure, you can point out many inconsistencies in the world, but they are not that jarring and most of them can be explained without stretching logic out too much.

The main problem with this game, which becomes apparent very early it's the difficulty level. Sure Gothic also wasn't easy in the beginning, but this time developers went too far. For approximately ten hours almost every fight will be really hard. And, on the other hand, later, when you got your hands on better weapons...almost no fight will be a challenge, including the final one. Difficulty of the game is broken. The other major issue I have with this game is a balance between factions. You have to join one of the three, but unfortunately one of them is really weak (Outlaws) and from the gameplay point of view there is no good reason to join them.

Although the world of the game is pretty big there is really not much to do. Sure, you can explore it (if you manage to beat the beasts you will meet), but there's not much to do besides collecting stuff. Yeah you will learn a little about history of Magalan (the planet on which events of the game take place), but is it really interesting enough to justify the time wasted during fight with creatures? I don't think so. I think that there should be more side-quests, it would make a game a little more interesting and a little easier, because player would have more opportunites to earn experience points (the fight don't gie much of these which is not a bad thing, considering circumstances).

The other issue I have with this game is clunky combat system. Seriously I know that's nothing new in PB games, but I feel that this time it is actually worse than before. To be honest melee combat is really annoying. Character reacts too slow and sometimes you are getting hit, although you are clearly out of opponents reach. It gets really annoying. Another annoying thing is the fact that you can't save the game after the cutscene, so if you die and reload you have to click through it.

The best part of the game is flying with jet-pack. It's really cool and I had much joy with using it whenever I can. It's really fun that you don't need to swim through some river, you can just fly over it. It's also very useful when you need to escape from opponents which occurs pretty often, especially in early stages of the game. Generally speaking, it's really cool. Story is ok, although it's nothing special, but it's interesting enough.

It's a shame that the interactions with companions are so limited, because some of them have interesting backstories, but unfortunately game doesn't really build on them, it's a wasted opportunity. There are also romances, but it looks like they are included only to claim "look we have romances, like every other RPG!", because they are...let's say rather underwhelming. They consist of some dialogues and one scene. To be honest if they didn't exist nothing of value would be lost.

For the most of this reveiw I've been complaining, but I've sam with this game. Sure, it is far from perfect and many things should be done better, but all in all it was a pleasant experience. Flying with jetpack is really cool.