Since the release of the original Gothic in 2001, Piranha Bytes has garnered a legion of fans for its RPGs for hardcore gamers. Elex 2 is the latest video game from the developer, and despite fulfilling the promise of giving life to a truly open and ambitious role-playing experience, it leaves a certain bitter aftertaste due to certain design decisions and optimization failures.
The approach of Elex 2 is tremendously simple: it is a Extremely free RPG that allows the player to enjoy the adventure as he pleases. This translates into the fact that, after a brief tutorial in which they present us with the most basic mechanics, we are released into the middle of the world with a single objective: to stop the invasion that is taking place in Magalán, giving us some general clues but making it clear that we are going to be able to do whatever we want when facing the plot. Precisely this freedom means that the decisions we make are going to be the ones that shape our adventure. After the first few hours, it’s time to choose How are we going to face the war? and it is that the different factions offer different advantages and, by obligation of the plot, it will be time to join one. Some of these factions are at odds with each other, as well as each offering different advantages, ranging from unique magic to weapons capable of dealing devastating damage.
The history It gets tangled little by little as we advance in the main mission, although I must admit that it has not managed to catch me especially. Despite continuing with the events that happened in the first part, I have not particularly empathized with any character, and there is no problem with that, since it is far from the central axis of the game. The characters are just one more part of a game that is much more focused on exploration and discovery than on its rich plot.
The worst of the narrative part of the game are, without a doubt, the cinematics. There is an absurd amount of cinematics within the game (lots of flashbacks from the first game), and the worst thing is that many of them jump arbitrarily when reaching a certain area or when crossing paths with certain characters. This means that on several occasions you will be in the middle of a fight and a cinematic will skip that you will not be able to remove, greatly breaking the rhythm of the game.
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Exploration is the central axis of the game, and the developer has been in charge of forcing us to go through Magalán from beginning to end if we want to get all the chicha out of it. In addition to the loot scattered around the map, the instructor system (the only ones capable of teaching us how to improve our skills) forces us to visit all the settlements and buildings that we find, the reward being new skills or discovering new vendors.
The combat of ELEX 2, one of lime and another of sand
The Bastion will be the place that we will visit the most during the plot
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: the fight. Whoever expected a reimagining of the combat system of the first Elex is going to be disappointed, and that is that the essence remains exactly the same. Melee combat still feels terribly clunky, though the roll option adds some variety. We’re still the same though: ranged weapons feel a heck of a lot more powerful, and while it’s nice to have a combination of the two I’ve ended up always using my trusty shotgun to get me through the last third of the game.
Although these ranged weapons feel absolutely devastating, it is impossible not to appreciate the enormous amount of options that we find in the game. Several factions (Albos, Berserkers, and Morkonos) have unique combat spells, while the rest have unique recipes and other perks. It is quite satisfying to try options until you find the key, and that is that one of the things that I have liked the most about Elex 2 has been the search for the most optimal combat formula.
Encounters with certain types of enemies can make things difficult for us
After starting with a melee weapon, I moved on to bows, finding more and more powerful options as I progressed through the story. This depends entirely on each player, and I think it is one of the things that is most enjoyed in this type of title. Piranha Bytes puts us in front of a good handful of “unfair” situations in which we are faced with waves and waves of enemies, and there is nothing more satisfying than finding a way to overcome these situations with solvency.
Elex 2 is not intended to be a balanced game, and I think that’s a fantastic thing. The most dedicated players have a million ways to approach the game, while those looking for the most “broken” solutions also have a good handful of hours of research ahead of them.
What I am very grateful for is the teleportation system. It is a fantastic feeling to explore the region in search of these key points, and the more we discover, the easier it will be to move around the map to complete the different missions of the game. As has been said before, the developer has known how to encourage exploration in really satisfactory ways.
Teleports will be our best ally
The most important addition in terms of in-game mechanics is the jet pack, which allows us to fly for a short period of time, although we can extend this range of flight with the relevant improvements that we will unlock as we explore. And although on paper it is a very attractive idea, I find it hard to believe that the world has been designed with the jetpack in mind, and that is that on more than one occasion we will be able to escape from adverse situations or reach inaccessible places with this resource .
The most important addition in terms of mechanics is the jetpackIs the jetpack something that gives the player even more freedom? Of course, but there is also the feeling that we can abuse this option a lot. The last major mechanic in the game is the experience system, which is still something that we have already seen in other titles of the genre. With each level, we will get 10 points to distribute among the 5 game attributes (Strength, Complexion, Dexterity, Intelligence and Ingenuity), attributes that will also be closely linked to skills.
Each level will give us a skill point that we can invest as long as let’s know which instructor teaches it. This means that on many occasions we will have many skill points without investing if we have not found the instructor on duty or we have not obtained the necessary attribute points.
A technical section that does not comply
The skill system is quite interesting
This is where the vast majority of complaints about the game come from me. Elex 2 is a trip to the past in many ways, and the graphic section It is one of them. It doesn’t look like a game of this generation, and it is more similar to what was seen in the first bars of the previous one. The textures, models and landscapes feel poor, and although there is a good variety of enemies many of them use the same base, only changing their appearance (something that, on the other hand, we already see in other games).
The sound section complies, without further ado, and although the dubbing is appreciated, I must say that the translation It has not been the best in the world. I have found quite a few spelling errors, in addition to the occasional somewhat strange translation. Those who know English will have no problem, but those who don’t will encounter somewhat strange phrases in certain conversations.
The search for the Instructors is a key point of the game
Where I have come to get angry with the game is in optimization. Elex 2 has given me 15 fatal errors in the 32 hours I’ve spent on it. 15. There is nothing that takes me out of a game more than a crash. Taking into account that the game has been run on a Ryzen 7 5800X with 32 GB of RAM and a 3070, so it does not seem that the faults come precisely from the PC. They’ve all happened randomly during combat, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get day 1 patch
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