Everyone is an arsehole to everyone else. While the world-building remains some of Piranha Bytes’ best work, the characters within and their interactions are often maddening. Companions will join you throughout the game, reacting to your actions in ways that will inform their opinion of you and certain elements of the narrative similar to, say, Fallout 4. When aliens invade the planet of Magalan and bring with them a new, dangerous, purple version of the magical Elex compound, dubbed “Dark Elex”, Jax’s house gets flattened and he must make the long, arduous, five-minute journey to where Caja, his estranged ex-wife is leader of a convenient faction to throw in with. Presumably after the first game Jax should have a John Wick-style basement under his house with enough ordnance and body armour to outfit a small army, but no. No special abilities and no gear, just a stick and some cloth clothes. Anyone expecting to pick up where you left off, progression-wise, will be disappointed.
You play Jax, protagonist of the first game, living a very basic life out in the wilderness. Unfortunately though, despite the sci-fi leanings, Elex 2 follows Piranha Bytes’ established pattern of being stuck firmly in the past. It improved a lot on their existing systems, delivering a large-scale RPG that won them a few new fans thanks to the change of setting. Sadly, Piranha Bytes never seem to learn this lesson.Īfter Risen 3 failed to set the world alight, Piranha turned their attention to science fiction with Elex. When the space between what you want to do and what you’re capable of doing is so vast, you need to address that. And I suspect it’s that ambition that’s the problem. Both mid-tier studios with ambition that overshadowed their budget, but enough heart to somehow make their affectionately-nicknamed “Eurojank” titles endearing.īut with the release of Spiders’ Greedfall, and this offering from Piranha Bytes, the gulf has grown considerably. Once upon a time, long before Elex 2 was announced, I’d have put Piranha Bytes in the same category as Spiders.
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