Elex II Hands On Impressions

Release Date: March 1, 2022

Developer: Piranha Bytes

Publisher: THQ Nordic

Engine: Genome Engine

Genres: Role-Playing Adventure, Third Person Melee/Shooter

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows

Before I write this hands on ELEX 2 article I have to pimp my ELEX 2 Video Gallery Playlist article I just wrote an hour ago. I have over 50 ELEX 2 gameplay videos in said gallery you can watch if you choose to. Last week I played quite a bit of Piranha Bytes post apocalyptic jetpack jankfest ELEX II.

Now, I have played ELEX and thought it was a rough gaming experience on the Playstation 4. ELEX 2 has janky animations and clunky as all hell gameplay but so far is a better experience than it’s predecessor running on the Xbox Series X.

The story of ELEX 2 takes place some years after ELEX. The protagonist Jax has a kid now. He’s living a life of a hermit in the woods until some alien crash lands on Magalan (planet of Elex). Jax gets infected after fighting a few alien monsters in the game’s prologue.

The story reads cheesy and corny doesn’t it? That’s because the story is indeed goofy. At least so far it is. Visuals and graphics are a step up on the Xbox Series X. The open world of Magalan has that static lifeless look with improved texture work.

ELEX 2 is a bonified role-playing game. You have melee, ranged weapons that you can craft and upgrade. I’m not sure being still early in-game if you can wield true magic. I assume you can since I see so many mages in Magalan. Creatures like raptors and human scavengers litter the open world with combat opportunities.

Leveling up seemed slow but important as you have to choose the correct abilities to wield certain weapons etc. One thing I enjoyed in ELEX 2 was the simple loop of talk to an NPC, choose dialogue choices then do the quest. Rinse and repeat. This game will keep you busy for a long time. It’s supposedly a long RPG.

I admit I did get somewhat lost in the world of ELEX 2 (in a good way). There is so much food to loot. You can cook and craft food as well. I don’t know why but I like looting chili con carne and potato-salad from abandoned houses. The overall presentation of ELEX 2 minus the classic Euro-jank I enjoyed it.

This is an rpg you cannot rush. Take your time and do those fetch quests gamer! Most of the combat involved me swinging a plain sword and shooting a bow. ELEX 2 has cool supertech weapons and armor which I couldn’t use due to being under-leveled.

The world has huge tribe style cities and outposts where Jax must convince the leaders to join the fight against the aliens. I beaten the first two chapters and haven’t come near to convincing any leader yet. ELEX 2 is a slow burn methodical RPG with lots of dialogue tree NPC interactions.

You can attain many quests and not touch the main quests for hours on end. ELEX 2 was a game that reviewed super low and pretty high on occasion. If a gun was to my head right now I would say ELEX 2 is a 6/10 game. Doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun wasting time because I did. ELEX 2 is just one of those “type” of RPGs. Thank you for reading – Jason