3) ELEX (PC)
I had never played a Piranha Bytes game, but I had always been curious from the effusive praise from fans I'd read over the years, specifically regarding the Gothic franchise. I wanted to see what their style was all about for myself, and despite having the Gothic and Risen franchises in my backlog, I was in the mood for something a bit more recent, so I decided to fire up their latest offering in the form of a new franchise titled ELEX. I went in knowing that their games are fairly niche and it seems you either "get it" or you don't, without too much of a middle ground, but I knew they had a reputation for freedom and lack of hand-holding, so I was pretty sure that I would find something to enjoy and so I dove in.
The game begins with a comet hitting the surface of Magalan, an Earth-like planet with many of the familiar elements we know in our own daily lives. The comet brings with it a substance called Elex, appropriately enough, in addition to the massive destruction and depopulation inherent in such an event. It doesn't take long before we realize that this mysterious, otherworldly substance is going to play an important role in the development of whatever new society is birthed from the wreckage of the old. There is a power to this material that has been scattered across the globe and the people of Magalan use it for a variety of purposes, from money (from shards), to magic (in its pure form) to drugs that offer enhancements to natural abilities. Elex is everywhere and everyone seems to want it for some reason or other.
Speaking of divergent interests, ELEX offers an interesting take on the (re)building of society, post-apocalypse. There are 4 primary groups vying for control of the shape of the future (well 5 actually) - 3 (plus 1 additional that comes into play later in the game) of which are open to the player. You may align with the Berzerkers, the Clerics or the Outlaws. The first group we are introduced to is the Berzerkers and they have a vision for restoring Magalan to a more natural state that existed well prior to the comet's arrival. They are attempting to nurture something called "world hearts" which have an effect of causing nature to flourish again in areas where things were less lush and alive. These "seeds" of the new world are treasured and treated with ultimate respect and defended vigorously. Ultimately they look upon this new world as an opportunity to make the world as it used to be in a pre-technological society, a simpler, more grounded and naturally harmonious way of life. The Clerics are a group that, in contrast to the Berzerkers, want to embrace technology. They've got fancy high-tech armor and weapons, and they believe these things were given to them by their god, Calaan, whom they worship with a cultish zeal. Finally, we have the Outlaws who, in true Mad Max style, live in the desert and embrace a "me-first/money-first" mentality. They have no strict rules, and live by the notion that all is essentially chaos so you better get yours while you can, a concept that is quite at odds with the notion of any
group in my view, but they've managed to have a loose sort of society nonetheless. All of these groups had their drawbacks, but I felt the strongest pull towards the Berzerkers and their love of the natural world. I'm a bit of a Luddite at heart, despite the irony of me making that comment in reference to playing a video game on a device birthed via modern technology. Nevertheless, I often feel a yearning for a more natural world, and despite the Berzerker's dogmatism (as with all the other groups) - of which I'm not a fan - they were the least objectionable option for me.
Finally there is a group that everyone seems to hate that are central to the overall conflict (a group not available to the player), the Albs. They were the first to wholeheartedly embrace the elex and they've changed quite dramatically as a result. Elex seems to have an effect of causing detachment from any sort of emotion, and as they've used the substance, they've evolved into something that is coldly rational and quite antagonistic to what they view to be weak human emotions. But they are out to conquer all of Magalan, and so they present a persistent and common enemy to the other groups as they seek to obtain all available elex for themselves and their leader, a being known as The Hybrid, a being who they believe will lead the way to a higher form of evolution. And their use of elex along with the substance’s origins and (intended) purpose are revealed as the story plays out. Without spoiling things, the source of elex itself was quite interesting, and coming to understand what it was all about was pretty compelling.
The interesting thing about all these various factions is just how different they are. You've got the traditional fantasy presentation of the Berzerkers with their swords and old-school armors and use of (elex enabled) magic blended with the sci-fi Clerics and the desert-dwelling Mad-Max outlaws. It was a really odd marriage of wildly differing styles all tossed into the same soup, and I've never played anything that felt so unique in its refusal to adopt a cohesive motif. It was very "kitchen-sinky" in that regard. It felt like the developers just said, "What the hell, put it
all in!" But somehow it still manages to engage, despite the peculiar mingling of flavors. This tug of war between drastically different objectives was both interesting and, naturally, quite chaotic. And choosing how you wanted to align yourself in this struggle for the vision of the future was a big part of the experience. The impact of your decisions on Jax, the protagonist, played out in a "cold meter" rather than a morality metric. The more emotional you were, the more your cold decreased and the more rational or detached in your choices, the more it increased. I followed a path of emotion to the extreme apparently as I got a rare achievement called "Human" for having a cold level below 10 by the end. (Note – you are never told in-game the actual number of this meter.)
In terms of the nuts and bolts of the game, you're tossed into an open world right from the start, free to go about things however you choose. It was very reminiscent of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls and Fallout titles in that regard. Things were just open, and you moved about as you wished. Almost immediately you are given access to an important tool in the world of Magalan. You wear a jet-pack on your back - it's rather small, like a bulky belt - and it allows you to boost up to higher areas or slow your descent from heights. It's limited in its thrust and requires cool down to recharge, so you have to use it judiciously in order to avoid being caught mid-air with nothing to slow your fatal plummet back to hard ground. The world of Magalan uses this tool to great effect. It's an incredibly varied world geographically with a great deal of verticality on display. So you'll often find yourself trying to decide if you can reach that next ledge high above or leaping off a giant precipice and free falling until finally feathering your jet-pack for a smooth landing - a sensation that never got old in my 90+ hours with the game.
There are plenty of opportunities to loot and plunder in the exploration of this world. Much of the spoils is mere detritus, an assortment of rather worthless odds and ends - from toilette paper to mugs, cups and silverware scattered about everywhere, but this junk still has some value in trade as money is very tough to come by, especially early on. Exploration is, nevertheless, rewarded in the finding of the occasional rare item or weapon, and it was always fun to look for that needle in the haystack. You'll never run short of items to stuff into your unlimited inventory. And the world itself was really attractive, spurring you on in the spirit of exploration. There were plenty of beautiful natural vistas along with modern tech from the Albs and Clerics as well as many ruins of the old world. There were also different climates from deserts to lush rain forests to snowy peaks and pretty much every geographical stereotype you would imagine. This variety made the world consistently enjoyable to wander.
One thing that really stood out in ELEX was the arc of progression. When you start out, you are really weak - I mean
REALLY weak. You will get one or two-shot killed by almost anything for a long while before it's possible to stand toe to toe with any opposition. For many that would certainly be a negative, but I found things to be engaging enough in terms of both narrative and world discovery that I didn't mind running from foes until I was able to grow and develop my character. There is an excellent sense of empowerment on offer to the patient here. By the end of things, I could stand face to face with the deadliest of foes, dishing out my preferred brand of pain. And that was really satisfying and felt well-earned in juxtaposition to the struggle in those early hours.
There were surely some downsides to ELEX. Piranha Bytes is a relatively small team - around 30 I believe, and that was evident at times with some elements. For example, you might encounter a character and engage in a conversation at the same time that an enemy is present, and the intense battle music will be playing throughout the conversation, which felt really strange. In one instance, there was a major transition into "Chapter 3" and in the scene there were many mutants wandering around. But their growling and animalistic noises drowned out the narration of Jax for this important narrative beat to the point that I couldn't hear much of what he said at all. Combat can also feel a bit weird until you get used to it. (I should mention that both ranged and close quarters fighting are viable options. I went primarily with sword and shield as a Berzerker, although I could have used bow and arrow or high-tech projectile weapons too. Everything is very flexible.) Hit boxes are sometimes off, especially at differing elevations, and you will find yourself swinging and missing although it appears contact was made visually. The character graphics could have often been better. The voice work could be hit or miss. And while I enjoyed the narrative, it was sometimes more in premise than execution. The freedom of the order to tackle things made some situations feel awkward in terms of story delivery at times as well as the language and dialogue construction itself sometimes being a bit hard to embrace. I'm always a "less-is-more" type in terms of storytelling though. I'd rather have things paired down to the vital essence, but if you want plenty of exposition and conversation, you'll find that here. ELEX also has little interest in making sure you understand everything. It's not going to go out of its way in making you comfortable with its systems and workings, so that could be a turn off for some. Personally, I was fine with discovering things on my own, but I know some don't like that. Overall, there were quite a fair number of issues that needed polish and attention. They didn't diminish the game too much for me, but it's clear that budget/team size can and does make a difference in terms of that final spit shine, especially, I imagine, in a game so vast as ELEX.
Overall though, I had a really good time with ELEX. It offered a unique, and often interesting, narrative and setting, a nice challenge and was just fun to explore and sight-see as a virtual tourist. As mentioned, I spent close to 100 hours with the game, and it was time well-spent. I know I'll miss having a jet-pack always on my back in other games. It's short of an all-time classic in my book, but that doesn't mean it wasn't great fun all the way through. 4/5.
, and probably some others have landed on my gaming screen. Some have been enjoyable and provided good fun, be they realistic or otherwise. But I've always been looking for a game that really replicated the feeling of being on the court. Enter Tennis Elbow 2013.
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