The feeling pervades the entire RPG experience. Skills require trainers, which is a Piranha Bytes staple, but it’s a hassle to hunt them down, and everything is so expensive it comes off as an unnecessary grind to learn basic skills. You have attributes, but you’re given so many points that you can kind of just throw them wherever.

The inventory system is one of the worst I’ve seen, especially on console, where it can be downright frustrating to navigate. It’s an RPG, so you have the usual mechanics here.

I don’t want to say the alien design is a total ripoff of the Chitauri from the MCU, but… I ultimately wondered why they bothered with an alien threat versus going regular generic sandbox. And the hoops you have to jump through to get anyone to even think about fighting really undercuts the whole “extinction level threat” the game keeps telling you is imminent. Everyone sure mentions in passing how it’s a problem, but the game never takes the effort to actually show it. There’s a giant alien moon in the sky, and everyone’s still just chilling going through daily routines. The world’s factions and citizens are all seriously unconcerned about the whole alien invasion thing. The premise is never expanded upon, made interesting, or honestly even taken seriously. You’re an old retired soldier pulled out of said retirement to unite the people against an alien threat. And, when you’re releasing in the same window as Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077’s next gen version, and Destiny 2: The Witch Queen, it’s not the time to release it undercooked.Įlex II‘s premise is as generic as it comes. It’s generic, clunky, awkward, and just not fun. Gothic, Risen, both are franchises with issues, but also plenty of ambition and lots to love. Piranha Bytes’ games have mostly been the former for me. That, for a variety of reasons, fall short of any possible line I throw at it. That being said, there’s still some games that are just… not good. And it’s worked well for me, finding plenty of games to enjoy that other people pass on. I look for the things that work inside of otherwise questionable games, appreciating ambition and accepting when some things fall short. When it comes to gaming, I like to focus on the positive.

Elex ii gameplay