Heck, there are whole classes of flying enemies that never stop pelting the player with projectiles from afar. This combat model simply doesn’t allow for crowd control in any meaningful way, and if Elex II wasn’t meant to be played with an AI partner constantly by Jax’s side, melee builds would be completely non-viable. It’s slow and repetitive, and this setup completely fails whenever there are multiple enemies attacking at once - which is most of the time. Human enemies block continuously unless they’re actually attacking, leaving players with no options but to parry their attacks or do power moves to break their defense. The developers have added parry-based staggering and stamina bars in an attempt to create a more complex battle flow than ELEX‘s hacking and slashing offered, but it doesn’t work. Shooting a creature doesn’t rock it - the shots just tick off damage until they die. Ranged combat is generally fine as there’s light lock-on aiming and plenty of amazing weapon types to try out, but it never feels more than functional and there’s no sense of impact. In a crucial failure for an action-RPG, the fighting just isn’t great. Unfortunately, ELEX 2‘s monsters fare better than the combat. They’re instantly arresting, and look nothing like the rest of the monsters, which does a great job of reinforcing just what their invasion represents. The new enemy class is similarly impressive - the Skyands have their own variety of mutants, all built around a purple/white color scheme with plenty of curves and spikes. ELEX looked fine for its time, but the developers have taken what were interesting concepts for monsters and rebuilt them in stunning detail, letting the player get a good look at every dripping fang and bulbous fold. Most of the first Elex‘s menagerie returns here, and the graphical improvements made to the coterie of disgusting mutants and huge monsters are something to behold. While there are plenty of quests which can be beaten via dialogue choices and skill checks, ‘A’ is the first letter in ARPG for a reason, and Jax will spend most of his time fighting a variety of monsters and soldiers. This feat is accomplished, predictably, by a lot of combat. With all this taken into account, it’s up to the player to power Jax back up, rebuild old alliances, and find a way to push strange purple aliens - dubbed “Skyands” - off of the planet. This left him a bitter, broken man, and to top it all off, he gets bitten by an alien in the opening sequence which provides an in-universe justification for why a legendary general has suddenly dropped back down in experience to level 1. He then spent the next ten years attempting to convince people to prepare for the onslaught, but had no success. As the credits rolled on ELEX, Jax had convinced three factions to unite against a common foe and discovered that an even greater enemy was on its way. The story picks up ten years after the ending of the last game, with the first hour offering a bracing dose of cynicism. This might feel capricious or alienating to fans of Elex, but the developers have a story they want to tell, and it’s good enough to justify stripping away some past agency in order to make sure it gets told.Īn action-RPG truly ambitious in concept, ELEX 2 builds on everything the previous game accomplished while also improving everything including the combat, the storytelling, main character Jax’s iconic jetpack and more. The first thing ELEX II does? It lets the player know that their choices were irrelevant since there’s a canon ending now, whether they like it or not. This freedom of choice was a major selling point. This even extended to the ending by offering a large number of options determining how the world of Magalan would be reshaped in the aftermath of the campaign. WTF There are two different monsters, both called “Rippers”.ĮLEX II opens with a dangerous move - the first game was a sprawling, open-world adventure unique in the freedom it gave players to approach its story and world at whatever pace they chose. LOW Trying to fight anything but the lowest-level monsters with a sword. HIGH The reveal of what’s going on with the villains. The All-Sprinkles Sundae Gets Another Scoop
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