Story and Gameplay

While the original ELEX had it’s own charm and appeal, getting thrown into the story and gameplay of Piranha Bytes latest janky RPG, ELEX II, is like stepping out of a warm shower into a cold blizzard. First off, I really can’t explain too much about the story as it goes in million different directions right off the bat. Our main character is fighting off an alien invasion, his house gets destroyed by a purple ball of electricity, he gets bit by a funky looking alien creature, gets knocked out, is rescued then all of sudden has a flashback of his son that for no good reason at all looks like a young Alice Cooper. Don’t believe me? Check out the screenshot below. The dialogue is equally as sketchy as the cliched story. There are some bright moments here but very few to even mention.

Onto gameplay, it pretty much matches the story. A bag of trail mix but you end up getting mostly the raisins that nobody wants. Combat is janky and disjointed, animations all are over the place, the inventory and crafting system is ancient at best while the only redeeming factor is the pure freedom you have to explore a massive world as with most Piranha Bytes games. There is plenty to see and so but you have to be pretty forgiving to truly enjoy it.

Audio and Visuals

The audiovisual portion of ELEX II are some of the strongest parts of the game… with a massive disclaimer in both arenas. First off, here are some sound effects, music bits, and voice acting that are really good. On the flip side, a lot of it is just pure cringe-inducing as characters swear their way through the braindead story and some sound effects sound like they came from a cheap sci-fi movie. It’s an odd mixture of quality and just low budget jank.

Graphically speaking, it’s about the same as the sound. There are some truly gorgeous moments that pushed my 3080 Ti to the max and then most areas look like some of PBytes older games from 10+ years ago. It’s absolutely jarring as the game switches between a modern showcase to a clunky eyesore. Also, a lot of ugly areas strained my PC to the max which means it’s just poorly optimized.

Replayability

Sure, I guess you could replay ELEX II but… why? Some decisions and dialogue choices I guess but to be honest, the story and characters aren’t really intriguing enough to really go back and see any different outcomes. There are plenty of secrets to be found but you can get most of those on your first playthrough for sure.

What It Could Have Done Better

This is a very difficult area to tackle as there is so much that it could have done better. Like most Piranha Bytes games from the past, you know what you are getting yourself into here but this could have used at least six to twelve more months of polish and tweaking. This game truly feels like an early beta and while there is some true potential of a good game here, it’s buried under too much ambition with very little polish. Everything writing, bugs, incomplete animations, and more are a start.

Verdict

In the end, there are just too many good, polished, and intriguing games in existence today to recommend ELEX II. I had very low expectations coming into the game and I was let down even on those. Maybe the devs will release a patched, remastered, or re-launch the game in some form but until then, I could name dozens of other games you could put $50 down on. Even though the graphical engine is more powerful, you’d be better off buying and playing the first ELEX game at a fraction of the cost.