“Gothic” in the world of “Mad Max” again – review of the game “Elex II”

Few productions divide the gaming community as much as these Piranha Bytes studios. Years pass, die-hard opponents clash with loyal groups of fans, and since the games themselves are still built around the same, hated or deemed necessary elements, there is no end to the conflict on the horizon. The second part of Elex will certainly not change the status quo presented in such a way.

The German developer has quite rightly made a name for himself as a studio that is not afraid to go against the current trends dominating among video games. The already cult series Gothic in its time was considered to be something that required a certain amount of self-denial to have fun. The technological and gameplay leap that has been made in the industry since its premiere, in turn, meant that a large part of the younger audience looks at titles like Risen or the said Elex as archaic curiosities for the Orthodox rather than games that can fight bestsellers. But is it really right?

Futuristic shock

From the setting side of Elex II , we return to the old, quite bizarre, sometimes combining the Middle Ages and magic with science fiction rubbish: for the second time we will be sitting on the Magalan planet in the skin of Jax, the protagonist of the first installment. After dealing with the Hybrid, he wanted to cut himself off from the chaos and destruction, hiding in the forest wilderness – and most likely would have let the world forget about him, had it not been for the aftermath of the final battle. For here, quite unexpectedly, the Celestials appear on the planet – mysterious, Hybrid-summoned beings whose sole purpose seems to be to gain complete dominance over Magalan. Our hero has nothing more than to roll up his sleeves and once again try to reconcile the opposing factions with each other, to finally stand up to a common enemy.

Already in the general view of the story that the continuation draws before us, it is quite clear that Elex II does not necessarily intend to break the patterns known from other Piranha Bytes productions. We have a hero whose task is to systematically gain the trust of individual groups functioning in the presented world, we also have dozens of tasks related to this approach, which, according to the “from zero to hero” scheme, at the beginning concern such trivial activities as clearing debris or dealing with a few people outlaw camp, but over time they will pose more and more serious challenges.

Along with this approach, the narrative characteristic of German developers is also traditionally presented. While from time to time we come across “climate-making” cutscenes, in the lion’s share of cases the exposure rests on the kilometer-long dialogue lines of NPCs encountered here and there. It is hard to call it a film style of story-telling and while fans of Gothic or Risen will certainly feel at home, the rest of them may get the impression that the whole thing looks like a dream. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to admit Elex IIthat in some extraordinary way all these grating in contact with each other narrative and script elements make up a whole that not only can be liked, but also can even stick with an unusual atmosphere after a dozen or so hours.

It is hard to hide that a well-thought-out presented world plays a big role in this state of affairs: The locations that are given to our free exploration are large, diverse, and densely filled with characters ready to commission us to side quests or tell a bit about the reality around us. In other words, then, we have a setting that has a life of its own, and if we just let it, it will show a second face. This is a skill that many developers with a much larger budget can envy the Germans – creating worlds that do not seem to be just beautiful eggs.

Grinding hard, leveling strong

As you go deeper and deeper into the story, you will find out that not only was it built once again on “gothic” foundations – the same applies to gameplay as well. As the word was said, our primary goal is to convince ourselves and, depending on our choices, join up to five different factions. Before we succeed, however, we will have to painstakingly gain the trust of other side characters while completing the tasks – we will not be able to deal with them without stress, unless we spend some time on methodical cleaning of the map from the weaker monsters and development. our character.

This, in turn, is based primarily on two interconnected systems – attribute points that allow you to develop the basic parameters of our hero, such as strength, body structure or vitality, and thus enable the use of better and better equipment (which can also be improved), and skill points that we spend on the teachers we meet during the adventure, necessary to master specific skill sets, such as blacksmithing or lockpicking. However, while the natural and satisfying character progress during the following hours of the game has always been a strong point of Piranha Bytes games, it is worth noting that, even in the first part of Elex, many recipients complained about the poor balance of the game and the extremely difficult first moments spent on Magalan. .

The continuation is much better in this respect. While the basics of the combat system have not changed, and we will continue to move between melee and ranged weapons in general, situations in which we say goodbye to life after one strike of the opponent are basically only at our own request – when in while exploring the map, we will venture into regions filled with much stronger hosts of enemies. The Rambo-style approach and joyful throwing into the vortex of the fight with a shout on your lips will by no means work here – however, if you do not mind playing the “garbage truck simulator” and thoroughly combing the visited places, after a few hours we will probably be armed with various types of potions and items that restore vitality yes,

Ah, those technical problems

Although Elex II undoubtedly can charm with the mood, as it is here with Piranha Bytes, the salt in the eye of the whole undoubtedly remains the technological aspects of production, which sometimes give the impression that German developers are stuck in the previous decade. In this case, the uneven video setting comes first – while there are spots during our trip that really play nicely with light and shadow, the sheer sharpness of textures and the design of the world can nudge the mouse. The models of characters with non-existent facial expressions look no better, whose rightful place seems to be a museum of wax figures or extremely troublesome nightmares.

The quality of the animation also deserves criticism, because this is, without exception, terrible wood – regardless of whether we are talking about a flail-like hand-to-hand fight or the interaction of our hero with the environment in the form of ladders or fences to jump over. All this looks almost bad and, especially in the first hours of the game, can be very immersive – especially if we have medium or low-end equipment. Just like its ax-blown gameplay, Elex II can be unforgivable for our hardware, mercilessly losing frames in random locations. Well, AAA production level is definitely not here.

You can dig the lying one further, as it is difficult to say much good about music – there are situations when it can drown out the spoken lines and, to put it mildly, “fail to adjust” to the events on the screen. Fortunately, there was a blink of an eye to long-time fans – I’m almost sure that among the sounds of the surroundings I heard samples taken straight from the first Gothic . Regarding the sound itself, however, it is worth mentioning the Polish dubbing, which I would boldly place next to the worst I’ve heard in video games so far.

Everything is terrible here – from inadequate intonation of individual issues, through exaggerated theatricality in acting out emotions, to the translation itself, which not only lacks any imagination, but sometimes even gives the impression that we are watching the conversations of people mentally functioning at the level of several-year-olds. I am aware of the harshness of these words and the fact that the prototype should probably be blamed to a large extent in the case of the last accusation … but from the perspective of the perfect locations, such as those we had on the occasion of The Witcher , it is hard to swallow – and it was by far the most common element of the game that tempted me to throw tangy comments at the screen.

Two sides of the coin

Ultimately, therefore, from the perspective of a modern recipient, Elex II looks like a twofold production. On the one hand, fans of the classics and characteristic solutions for Piranha Bytes production will not only feel at home here, but will also be enchanted by the world filled with curiosities. On the other hand, we have a product that is technologically different from the best – and costs money comparable to them. If I were to ultimately take one of the sides, I would recommend it primarily to players who, above all, appreciate the atmosphere and are able to turn a blind eye to some archaisms. If they show some patience in addition, the Elex IIit will reward them with many hours of extensive history and a satisfying setting. So is this an RPG for you? It’s worth taking a moment to think about it before buying. In this case, we are dealing with a definitely specific production.