

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
