Elex II is a weird science fantasy RPG that doesn't care about you at all, and I respect that

2 years 5 months ago

The original Elex was divisive, to say the least. It was a game in which I was perpetually lonely and confused and being battered to death by carcinogenic poultry, but it must have been a profitable enough venture on its own terms to warrant a follow-up. That follow-up is Elex II, which is still several months away from release right now, but one I've been playing an early preview build of recently, showing off the first chapter of the game.

I was talking to Graham (RPS in peace) about this and he said: "Eventually one of these RPG sci-fi fantasy things will get close enough to being a BioWare game that it makes loads of money." This being the games equivalent of monkeys and typewriters. But although I agreed with Graham at the time, I think comparing it to BioWare might be mistaking the particular appeal of Elex II. It would be too simple to say that I "enjoyed" the hours I have spent with it so far. I didn't not enjoy it. I mostly came away respecting it for how little it respected me. Like the popular kids on the playground making life so difficult for you that you wish to become best friends with them.

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Author
Alice Bell