Elex 2 is a third-person action role-playing game (ARPG) by Piranha Bytes. The games by this German studio are so unique in terms of atmosphere and playstyle, they might as well be their own subgenre within ARPGs. That's why I'll refer to the collective works of Piranha Bytes as 'PB games' in this review.

Elex was definitely the best PB game since Risen, and maybe even since Gothic 2. Elex 2 continues this trend and manages to top its predecessor.

Elex 2 has a true open world with exciting and dangerous places to discover. It has five joinable factions, each having a distinct philosophy and memorable NPCs. It offers choices that matter in the long run, and it has noticeable character progression.

But Elex 2 does have its flaws, as well. The melee combat can feel clunky (yes, again!) and the attribute system is little else than a platform for skill and weapon requirements.

If you're into PB games and especially Elex, you'll like or even love Elex2. If you're into ARPGs but aren't sure about PB games, first you need to answer two questions. 1. Do you expect games to be perfectly polished? 2. Do you expect to be a god who can kill anything in his way from the very beginning of a game? If you answered 'yes' to either question, Elex 2 is not for you. If you think you can accept some flaws and a difficulty curve, provided the other aspects of ARPGs are present and excitingly so, you may want to give Elex 2 a chance.



You play Jax, a former Alb commander. In the first Elex game, he saves the world from a threat, only to find out years later that there is another related threat that requires him to take up the role of reluctant saviour of the planet Magalan once again.



Gameplay is typical third-person ARPG with three types of combat: melee, ranged and magic.

For some reason, melee combat is often the worst part of PB games. In Gothic, Gothic 2 and Risen, melee combat was okay, but in their other games it was pretty bad. In Elex there was some improvement but a ranged build was still superior to a melee build, In Elex 2, the melee combat is a bit better than it was in Elex, but the execution still causes frustration due to the clunky combat.

So ranged combat is a lot more enjoyable. There is a wide range of ranged weapons in Elex 2. Bows and crossbows, as seen in the Gothic series. Guns, as seen in the last two Risen games. And you'll also be able to use flamethrowers, harpoon guns, laser rifles, and so on.

Magic is a valid option but not as overpowered as it was in some previous PB games. Both the Berserker and Alb factions have decent magic spells but you will want to invest in another weapon type (melee or ranged) for the times where you’re out of magical power.

Elex 2 has classic character development. You gain XP by completing quests and killing opponents. When you level up, you can increase attributes and abilities. You need to increase your attributes to learn better abilities and to equip better weapons. The attribute increase by itself doesn’t make you much stronger. For every 5 points invested in an attribute, you gain 1 point. For example, every 5 points you invest in dexterity will increase your ranged damage by one. When your ranged weapons deal 500+ damage, a +1 bonus means nothing.

The factions are satisfyingly different and they each offer strong and weak points. Also, some factions can only be joined after you’ve reached a certain rank in another faction. This adds to replayability.

The jetpack from the first game gets a huge upgrade. Again, it adds an additional dimension to the game world, because you can explore the roofs of buildings and towers and such, and often get rewarded for it. But in Elex 2 you can upgrade the jetpack by adding more fuel so as to be able to stay in the air longer, you can learn how to float in the air while using your weapons to pick off enemies, and so on.

PB games never start out easy. Elex 2 is no exception but to me it felt like the easiest PB game to surmount that initial difficulty curve.



The graphics of Elex 2 aren't triple-A quality. To hide this a bit, PB decided to cover the world in a permanent fog. I think this was a bad choice. I even made a guide that explains how to reduce or remove the fog. And although the graphics still don't look perfect after that little tweak, I think the world of Elex is a lot nicer than its creators gave themselves credit for.

The music is atmospheric but not memorable. The quality of the sound effects is okay.

The voice acting is decent to good. I have to stress that lip syncing is amazing in this game. I don’t remember a game where the lip sync was so spot on that I took notice of it. Even though the game was originally in German, the English voiceover goes with the most perfect lip sync I ever saw, so Elex 2 deserves a very special nomination for that.



Elex 2 has 6 Steam Trading Cards. You'll get 3 while running the game.

The 50 Steam Achievements are extremely varied. There are some story-related achievements, some faction-related achievements, some achievements that require you to collect a series of items scattered across the game world, some achievements that require you to do menial tasks like killing x opponents by means of y, or collecting x amount of elexit (the currency in the game).

[i]Elex 2[/i] is a third-person action role-playing game (ARPG) by Piranha Bytes. The games by this German studio are so unique in terms of atmosphere and playstyle, they might as well be their own subgenre within ARPGs. That's why I'll refer to the collective works of Piranha Bytes as 'PB games' in this review. [i]Elex[/i] was definitely the best PB game since Risen, and maybe even since Gothic 2. [i]Elex 2[/i] continues this trend and manages to top its predecessor. Elex 2 has a true open world with exciting and dangerous places to discover. It has five joinable factions, each having a distinct philosophy and memorable NPCs. It offers choices that matter in the long run, and it has noticeable character progression. But [i]Elex 2[/i] does have its flaws, as well. The melee combat can feel clunky (yes, again!) and the attribute system is little else than a platform for skill and weapon requirements. If you're into PB games and especially [i]Elex[/i], you'll like or even love [i]Elex2[/i]. If you're into ARPGs but aren't sure about PB games, first you need to answer two questions. 1. Do you expect games to be perfectly polished? 2. Do you expect to be a god who can kill anything in his way from the very beginning of a game? If you answered 'yes' to either question, [i]Elex 2[/i] is not for you. If you think you can accept some flaws and a difficulty curve, provided the other aspects of ARPGs are present and excitingly so, you may want to give [i]Elex 2[/i] a chance. [h1]The story[/h1] You play Jax, a former Alb commander. In the first Elex game, he saves the world from a threat, only to find out years later that there is another related threat that requires him to take up the role of reluctant saviour of the planet Magalan once again. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] Gameplay is typical third-person ARPG with three types of combat: melee, ranged and magic. For some reason, melee combat is often the worst part of PB games. In Gothic, Gothic 2 and Risen, melee combat was okay, but in their other games it was pretty bad. In Elex there was some improvement but a ranged build was still superior to a melee build, In Elex 2, the melee combat is a bit better than it was in Elex, but the execution still causes frustration due to the clunky combat. So ranged combat is a lot more enjoyable. There is a wide range of ranged weapons in [i]Elex 2[/i]. Bows and crossbows, as seen in the Gothic series. Guns, as seen in the last two Risen games. And you'll also be able to use flamethrowers, harpoon guns, laser rifles, and so on. Magic is a valid option but not as overpowered as it was in some previous PB games. Both the Berserker and Alb factions have decent magic spells but you will want to invest in another weapon type (melee or ranged) for the times where you’re out of magical power. [i]Elex 2[/i] has classic character development. You gain XP by completing quests and killing opponents. When you level up, you can increase attributes and abilities. You need to increase your attributes to learn better abilities and to equip better weapons. The attribute increase by itself doesn’t make you much stronger. For every 5 points invested in an attribute, you gain 1 point. For example, every 5 points you invest in dexterity will increase your ranged damage by one. When your ranged weapons deal 500+ damage, a +1 bonus means nothing. The factions are satisfyingly different and they each offer strong and weak points. Also, some factions can only be joined after you’ve reached a certain rank in another faction. This adds to replayability. The jetpack from the first game gets a huge upgrade. Again, it adds an additional dimension to the game world, because you can explore the roofs of buildings and towers and such, and often get rewarded for it. But in [i]Elex 2[/i] you can upgrade the jetpack by adding more fuel so as to be able to stay in the air longer, you can learn how to float in the air while using your weapons to pick off enemies, and so on. PB games never start out easy. [i]Elex 2[/i] is no exception but to me it felt like the easiest PB game to surmount that initial difficulty curve. [h1]Graphics and sound[/h1] The graphics of [i]Elex 2[/i] aren't triple-A quality. To hide this a bit, PB decided to cover the world in a permanent fog. I think this was a bad choice. I even made a guide that explains how to reduce or remove the fog. And although the graphics still don't look perfect after that little tweak, I think the world of Elex is a lot nicer than its creators gave themselves credit for. The music is atmospheric but not memorable. The quality of the sound effects is okay. The voice acting is decent to good. I have to stress that lip syncing is amazing in this game. I don’t remember a game where the lip sync was so spot on that I took notice of it. Even though the game was originally in German, the English voiceover goes with the most perfect lip sync I ever saw, so [i]Elex 2[/i] deserves a very special nomination for that. [h1]On Steam's extra features[/h1] [i]Elex 2[/i] has 6 Steam Trading Cards. You'll get 3 while running the game. The 50 Steam Achievements are extremely varied. There are some story-related achievements, some faction-related achievements, some achievements that require you to collect a series of items scattered across the game world, some achievements that require you to do menial tasks like killing x opponents by means of y, or collecting x amount of elexit (the currency in the game).