From the same developers that brought you the Gothic series, comes Elex. A world shattered by a cataclysmic event. An asteroid strike rains down destruction upon the world hundreds of years prior, leaving factions split and scattered around the world of Magalan. You're thrust into the world as Jax, a devoted soldier of the Albs that has now been left for you dead. You need to gather yourself, piece together the mystery of your failure and change the future as you explore the world.
This game will give you the feeling that you're back playing Gothic. The character models and animations are all very similar to what Piranha Bytes delivered years go with Gothic. This time around you're not strictly left to magic, swords and shields. There are other types of weapons you can obtain such as crossbows, bolt gun, laser gun, grenades and so on.
Starting out can be a bit tough when it comes to combat. It reminds me of the difficulty that Gothic games gave at the start - you're weak and trying to overcome your adversaries takes good timing with the swing of your weapon, parry or outright dodging their attacks. You do have stamina you need to be aware of and it drains fast if you strike constantly over and over or keep trying to dodge....if you're not careful you'll find yourself out of stamina fast and unable to properly attack or avoid damage. Thankfully the stamina bar refills fast, but you still need to be aware of your actions.
Each weapon and set of armor takes specific stats to utilize. Basic weapons and armor can be equipped from the start, but the better items require you to decided how you want to branch out your stats as you level up. If you don't put enough points into strength or dexterity, you won't be able to use better bows and one handed weapons. Maybe you found a laser gun, but you're intelligence is too low to use it....you need to see what stats are required for any weapon you wish to use and plan on building those stats as you level up. You'll have many choices of how you want to progress when it comes to combat.
The voice acting, well, it falls a little flat. There are a few characters that are done well, but most others are monotone and dull. It makes a lot of the conversations you have hard to sit through so you can learn the story. Your decisions in conversations will shape your outcome with others as the story goes on. You'll also be restricted in some of your conversation choices, depending on what skills you train in.
The world looks pretty, but that's about it. The character models are aged and feel like something out of Gothic III. You'll also notice and even recognize that some of the creatures you fight throughout the game resemble the same creatures from the Gothic series. Combat, being up close and personal can be one of the toughest ways to handle fighting. Magic and ranged weapons can dish out good damage on most NPCs or creatures before they get a chance to get to you. If you decide to utilize a plasma gun, just chance the fire option (default key is F) so you're not just shooting a basic plasma blast, but instead you're shooting an explosive shot. This shot will knock mid-sized and down creatures over - along with NPCs - and makes the combat a cake walk. You can even use a third fire option from plasma guns to shoot an EMP and any robot you come across will simply stand there as you shoot it to death.
As for weapons, you can learn skills to upgrade them from parts you collect. When you do upgrade a weapon, just be aware the a more powerful weapon requires higher stats to use. You may find out that the bow you upgraded, you need an extra 5-10 dexterity to use the upgraded version. Be cautious before you upgrade. Some weapons do have sockets you can put crystals into, you find these from exploring. They add small benefits to you such as boosting overall damage for you or for your companion.
Companions, you will find 5 or 6 different ones that you can eventually work with. In the game, you can only have 1 companion following you at a time. While the companions can help battle with you, their AI isn't very impressive. At times I'd be engaged and the companion wouldn't help or would simply run right into the fray and get knocked out (them being knocked out usually doesn't last long) - they cannot die, but do get knocked out very often. Each companion has some kind of mini-side story you can help them with as you progress through the game. Some are more entertaining than others, but they're good ways to earn exp and find items.
I'd suggest that you pick up anything and everything that you can, that doesn't give a red color mouse pointer (anything red means you'd be stealing and if anyone sees you take those items, you'll have a fight on your hands, so be careful of what you're grabbing).
The world is large and even after 48 hours of playing the game I still had spots on the map that I didn't visit. I spent my time befriending the Beserkers and going up the ranks with them. I could have opted to be an Outlaw or Cleric instead, but I decided to do things with the Beserkers. Perhaps another play through with another faction may lead me to some of the areas of the map I never did visit.
Overall, the game was decent enough to keep me entertained, but it sure lacked in some areas such as NPC character models feeling dated, the overly simplistic ease of combat once I found a plasma gun. The story feels a bit stretched out and not well pieced together at times. With everything in the game that I did and including the quests I didn't do for Outlaws and Clerics - you could easily spend 80+ hours in the game. If you enjoyed Gothic, Gothic II and thought Gothic III was decent enough, then you'll have fun with Elex. The game isn't perfect and does feel overly easy once you make it upwards towards level 20-25, but it should do well enough for someone to spend a good 18+ hours for a single play through.