ELEX II is the action RPG follow-up to Piranha Bytes’ 2017 ELEX. The game is once again published by THQ Nordic. Piranha Bytes has canonized the most popular player choices from the first entry. Commander Jax rebelled against the Albs, and along with the Berserker Caja destroyed the technological Hybrid. The world settled for a time, allowing Jax and Caja to raise a son, Dex. However, an unexpected new alien threat called the Skyand has arrived. In a twist of fate, Jax is saved by Hybrid’s former human host, Adam Dawkins who plans to raise a new faction - the 6th Power - to save humanity.
 

Players are immediately whisked into the world of Magalan with only sparse exposition. Characters, events, and places fly by without much explanation, with a clear focus on returning players that already cleared the original ELEX. There is notable favoritism in tone towards supporting the magical Berserkers, being mistrustful of Elex consuming Albs, and loathing other factions like the Outlaws and Morkons. 

The first order of business is to improve The 6th Power base known as Bastion. This at first includes killing wild animals, defeating Skyand scouting parties, and fortifying Bastion’s outer defenses. Soon it becomes clear that Jax will need to recruit others to help man the base while he is out adventuring. However, even his closest allies like Nasty and Angrim are too busy with their own affairs to help. 
 

Jax will need to undergo many other sub-quests to free up the support of the person they really want. Unfortunately, many of these quest chains have little semblance of balancing, progression, or suggested minimum level. Adam could give a request to a level 2, unarmored Jax that takes him halfway across Magalan to face a horde of heavily armed snipers, all capable of massacring the player in two hits. ELEX II does emphasize this to try and encourage players to mostly explore, find missions off the beaten path, and leave the main story for later.

While Magalan is geographically identical to the first title, ELEX II populates the world with new encounters and adventures. Factions like the Albs, Clerics, and Berserkers are still on the home turf, but the personnel has changed. Jax’s old friends will assist when meeting him, while rivals are still scornful. 
 

To help get to these far-off locations faster, players once again start off with a jetpack. This allows quick vertical movement, and can even prevent fall damage if used at the correct time. There are also plenty of teleporters to allow fast travel, though each needs to be manually activated at least once.

By leveling up, Jax can improve one of five attribute points: Strength grants more melee damage, Constitution more total hit points, Dexterity increased damage with bows and guns, Intelligence improved Elex imbued magic, and Cunning for critical chance and social options. One can also visit trainers who can unlock special abilities towards combat, crafting, and social. Every ability has stat requirements, nudging players to not just focus on a single trait. Finally, with Jax leaving the emotionless Albs the previous “Cold” mechanic has been inverted to “Destruction”, with it increasing each time players act aggressive and lowering when taking passive options.
 

Despite several years of development, combat hasn’t been overly improved since ELEX. Jax still moves stiffly, with most attack options being a simple light or heavy swing. Equipment stats – along with any buffs - will play a much more important role than what actions players choose in a fight. This makes the combat feel clunky and akin to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim more than skill-based RPG like in The Witch or Dark Souls series. To help flesh out any combat shortcomings, Jax can recruit five companions to bring along. Each has its own fighting style, making it worthwhile to mix and match the team. However, their AI isn’t very smart, often simply sitting there taking enemy hits while players do the brunt of the work.

ELEX II on the PlayStation 4 can have an initial long load time when first opening up the game. This is due to almost the entire world and characters being pre-loaded. Once in ELEX II proper, places will load in seamlessly allowing an excellent time traversing and gazing at the Magalan landscape. This is a tad contrasted by the rather surreal character models. Almost every NPC has dead eyes, especially children who seem to have been hastily modeled. Hair also has a rather clay-like texture, making it more believable when speaking to bald or helmet-wearing characters.
 

ELEX II does a rather poor job of onboarding new players to the setting of Magalan. The part post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, medieval fantasy mashup can be rather confusing at first glance. It can also be hard to care for Jax, Caja, Dex, and Adam if players have no history with them. It is highly recommended to finish ELEX first before diving into the sequel. 

Even then, some aspects of ELEX II devolve into a completely whacky tone. In one early side quest, pop-punk star Billy Idol showed up to sing his 2014 song Whisky and Pills for a crowd of dancing patrons, only to quickly disappear without context. Korn also provides ELEX II’s title theme song, though it is unclear if any members also exist on Magalan.
 

Overall, ELEX II is completely for the fans of the first game that want more of the same. It doesn’t change enough to impress those that didn’t already love ELEX, nor is it in a good place for first-timers. Still for those returning, ELEX II will offer lots of action and tough choices. Just be warned that this version of Jax may be nothing like how one previously played him.
 

Kurtis Seid, NoobFeed
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