ELEX II Reviews
Elex II is an initially promising but ultimately disappointing RPG that fails to be better than the original.
ELEX II fails even to work as a video game.
Review in Greek | Read full review
This studio came out with the intention of creating an ambitious role-playing title, but due to its aging game engine and negligence in polishing various parts of the game, it failed to achieve the vision it had expected. As a result, ELEX 2 in its current state is not worth its $60 tag and it will be a while before the developers can finally turn ELEX 2 into a playable title after multiple updates.
Review in Persian | Read full review
The great things that Elex 2 brings to the table are overshadowed by what a buggy, buggy mess it is.
It looks like Piranha Byte seems comfortable staying in its shell, as Elex 2 is keeping the things that the fans loved about the first game but they haven't made any attempt to raise the bar.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Elex II is a perfect continuation of the Piranha Bytes RPG formula, but it is unlikely to win over new fans. The graphics and gameplay are very similar to the first game and are beginning to feel increasingly dated, a feeling exacerbated by all the fantastic games released in the last few months. If you're already a fan of Piranha Bytes then this is exactly what you've been waiting for, for good and ill.
Elex II is a particular game, to say the least. If you were a fan of the initial game, you're going to like this one. But if you didn't play it, you could have an unsatisfactory experience. The idea of a minimalist HUD is striking, an open world that you must explore to discover its secrets, difficulty in combat. But there are many things that do not become satisfactory, the main one being combat. Elex II does not manage to get out of that feeling that you are playing a retro game, having launched in the middle of 2022.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Like most RPG’s Jax will not save the world alone, Elex 2 does offer some companions to take along on the journey. Only one at a time can accompany the player but because the AI is so laughably bad in this game, they really only serve a purpose as a ‘meat shield’. Honestly, my companions were getting dropped more than they were hitting enemies in almost every instance. It was about this time that I really began to wonder what people were talking about when they praised the original game so much. Maybe it is that much better than this one, but Elex 2 is pretty bad. Worse than that I personally didn’t find it fun, no disrespect to those that love it. As I said at the outset, I don’t mind ‘janky’ games, but Elex 2 was just ‘bridge too far’ for me.
Elex 2 brings us a game where its complexity is the player's ally to shape his path in this story, without needing to have played the prequel. However it feels somewhat empty and disappointing, with too much genericity, dragging excessively to culminate in an experience that doesn't add much to the player.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Elex II is a baffling game. The combat is clunky and can be very difficult, and the game has more than a few bugs, with other issues like a glacial pace. However, the game is genuinely interesting to explore and fun, for all its problems - and there are many. The story and its turns are engaging, and it's impossible not to see the care and enthusiasm from Piranha Bytes. Elex II is Eurojank, and I can't help but enjoy it because of (or despite, take your pick) that.
Magalan is an unforgiving world. But I have my fair share of help in Elex II. Only time will tell if it will be enough. Elex II continues the story of the former Alb, Jax. He must wage war against an extra-terrestrial threat. But the fragile alliances he'll form may end everyone before the threat does.
ELEX II offers plenty of new and familiar content that should satisfy the players of the first game, but it comes with a lot of technical issues.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
This may have stood a minor chance in the bone dry days of summer, but with so many truly remarkable open world experiences currently on offer at the moment, it’s tough to see why anyone would opt for Elex II.
Elex 2 is so full of problems, asking consumers to pay full price is ridiculous.
ELEX II is like a weathered veteran donning their armor for one more campaign, ready to show the youngsters some of the old tricks they may have foolishly forgotten. It's a brand-new game that somehow feels like it has a grey beard - it feels dated, in good and in bad ways. I personally enjoyed it thoroughly and I was happy to start it back up each day, eager to carry on playing because products like this one, ones that don't just play homage to the classics but rather play like the classics, are few and far between. Given the size of the team behind ELEX II it's remarkable that they've managed to push out a project this good - Piranha, you've done it again. Once again, you release a game that's bigger, better and prettier than its predecessors, and I hope you'll continue doing so for many years to come.
While ELEX II’s core gameplay could be dismissed as traditional or dated, the way all the elements of the world interact with you and one another is what creates the magic.
ELEX II is a good example of being in the right place but at the wrong time. It's a great action role playing with some killer gameplay mechanisms and quest designs, but it just can't compete at the moment, and thus not getting the attention it deserves.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Elex 2 is basically a typical Piranha Bytes game with everything that comes with it. The good and the bad. And while it's probably technically inferior to the first one, it's much better in storytelling, content, mechanics, and world-building. It has all the things that were missing from the first game. It's fun, it draws you into its magical world, and it won't let you go until dozens of hours later if you give it a chance. But that can be problematic, as the game's technical state, weird 3D models, animations, and crappy optimization can effectively put you off in the first hour of play. Ultimately, it's just fun. But at what cost?
Review in Czech | Read full review
Elex 2 looks exactly like the first, with a campaign almost identical to its predecessor, with very few innovations introduced, but still presenting some improvements in the graphic, technical and stylistic side. It is certainly a game suitable for an audience accustomed to open world with sci-fantasy settings, but which, like its predecessor, will probably not be able to reach a large portion of the public.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The usual strengths of Piranha Bytes games are downed by archaic mechanics.
Review in Russian | Read full review