This game was on so many Youtube game trailer channels back in 2016 and it was constantly on my radar before release because it seemed so cool. Then it released in 2017 and promptly disappeared. I rediscovered it on Steam last year and bought it during this year's summer sale.
The game has a post-apocalyptic setting with both sci-fi and fantasy elements working hand in hand and all of it has come from the mineral/substance called Elex that arrived with the comet that annihilated the old world. The current world is divided into four factions;
- the Berserkers live without technology and are set on regrowing the world with the help of World Hearts that they cultivate and which in return give them Mana - a form of Elex that supplies the Berserkers with magic;
- the Outlaws are a faction which only cares about profit and to get it they collect scrap, they are a wild and selfish bunch that follow no laws and live for freedom, but are also hooked up on chems;
- the Clerics follow the teachings of their deity Calaan and his prophet Arvid, they live for the accumulation of knowledge about everything and anything and they use Elex to power their technology;
- the Albs consume Elex in its natural form and they are all dependent on it, the Elex gives them power and strength and they strive to reach the next stage of evolution through consumption of Elex, unfortunately the most prevalent side effect of Elex consumption is to be stripped of emotion, and any Alb who chooses to leave the faction will have to deal with the turmoil of getting their emotions back - a lot of them end up killing themselves because they can't handle the realisation of what they did when they had no emotions, all Albs live as a sort of hive-mind serving the Hybrid who functions as their deity while the Albs themselves deny any religious tendencies.
The player character is Commander Jax, a high-ranking Alb who is sent on a solo mission in the beginning of the game only to have his aircraft shot down and being almost executed by his brother Kallax. Surviving the execution attempt and the crash Jax then finds himself on a personal quest of vengeance and maneouvering the world of emotions. With Elex gone from his system all the power and strength he had as an Alb commander is gone and he has to work himself up from the bottom again to be able to fulfill his quest and get his revenge. To get back his strength he moves through the three factions of the Free People (Berserkers, Outlaws and Clerics) eventually joining one of them.
The story as the game begins is that the Free People are warring amongst themselves while also fighting a losing war against the Albs. The Albs are on a mission to gather Elex for the Hybrid (All Elex to the Hybrid!) and to do this they have placed several Converters in the world. The Converters mine Elex from the ground, but they are also places to where Albs bring people to have the Elex wrought out of them, turning them into mindless husks dependent on Elex in the process (or simply killing them). Jax can choose to not care about the warring between the factions or he can choose, as an Outsider, to work to bring them together. The best example of this is the situation in The Domed City.
Gameplay wise this game has a pretty steep learning curve in the beginning. The best tips I found online to help with this is to 1). Turn off targeting because it will get you killed and 2). Turn off the battle prompts like Evade. The game doesn't tell you how to apply learning points a.k.a skill points. Each time you level up you get 10 attribute points to put into Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Cunning, and you also get 1 learning point. To be able to apply a learning point you first need to find the right trainer and when you do make sure you have enough Elexit (currency) to pay them and that you also have enough points into whatever attributes this skill demands. It's a lot to keep track of and for the first 3-5 levels I couldn't apply any learning points. Luckily the levels come pretty quickly even in the later stages of the game.
Everything hurts in the beginning and I did a lot more running away from monsters than fighting monsters, but it's incredibly satisfying to come back to that area at a later stage and completely decimate all the monsters there. In the early stages I only did sidequests in and around Goliet (the starting city) because the big wide world seemed so scary and daunting, considering that the small Critters outside the city gates hurt so badly.
The lore is amazing. I went on the side quest to find out the truth behind Calaan's prophet Arvid's teachings and what I found was so unexpected and cool. Same thing for the main quest to find out the Hybrid's origins. And Caja's companion quest... There are so many things adding to the lore and every little thing you discover just builds up the world and how it works. And exploring is so worth it because there are so many amazing places to uncover - but I recommend doing it past level 20 when you start to be able to hold your own against most monsters.
There are seven companions to unlock and gather in the game and it made me weirdly happy to have a gang again. I've missed having a gang ever since I played Dragon Age. Most amazingly this game incorporates the companion into any dialogue you're having and they react to what you say. The game will tell you if a companion approves of what you say and how much they like you. The two female companions, Caja and Nasty, are also available for romance if you can get their approval high enough. I kissed Caja mihihihi My favourite companion quickly became Falk and he's the main reason that I joined the Clerics (although the badass looking armour didn't hurt).
All in all I enjoyed this game way more than I thought I would and I almost didn't want to continue playing when I realised I only had the main quest left because I didn't want it to end. But end it did and now I can't wait for Elex 2 (which is actually in development), because the reveal at the end of Elex promises a very interesting story for any sequel.
