ELEX

Elex is an admittedly janky game that does more than enough world building to provide a solid roleplaying experience in a fairly large and engaging open world. To be totally clear, it's not anything like a polished product. Among the not insubstantial number of elements that deserve criticism, the voice acting in particular comes off amateurish, and the combat is not at all fluid until you acquire basic skills and items at least 5-10 hours after the start (even then, let's be honest, it's still rough around the edges). Another aspect to highlight that is somewhat jarring early on is that the game world is not neatly arranged zone wise from easy to hard or early to late game - in other words, just beyond the present immediate area you may find yourself, you might discover several mobs that are impossible for your character to currently handle. This is not at all totally random, however, and the post-apocaplytic setting has main towns and roads that you should stick to at the start to avoid overwhelming enemies. There are also, even now in 2025, more than a few (minor) bugs, although I haven't come across anything gamebreaking.
Regardless, I found that for all its faults, there are corresponding strengths and creature comforts that keep the title enjoyable - there's no player inventory weight limit, no enemy scaling, plenty of teleport stations that are always accessible from the map after being discovered, lots of detailed locations to discover rewarding exploration with bits or sometimes heaps of loot (yes, much of it is generic "junk" with no purpose other than vending), a faction system that impacts both your character build and questing that's not too restrictive while still allowing important allegiances, and player progression feels rewarding, especially in the face of the initial weakness of your character at the beginning of the story. You have to work to find ways to improve and progress in the world of Magalan, but on balance, the effort is enjoyable and feels worthwhile. The cherry on top for me is the central plot, which feels like more than the sum of its parts, and has become engrossing as I've gotten familiar with the game of Elex as a whole. The game successfully expands upon its world and your place in it, as well as mostly providing impressions of agency and consequence for the player in a meaningful and intelligible way as you make decisions working your way through the story, as one would usually hope from a true CRPG.
I recommend it for anyone looking for an action oriented fantasy and sci-fi roleplaying title who is willing to overlook more than a handful of flaws for the bigger picture.
I've also played this title a bit on the Steam Deck and it plays well on the device out of the box.

The early game is rough, like really rough. Everything kills you and its a slog to move anywhere, but once you get into it and get your first levels and new wepons, the game is really fun honestly.

This game runs perfectly on Steam Deck.
At first, it may seem a somewhat generic RPG with 3 opposing and different factions to support, undermine, or join. That is actually still the feeling many hours into the game - the combat and enemies are uninspired, overtuned, and usually offer little reward compared to completing tasks for people - and surprisingly that is where the game shines!
NPCs will lie to you in this game and it isnt obvious, they have their own plans and some task outcomes effect other NPCs and their tasks for you. Plenty of tasks/missions/quests have multiple solutions, and you get a jetpack almost immediately.
Its a decent and unique RPG, I just wish the combat was better tuned and exciting.

Janky. Slow. Tedious. Prepare for that. Amazing character progression. Fun lore. Choice and consequence is actually conflicting. Hard to ever feel like you did the right thing. If you like a slow well earned sense of character progression then its a great game. the game is probably objectively mediocre, but subjectively it's
fantastic! I'm gonna play all of their games now...

First off, most criticisms the game received are valid, e.g. clunky combat, weird animations and subpar voice acting. It is certainly a far-from-perfect game.
But this game has its merits and imo is definitely recommendable especially on sale. The RPG elements are what actually drew me into the game. As a forgotten amnesic soldier, you get to choose which faction to side with and learn their abilities accordingly. This is already a big plus because it creates strong immersion. Weapons have a good variety but I don't feel they differ much to give you more choices in combat, but the combat itself is fine for me. Story is well paced, you can feel that the story is progressing while still taking your time to explore different places or doing side quests.
Overall a 7/10 for me, definitely worthing getting on sale when it often gets a 90% discount now in 2025.

Elex is not an accessible game and doesn't make a great first impression but it deserves more than one chance. Fans of Piranha Games should prepare themselves for more of what they love (but they must accept a strange fantasy & sci-fi mix).

What Amazing Level Design ! I mean if youre into cool overland zones, you gotta see this. The game curve is VERY high, so be prepared for a more than usual difficult game. But, I gotta say, I hope this level designer gets into making the next MMO, because I mean truly unique, awesome zones, areas...! Very Good Graphics BD