E3 2021 has been lacking a little in the “metal as fuck” department. Fortunately, THQ Nordic and ELEX 2 are here to correct that oversight.
The original ELEX was a game you had to work very hard to love. It was the essence of Eurojank: a punishingly difficult RPG made harder by some atrocious lag, glitches galore, rubbish AI, basically zero balance, dodgy performance, consistent crashes at launch, a ton of systems that weren’t well developed (or well thought out), poor explanations for basic stats and mechanics, and combat design that basically encouraged save scumming en masse.
And yet when Patricia played ELEX, she still loved it.
Recently, it took me days to complete a single quest because I kept getting distracted by a cool thing that popped up, whether it was a bandit hideout, a lake infested with monsters, or a series of notes that hinted at a mysterious quest. I have to write down everything to keep myself vaguely track. It’s the best.
ELEX‘s greatest strength was a charm that shone throughout regardless. And ELEX 2 certainly seems like it has a strong sense of what it wants to be: in your face, angry, flashy, and metal as all hell.
Honestly, I’m chuffed to bits. ELEX was one of those games that could have been so good if the developers had the opportunity to refine some of its rougher sides. Tons of games lack that strong identity, a spirit to shine through the jank.
ELEX never had that problem, and it sure as hell seems like ELEX 2 doesn’t either. It’s launching on current and last-gen consoles, PC, but not the Nintendo Switch. There’s no release date at the time of writing.
For those who played the original and have some history with the game, here’s the setup for the sequel:
The planet Magalan has seen some rather peaceful years after the Events of ELEX I: old factions have been vanquished, new factions have risen. The Berserkers’ attempts to regrow and terraform the lands have started to bear fruit. After the defeat of the Hybrid, the Albs are no longer a threat. However, our hero – Jax – returns with knowledge of a new menace that’s casting a shadow over Magalan. It falls to Jax to unite these different factions together to face this darkness together.
Oh, and also: you can fly.
I’ll bet a fiver that the flying ends up being buggy as all hell somehow, but it’ll still put a massive grin on my face every time I do it. ELEX has that kind of quality, after all. If you’re keen, there’s more info here on the official Steam page.
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