ELEX

ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES, BUT RICHER THAN MOST OF THE COMPETITION.

$99.95 | PC, PS4, XO | www.pirahnabytes.com

Developed by the creators of cult RPG classics

Gothic and Risen, Elex is as rough around the edges as anyone familiar with Pirahna Bytes’ previous games would know, but it makes up for it with ambition. For anyone disappointed with the easygoing nature of Bethesda’s modern open-world RPGs, Elex offers something decidedly old school and intimidatingly freeform. Indeed, the first four hours of Elex will likely be spent wandering around in a daze, though it’ll be an interesting daze at least: this sci-fi/fantasy world is huge and rich, made all the better due to the protagonist’s jetpack.

The combat is bad, the voiceover and facial animations are bad, and many will come away from Elex thinking it’s very bad overall, but give it some time to flourish and you’ll find an open-world RPG with a depth no longer found in big budget games – though isometric affairs like Divinity: Original Sin are more polished and better written.

Don’t smoke, kids.

Turns out jetpacks are as flattering as VR headsets — ie, not at all flattering.