Elex II

Most evident in its clunky, annoying combat system, Elex 2 is living in a janky Euro RPG past that its closest peers have nearly all transcended by now.

Elex II is an ambitious and slightly bonkers open world RPG hampered by badly written and unpleasant characters.

Elex II is an initially promising but ultimately disappointing RPG that fails to be better than the original.

Elex II can be entertaining in all the wrong ways, but as a sequel, it's just more of the same.

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.

Elex II is a uniquely ambitious game made by a developer that already focuses on ambitious games, and Piranha Bytes almost stuck the landing.

Although Piranha Bytes' Elex 2 is not without its minor shortcomings, it is the definition of what all open-world RPGs should be.

ELEX II fails even to work as a video game.

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.

The great things that Elex 2 brings to the table are overshadowed by what a buggy, buggy mess it is.