Actually, completed ELEX couple of weeks ago - and why not to leave small report about this pretty good game?
ELEX is Piranha Bytes game at heart and by design choices - and along with Risen 1 and Gothic 1 (both are pretty BASED ARPG's of previous development cycles) - it is a very enjoyable game, and even with some parts of the game that i do not like, ELEX stands amongst other creations of recent years. I do not going to rate ELEX numerically, but will provide "points" going for ELEX and going against ELEX, conversly:
(+) Faction design is strong point, for sure - and this is strong point in all good PB games. I joined Outlaws and Fort, personally, during run where i completed game - but been tickling around with Berserks as well (completing some missions for them, but fucking up others, haha) and it been not a dissapointing at all. Exploration and item placement aspects in ELEX making things i really love in ARPG's and in immersive sims - searching dumpsters, abandoned buildings, hidden caches for goodies - both worth it and allowing to progress in game slightly faster. Relatively big, but not empty world is good thing as well, crafting system is optional and i been using it often (even if it is a slightly broken).
Enemy design and weapon design are not as good as in Risen 1, in my opinion, but it still satisfying to use most options and encounter enemies. Jetpack is awesome thing for exploration and encountering opponents, nothing much else to say.
(~) Combat System generally serves it's function and a lot of enemies can provide quick death to player, especially early-mid game, BUT combat system is slightly clunky, not as polished as it can be. Something similar to Dark Souls 1-2 / Surge can make combat more satisfying and visceral.
Companions and quests serve their function as well, but not too memorable.
(-) Not a very good balance between weapons, skills, secondary items - and most "charisma / social" skills are dissapointing, honestly. Worst thing in ELEX is character progression and sense of power level - it is almost broken, sadly. Most of the game Jax will be underpowered and player rarely can quickly kill enemies - but can be raped in seconds; later Jax rarely will feel any problems with combat. Here is my personal preference, but usually i prefer enemies that can be killed quickly, but can kill player just as quick - so here is both challenge and satisfaction. Again, this is my 50 cents.
P.S. After ELEX i actually want to replay Gothic 2 and try Risen 3.
