Within the first few hours of Elex II, Jax finds himself in a prominent role of establishing 'The 6th Power' a ludicrously on-the-nose named force that can counteract the oncoming alien invasion. The new Morkon and Alb factions give a little bit more variety here, but only slightly. There is some attempt at justification to try to explain why Jax isn't more well known or regarded for his role in the events of only a handful of years ago and why the factions have stayed quite stagnant, but the end result is that Elex II feels in many ways like a retread. While several returning characters do make appearances in Elex II, it feels as though a reset button was pushed with the events of the original game feeling like a distant memory. Not only are most of the original factions in a mostly unchanged state than they were after the events of the first game, Jax as a protagonist himself almost feels like a different character entirely. However, in Elex II I found myself running into these same impressions of 'overly manufactured-ness' again with the now five factions of Magalan. The framework was a bit stiff, but it ended up fitting the game well. Elex provided a lot of freedom to players to explore the game how they wished with clear consequences to their actions. Still, it was something that ended up feeling a bit of a nitpick to focus on as it was a new IP and a new cast of characters that the player could interact with.

It felt clearly designed around 'being a video game' rather than a believable world. In Elex, each of the three major factions has their own region of the map, sets of gear and abilities, and tiered 'ranks' that Jax would progress through after joining. While the original Elex felt a little bit manufactured in a way to have the idea of 'Factions' so clearly delineated across the continent, it was something that didn't really bother me too much. Jax, an ex-Alb commander, once again finds himself made aware of the looming threat and in a position to attempt to align the various factions against these new alien invaders. Similar to Elex, the primary premise of Elex II is that the Factions of the world of Magalan must be united against a common enemy, this time against a new alien threat known as the Skyands. The Berserker, Cleric, and Outlaw factions of the original Elex are joined by new factions of the Morkon and the Albs - the original game's antagonists.

Unfortunately, not only does Elex II not improve upon the original game, I find it a hard game to recommend to anyone besides the most ardent die-hard fans of Elex. The potential behind an Elex II was something I have been genuinely excited about ever since, to see if developer Piranha Bytes would be able to take the foundation of the first game and improve on some of the shortcomings behind the game's combat, presentation, world design, and overall level of polish. Elex is a game that I often recommend to fans of RPGs, even if it comes with a few caveats to manage expectations. Additionally, the premise of uniting different factions against a common threat, while maybe a little well-worn, was executed pretty well. While Elex was a clunky and ostensibly ugly game at times, I grew to really appreciate its strengths in solid quest writing and detailed quest design. I reviewed the original Elex back in 2018 based on some positive word of mouth and impressions from friends.

Elex 2 initial release date