ELEX is an ode to fans of Gothic and Risen, and fans will most likely be satisfied. How detailed the title is makes it clear: Piranha Bytes isn’t trying to cash in on an aging franchise. That being said, the issues cannot be brushed aside. It’s been nearly two decades since the studio published its first game, Gothic I, and what plagued the earlier titles plagues ELEX as well. And that, is a problem.
Black Day is an “Early Access” third person shooter with FPS elements. Rather than focusing on a set story and setting, Black Day is a military sandbox where players change the parameters of their missions. Featuring an experience-based progression system, Black Day rewards players for handicapping themselves via difficult obstacles with new equipment and maps. Helios Productions self proclaims this title as “very ambitious,” promising that they only want to provide an excellent final product. The promise of so many features, paired with the beauty of the Unreal Engine, begs the question; is it able to deliver on its ambition?
Andromeda is robust and delivers effectively on the key elements it advertises, and then goes above and beyond regarding play style tailoring and experienceable customization. That said, the characters look more at home in the Sims 3 era, and the dialog fails to be more than lackluster - cringe-worthy at times. Nevertheless, while Mass Effect: Andromeda proves a quality example of its genres, diehard fans of the Mass Effect universe and its original story should wait until BioWare patches the technical bugs, and the price point lowers.