ELEX II is Piranha Bytes and THQ Nordic’s sequel that launched five years after the original game, bringing a huge new open world for players to explore and a colossal story filled with side quests and activities to distract them.
Does ELEX II require knowledge of ELEX’ story?
For newcomers to the game, ELEX II is not a must-have. To properly understand the plot, you’ll need some prior knowledge of ELEX’story, but you’ll also have a lot of fun piecing together the characters’ backstories from the dialogue.
While it’s tempting to jump straight into the sequel, sometimes it’s worth experiencing the first game in a series before doing so. This guide explains if you need to play Elex before heading into Elex II.
Should I play ELEX before ELEX II?
The answer is no, you don’t need to play ELEX before playing ELEX II. The second game has a lengthy intro sequence that explains most of the events of the first game, so the story of it will be spoiled regardless of whether you played it or not. This means that you can head into ELEX II with the board strokes of the story of Magalan under your belt.
ELEX II does a pretty solid job filling you in on most details, but there’s more context that can be gained from playing the original game, of course. As you play, characters will still fill you in on the backstory between Jax and themselves, offering you some of the knowledge you would have had if you completed the original game. The game’s mechanics aren’t vastly different, but playing the original will also help you better understand how to effectively play ELEX II.
However, this introduction only covers the main plot points of ELEX. We found many moments throughout the game’s story when characters will make references to past events from the first game that you won’t entirely understand if you didn’t play it. This doesn’t ruin the experience, but it does make it harder to understand at some points.
Thankfully, you don’t need this information to get your head around ELEX II’s story since it’s self-contained in a new version of Magalan.
So, no you don’t have to play ELEX before ELEX 2, but it’s not a bad idea to learn about the world ahead of time!
Do Saves and Choices from ELEX move to ELEX II?
Your choices from ELEX will not move over to ELEX 2, as static decisions from the first game are set in stone for the second. Per THQ regarding choices:
"They are static choices. Piranha Bytes analyzed player behaviour and found out that almost 90% of those who finished the game chose the same ending. This one has now become the official one. So there is NO save game transfer or anything at all."
ELEX 2 is a deep, story-rich, and vastly explorable game that released on March 1, 2022. For players who are fans of the series, or just looking to find out more about the new game – you can read our ELEX 2 review here.
Also check out this video by LastKnownMeal on ELEX 2: Everything You Need To Know Before Playing:
