Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2017
ELEX
Developer Piranha Bytes
ELEX (Eclectic, Lavish, Exhilarating, Xenial) is a science fantasy-themed action role-playing video game developed by Piranha Bytes and published by THQ Nordic. It was released worldwide on 17 October 2017, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows. The game has been described as an "edgy, dark, uncompromising, and complex" post-apocalyptic sci-fi role-playing game where the protagonist joins the war for the powerful… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
76 reactions from 2 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 19, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
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| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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76 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
14,586 of 19,626 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
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Reactions
60 of 76 · most liked firstI am a fan of "Piranha Bytes". Undeniably, the "Gothic" series (and later "Risen") comes with plenty of technical and even gameplay-conceptual problems, with clunky inventory, controls, etc. Yet the plot is strong, the characters are interesting, and the quests are engaging. These worlds may not have a unique setting, but they are made with soul. The engine's technical flaws can be more than offset by writers and game designers, as proven by the excellent mod "The Chronicles Of Myrtana:…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a hard game to recommend because of bugs and the hardcore RPG style. This is not a bad game, but it is filled with lots of minor frustations. Even on Easy you will die a lot in the early game. This is the type of RPG where everything and everyone can kill you in 1 or 2 hits until you reach around level 20 or so. This means the early game is a lot of fetch quests and running around talking to people for other people or cheesing fights with range or save scumming. After the first 10-15…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game rather makes you level up trough questing more than from progression. In overworld pretty much 90% of the time you will come across the enemies that are much higher lvl than you and 1-2 tap you without much rhyme or reason even for gothic standards. The map is too big for its own good and there is not much to explore either. This game has surprising ammount of dead ends with some extra powerful enemy but it only rewards you with a 1 healing or mana potion and some scrap, not even any…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Elex is an admittedly janky game that does more than enough world building to provide a solid roleplaying experience in a fairly large and engaging open world. To be totally clear, it's not anything like a polished product. Among the not insubstantial number of elements that deserve criticism, the voice acting in particular comes off amateurish, and the combat is not at all fluid until you acquire basic skills and items at least 5-10 hours after the start (even then, let's be honest, it's still…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Elex, like so many other games, may not be perfect, but it's still a joy to play I've played Elex on console and now also on PC, and while I've had many frustrating moments, the game is unique, sometimes tough, a little janky, but very immersive and atmospheric. The studio Piranha Bytes (the creative minds behind the Gothic and Risen titles) may have closed, but don't let that stop you from playing this odd gem from a German developer. It'll scratch your sci-fi/fantasy rpg itch. The setting:…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It is a crime against humanity to keep this wonderful gem at mixed reviews. Despite the fact that Elex excedes many of the aspects Piranha Bytes is known to excel at, it was unjustly bashed by casual gamers who are incapable of understanding core gameplay mechanics. I have finished the game in its entirety on Ultra difficulty using nothing but melee weapons without the help of companions at any point. Therefore, I will absolutely derail each and every single one of these unjustified arguments…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just when I thought the game design couldn't get any worse, they hit me with the most abysmal ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bossfight I've ever seen. Because not only do I need to get through all the dialogue and cutscene when I die due to the sudden disappearance of the save feature, I also don't only fight the boss, but also some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Minions that respawn while being targeted by the boss with ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ missiles. How do you even achieve a Game this ass.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The early game is rough, like really rough. Everything kills you and its a slog to move anywhere, but once you get into it and get your first levels and new wepons, the game is really fun honestly.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Exploration was fun, and the story was passable enough for me to power through it by the end. Combat is acceptable if ranged, but melee is a no-go; I would not recommend it. There are some strong companion quests, but there is a lack of customizability in their skills, so don't expect Mass Effect-like depth with your companions—it is non-existent. The mouse and keyboard controls are quirky, and the inability to remap some skills was annoying. The game is missing many quality-of-life features.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought ELEX when it first came out, played it for maybe 20 hours and decided that it sucked, but maybe after some patches and expansions or something it would turn out alright. So when looking for something to play now in 2025 I decided to dust it off and give it another shot. Nope. Still sucks. The movement, combat, dialogue, characters, AI, cutscenes, every bit of it feels just like the original Gothic. A game released in 2001. This is not a compliment. I essentially beat this game out of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I still wanna pay somebody to make Elex playable in that stomp game
unlabelledView post →I am a 52 yo father, probably one of the oldest people playing ELEX. I am a single father to my Son, who is 14 now. My son found this game at Christmas, so we installed it on his computer and he started playing. By the end of the week he had 24 hours on this game. This was horrible for me, as it was already hard for me to find ways to spend time with my son, as he is always out with his friends or just watching YouTube. So I decided to make a Steam account and get this game to see if I could…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is my first Pirhanabytes game and I gotta say I'm very impressed. If you're a fan of open world double-A RPGs like Outward then you can't pass on this one - excellent worldbuilding, environmental storytelling, and player freedom. There is a lot of jank, most especially with the horrible combat, but the rest of the game was good enough for me to see past this. Don't even try to play the game vanilla - I played with the (mandatory) Elex Ultimate Overhaul which fixes a lot of the jank and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it's a bit janky, but 10,000x better than any of the woke excrement released lately.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quite possibly the greatest game ever made
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A gorgeous game, a clone of the famous Gothic, but with its own innovations. Excellent plot, crafting, guild entry system, there are several endings. I've played this series several times and it always feels good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I keep wanting to like this game, coming back to it for a couple hours here and there, but it feels like slamming my ♥♥♥♥ in a car door. I'm all for a hard game where you have to struggle at first, i love Gothic, i love Outward, etc, but the combination of a STEEP learning and difficulty curve combined with an extremely limited early play area in terms of content you can actually do and horrifically janky combat just makes it brutally unfun after from the moment you try to leave the starting…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Never in my life have I had such a complicated relationship with a game as I've had with Elex. I've spent 15 hours trying to get into it, in 30 different occasions and just couldn't. Then, it clicked. And God, is it great. truly. It has almost every single I aspect of what I love about video games, and it does it thoughtfully and wholly, even if jankily. A true Hybrid of Fallout-esque games with Soulslike frustration. Plus, in terms of story, it's a game that explores very interesting ideas…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Elex, you've been a crush of mine foreeeeever. You're fucking hot and I wanna game over under you-
unlabelledView post →Janky......that's what this game is. Takes far too long to level up, weapons you find you can't use, skill build-up is painfully slow, all creatures seem to have a one hit kill ability. Long range attacks are impossible to accomplish. A rusty sword does more damage than a plasma rifle...wut? Just glad i only paid 8 bucks for this. A bit more time in development and fine tuning the mechanics to balance things out, would have helped. Feels very rushed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I beat ELEX! What a...weird, robotic game, lol
unlabelledView post →First off, most criticisms the game received are valid, e.g. clunky combat, weird animations and subpar voice acting. It is certainly a far-from-perfect game. But this game has its merits and imo is definitely recommendable especially on sale. The RPG elements are what actually drew me into the game. As a forgotten amnesic soldier, you get to choose which faction to side with and learn their abilities accordingly. This is already a big plus because it creates strong immersion. Weapons have a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I do! One of them is a tav who is a dnd version of Faelon (my skyrim dragonborn), and I also have Elex who is one of Kane's pre-game/pre-tadpole lovers. Kane is just my favorite little guy.
unlabelledView post →this was me playing through Elex and going "god i love Piranha Bytes jank ass design that hasn't changed since 2000. i wonder if they've announced their next game?" embracer shut them down. but! they have reformed as a new studio (Pithead Studios) since, so there's a silver lining 🙏
unlabelledView post →Anyone sad about Piranha Bytes (Gothic, Elex) closing, this is the creative director + alums breaking off to found a new indie studio. So hopefully not the end of their kinda game!
unlabelledView post →ELEX is a game with an interesting idea. Mixing fantasy, science fiction, and classic RPG elements sounds great, and you can clearly see that Piranha Bytes wanted to create something different after Gothic and Risen. Sadly, the final result didn't fully work for me. The game definitely shows its age, especially when it comes to the graphics and some of the mechanics. My biggest problem was the beginning. It felt very slow, and I often found myself getting bored before the game finally…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Easily one of the greatest games I have ever played. It's like they took every single Heavy Metal Magazine and smashed them together. It's just one giant dumb power fantasy in a grim dark world that mish mashes every heavy metal genre together. It's great. It's just great. World design is beautiful and I just love getting lost in these worlds. I am playing this after Gothic 1 Remake and I can play these games forever they're so amazing. Looking forward to Elex 2 after this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Best autism representation in gaming history.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it is a great classic style rpg start for nothing work your way up
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Elex is a game taking place in MAGAland where you can join one of three factions the Boomer conservatives who see progress and technology as evil and will exile those who break their rules (berserkers), the radicalized militaristic evangelicals who will brainwash people to recruit them and embrace technology for militaristic expansion using their god as the reason (clerics), and the libertarians who only serve themselves and will backstab and betray everyone to fulfill their on goals and self…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a big fan of Gothic , this felt like home to me. The combat can be quite junky sometimes , but if you are used to playing other games from this developer , you will have no problems learning it. The story is nice, the variety of enemies is good , the characters are quite memorable and you can easily spend over 50 hours playing this game. If you like old school rpg's then play this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Combat: Enemies are strong (often impossible to even hurt them) and the hit boxes are bad. I often died (one shot) to toxic vomit or rocks thrown by monsters that missed be by several body lengths. Role Play: The role play aspects are enjoyable and the story is great. The system for tracking missions is very janky though. Exploration: Exploration is fun and you are rewarded for it. The map is very big. Progression: Progression is extremely slow. After 24 hours play time. I still…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolute poorest melee combat design I've ever seen in a game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So far the game is... just not worth it. It reminds me of Risen 1. Except Risen had good combat, intriguing story, great sound tracks, and ways to keep the player constantly engaged. ELEX is not a bad game, but the combat feels a bit clunky, the story not engaging enough, and overall just not worth the time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's janky, the combat is ridficulous, the graphics are meh. Tut this game has a soul and it reminds so much of great old school RPGs, with great music, story and quests, so I have to recommend it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I Love this game, I played it 3 times and never boring, always something to do.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Find more of my reviews on my curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45817624-Kasurot-Recommends/]Kasurot Recommends Short Summary The definitive "Eurojank" experience. A brilliant, handcrafted open world vertically designed around a jetpack, hidden behind some of the stiffest, most punishing combat animations in the genre. Who Is This For? Fans of Gothic/Risen who enjoy starting as a weakling and earning godhood through suffering. Who Is This Not For? Anyone who expects…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →as a Jason Statham game it's good. otherwise, well, it was a pain to play, unfortunately.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What Amazing Level Design ! I mean if youre into cool overland zones, you gotta see this. The game curve is VERY high, so be prepared for a more than usual difficult game. But, I gotta say, I hope this level designer gets into making the next MMO, because I mean truly unique, awesome zones, areas...! Very Good Graphics BD
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So I'm finally playing Elex II and this might be Piranha Bytes' best game since the Gothic series? I dunno. It's vibing better than Elex 1 did? There's more fun shit to explore and find? This being their last game is such a fucking tragedy 🎮
unlabelledView post →The best Gothic-like
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its like a "meah version of Gothic" with guns... but doesn't even get close to that type or progression and immersion
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Like a mix between Gothic and Fallout. Highly entertaining and visually pleasing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →do you enjoy getting one tapped by a featherless chicken? then this game is for you
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to like this game. But after 7 hours Im accepting its just not good. None of the missions can be completed. None of the enemies can be killed. The skills are prob usefull if you could learn them. If you get gear you cant equip it. The auto lock in combat makes fighting multiple enemies even worse. Which mostly means harder to run away or dodge since you cant hurt them anyway.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to recommend this game, but can’t. The concept for the post-apocalypse is interesting, not your standard humans blew everything up. But there are so few likeable characters in the game I didn’t want to “save the world”. And then there was the factions… They all felt the same, evil corporation, with different skins. The landscape you travel is pretty-ish, but felt so empty that it became more of a chore to traverse between depressed cities. Lastly, the main reason I can’t recommend:…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best Open World in any video games. If you are looking for a game that has EXPLORATION and IMMERSION, this game is probably in the top 5. Can't tell you how rare it is to have a game that you can just walk around and discover things. 9/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The movement mechanics are imperfect, and the game feels like it has somewhat of a slow start, besides. However, game-play is mostly smooth and steady, and the lore and the world the game are set in are both really interesting and feel unique to me. I consider it worth the money, even though I haven't gotten around to completing it yet. The only complaint I have is the lack of ability to play a woman.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really like this. It has it's quirks, but it also has lots of heart. Decisions matter (looking at Bethesda).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →True old school, gritty and incredibly charming experience. RPG with actual choices. World is dangerous - you can go anywhere but one wrong step and you die fast. Exploration is actually rewarding and you even got verticality to tackle. And best of all - writing. Oh Gods finally game with good decent writing where you can go from saint to absolute jerk. No wokeism, no forced politics - just true (rough and unpolished ) gem of a game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →ELEX is like Horizon Zero Dawn but from Wish.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've owned this game for years, started several times but never finished it. It's a shame because the story is promising, dialogues are great, there are so many places to go, so many things to do. BUT, the number of times you spot an ememy and are dead in the same second ... I read a lot about the combat system: "Run" they say - well, that's not how I want to play. "It gets better later in the game" they say - no, it doesn't. "It's all about timing" they say - nothing to be timed,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You play as John Elex, a compulsive hoarder desperately searching for ingredients to make his High Performance Soup. Along the way he is constantly harassed by trolls, birds and Albanians (called Albs in-game). I collect mugs, it's not much but it's honest work.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It depends on the game for me. But i mostly seek out single player story heavy games. Story will always be the most important. I can overlook mediocre gameplay if the story is great like with Alpha Protocol. But even I have my limits. I couldn't finish ELEX because of how jank it was.
unlabelledView post →So lately I've been thinking of sequels, and content reuse. This thread is part of why. Piranha Bytes got closed by fucking Embracer (!!!), but Elex I/II were a model of how to break what would have been DLC or end game content off into a sequel instead and I think it's a pattern indies should try.
unlabelledView post →Ugh, one of my all-time favourite German gaming studios is being closed down: Piranha Bytes. I enjoyed most of their games, sure, they had their issues, but I was looking forward to seeing another title created by them. https://twistedvoxel.com/elex-3-canceled-developer-piranha-bytes-closed-down/ #PiranhaBytes #Elex #Gothic #Risen
unlabelledView post →It's rather comedic that if you turn on German voices, the characters suddenly start talking in full sentences, instead of some stilted, barely grammatical nonsense. Whoever translated ELEX into foreign languages shafted this game for real. Otherwise it's a fine and inventive spin on Gothic 3, this time including plasma rifles and a jetpack. Both make this iteration of Gothic 3 so much less tedious it's insane. Is it better than Risen? Yeah, maybe. Is it better than Gothic? xd
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After finishing Gothic Remake I was planning on playing Gothic 2 Classic, but I'm struggling a bit too much with the clunky controls. I can't get my controller to work on the GoG version either. Might look at getting it on Switch instead (or PS5). I decided to start a new game in ELEX for now...
unlabelledView post →This game is poopie poop💩. clunky combat, ugly animations, a story that makes zero sense. The controls feel like steering a drunk robot, the UI looks like it was designed in 2003, and enemies will one shot you for the first 10 hours for absolutely no reason. The developers had no idea they were creating the perfect autism simulator but here we are.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I went into ELEX expecting the classic Piranha Bytes "euro-jank" experience, and I was not disappointed, in the best way possible. After finishing the Risen trilogy, ELEX felt like a natural evolution. It delivers a surprisingly compelling and complex story set in a unique post-apocalyptic world that blends sci-fi and medieval fantasy. While the game starts brutally punishing (everything wants to kill you, and progress feels glacial at first), pushing through that initial hump makes every…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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