So I played my first hour and I disagree with @Razgon on everything. Well, the sound levels are indeed a bit off, I give him that. Overall it is janky like all PB Games in the past and I must wonder if Razgon has played (and liked) any of those that came before.
The game looks nice enough and runs good on my machine. The landscape is actually very nice and invites one to wander off into tons of nooks and crannies. Where you probably die or find loot. I have cool music and had no issues with the guy you follow in the beginning. You actually do not have to follow him at all, you can tell him there to shove off and you can wander wherever you please. As you could in previous PB games. Also you do not have to make a faction choice in the beginning either, you first must prove your worth and work your way up. Until you can actually join you will have done several quests already and probably met at least one other faction and learned more about the game and the world. Like in all other PB games before. Animations are the normal PB fare, don`t think they changed the walking animation since Gothic 1. Graphics are good enough, not sure what one would expect from a “small” 30 person studio. A bit dated in parts for sure when compared to recent AAA games but that’s not what Elex is. That there is no customization and you play an ugly dude is… like in all other PB games. Melee combat is also pretty much the same as well. You have light and heavy attacks and must time them right to create combos or gather energy for a special move. You can parry or dodge. Controls are not as responsive as I would like but so far I managed. I did not have any ranged attacks besides the bow yet and that works but was boring.
I think there are two issues. Razgon either has no idea what PB games are and has not played any of the ones before or forgotten how they are. The world is new but game-play feels just like in those. If you liked the predecessors, warts and all, you should like this as well. Secondly from his descriptions it sounds to me like his install borked, especially the mention of missing music.
What is correct that this is not a huge leap forward for PB. They pretty much made the same game since Gothic 1 with slight variations on the theme and this is no different. The first hour gave me amazing flashbacks from the earlier games. Especially since in Germany they have been using the same speakers since Gothic 1 in all their games, You know the voices and that is something you either hate or that gives you a feel of “familiarity”. One hour is absolutely not enough to make a judgement call on the overall game yet of course, but my first impression is very positive.