Elex II, a sequel to a vintage open-world RPG, is finally making its way to macOS. From developer studio Piranha Bytes, creator of the Risen and Gothic series, Elex II is their newest game since 2017. But more importantly, it will also be their first-ever Mac-supported game.
Understandably, this is big news for us.
ELEX II Mac release date
The official announcement from THQ NORDIC stated that ELEX II will be available on Mac sometime this June on Steam, Epic Games, GOG.com, and the Mac App Store.
The Mac version of ELEX II will take full advantage of Metal and its multi-threading capabilities to render shaders and the open world map in a smooth streamlined fashion. They’ve converted all HLSL shaders into Metal based approaches, preserving every aspect of tesselation, meaning that all graphical rendering is fully native and fast.
THQNORDIC has also ported over all their game technologies, which includes controller and GameCenter support. For those interested, a brief summary of their Tech FAQs can be found here.
ELEX 2 Mac system requirements
No details have been released for the macOS operating requirements as of now. We’ll keep an eye out for any announcements regarding this topic.
What is ELEX II?
ELEX II is a 3rd-person open-world RPG. It features real-time combat with abilities and skills. You play as Jax. A man in search of his son Dex. This takes place in Magalan, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi world. Navigate your way through different factions as you fight off an alien invasion.
Elex 2 Mac gameplay
Aside from the open-world exploration, the game also features a pretty fluid combat system featuring dodge rolls, jumping, and jetpack combat. There are a variety of weapons, ranging from metal pipes and bows to laser swords and plasma guns. The graphics are a major improvement from the first ELEX game.
However, ELEX II has some serious issues. Most players complain about the lack of content in the game. Quests after the first chapter of the game become mindless fetch quests. Most of the factions also contain little content, making it feel rushed and unfinished. The open world is empty and sparse, with few reasons to actually walk around and explore.
The word “Soulless” and “Rushed” are great descriptions of ELEX II. It had the potential to be a game worthy of rivaling the Fallout series if done properly, but it looks like PiranhaBytes dropped the ball on this one.
Elex 2 reviews, Steam
ELEX II: A Great Showcase of Metal Capabilities
Just like Stray and Death Stranding, ELEX II should be a great showcase of the macOS Metal graphical capabilities. This proves that with proper optimization through Metal, Macs can run visually stunning games at a good framerate. Not to mention ELEX II is an open-world game, which further signifies Metal’s graphical capabilities.
Asides from using the new Metal capabilities to run games, there is another reason to cheer for the Mac port of ELEX II.
ELEX II marks a significant moment as it will be the first game from vintage RPG developer Piranha Bytes to be ported to macOS. This decision emphasizes the growing interest in the macOS market. Hopefully, next time we’ll get a better game than ELEX II.
What’s next
Stay tuned, as we’ll inform you when we know more about the Mac version of the game, including performance reviews and macOS requirements.
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