XEL
Warning: Contains Spoilers
Description
Read below for what XEL is all about!
XEL is a 3D action-adventure set in a sci-fi fantasy setting. Play as Reid, shipwrecked on the strange world of XEL. Without any recollection of her former life, it is up to you to unravel her past and connection to XEL. Ready your sword and shield as you explore the overworld of XEL and dive into imposing dungeons full of unforeseen threats and challenging puzzles. Throughout your journey you will make new friends and foes, find new gadgets as well as being able to jump through time and space. As Reid delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding XEL, she discovers an endless cycle of peril. Will she be able to break free from it and what will it take?
So in shorter terms, without really going on a full spoiler alert, to those who are interested in playing XEL, the main protagonist Reid, and her little sidekick Chap, crash land on a unknown world, whilst with amnesia, Reid goes on to explore the world of XEL, with help from her companions, whom you meet early on in the game.
You solve puzzles, and somewhat go toe to toe in challenging combat, whilst also having to deal with some of the more pressing issues, that I will later on go into more details. XEL is a great game to play, minus the bugs that you will eventually encounter.
About the Game
Developed by Tiny Roar, published by Assemble Entertainment, XEL has not been out for very long, dating from the 12th of July 2022, and XEL already has some mixed feelings from some members of the gaming community already.
As I have played the game for myself, I can understand what they meant! Again, hold on to your shoes, keep reading onwards and I promise I will get to that!
I should mention that XEL has a soundtrack, if you purchase the bundle that it offers, not only do you get some solid soundtracks, but you will also be helping with the donation of 10% of the proceeds to Sea Watch.
The Save the World Edition contains XEL as well as the official Soundtrack , Artbook and Comic A Lost Friend and is a great way to show appreciation for the developers, while simultaneously supporting a good cause.
Assemble Entertainment will donate 10% of the proceeds for every sold Save the World Edition to Sea Watch, in order to help refugees from distress at sea!
The game does however have full controller support, and by god, you really do need that, the keyboard controls are to be desired, and is actually really broken for the most part since you are unable to use your mouse, unless you know how to bind your keys using whatever software you own, you are literally better off just using a controller.
XEL is primarily a single player adventure game, offering a variety of Steam Achievements, that is easily obtainable, like killing one of the main bosses named S.P.I.D.E.R, I wonder what kind of boss it is..?
Features and Gameplay
I took on this project, because I saw how "Zelda like" it looked, and its not far off from the truth either, whilst it does have its elements of funny moments, referencing Skyrim, Borderlands, and Final Fantasy, with some famous words like "I was an adventurer like you" for example, we can all agree that's a recognisable line, right?
The story is well... It offers excruciatingly long periods of talking cutscenes, and some of those aren't even cinematic cutscenes, just general talking, like when you meet Shirl in her shop, it feels like an eternity.
While the game mechanics is great, I do have to mention that you need to prepare for some rather nasty bugs, like falling through the map, or getting stuck on a bridge running in one place, those aren't even the worst ones.
The more pressing bugs come from loading up the game, one time I loaded up it was like a mist had come over my screen that prevented me from seeing anything, a quick restart of the game fixed that though it may not work for everyone, consider verifying files.
Another time after a fresh install of Windows, the keyboard AND controller key binds were all messed up, like moving forward would roll, or using interact button would attack, be prepared for some really funky stuff.
Here are some features that the game does offer, and are actually working parts of XEL;
- A vibrant overworld and challenging dungeons await to be explored and mastered,
- Solve time bending puzzles and make use of your arsenal of gadgets,
- XEL offers a well-crafted combat system with dodging, parrying and gadgets,
- Upgrade your weapon, shield and gadgets to kick even more ass,
- Unique abilities will let you jump through time to traverse prior inaccessible areas or encounter foes in a weaker state and bend the rules of space,
- The dungeons and puzzles in XEL will put your wits as well as your guts to the test.
Don't these images above remind you of Captain Flint from Borderlands 2, and RedVIII from Final Fantasy? I don't know about you, but they strike a strong resemblance, don't cha think?
Summary
Overall it wasn't all that bad of a game, sure it was frustrating, and sure there is much to improve, but it definitely has nostalgia type of feel, if you are interested in XEL, here is a link to one of my attempted playthroughs;
Available on:
Steam for
£11.39/$14.99/14,99€
XEL offers vibrant visuals, handcrafted by a passionate Indie team as well as a timeless soundtrack composed by Gidon Wolff which you can purchase from the same Steam store for a additional;
£8.19/$9.87/9.70€
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