In any video game where player choice is a major aspect, the worst absolute thing that a developer can do is ignore or violate that player choice. One example of this in recent years was when, inAssassin’s Creed Odyssey, one DLC forced Alexios or Kassandrato settle down into a straight relationship—even if their character had been pursuing gay romances only. Players were not happy, and Ubisoft acknowledged, apologized, and addressed this fact. At first, it seemedElex 2may have been making the same mistake, but it’s handled really well.
Per the variousElex 2trailers, players learn that Commander Jax has a son, named Dex, with Caja. The problem had romance options in the first game, and players could have pickedElex’s Nasty over Caja. This seemed, at first, that player choice was being ignored to canonize events. Truthfully, it’s complex to balance game mechanics with narrative. The simple answer to this sounds like that Elex 2 should have made it where Dex could be born from either Nasty or Caja, but then that doesn’t really work in the game world nor would that be easily implemented from a video game standpoint.
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How Piranha Bytes handles this is best described as a stroke of genius. WhatElex 2did respects player choice, works around it, and handles it really well—despite formalizing a sexual relationship with a potentially non-romanced character.POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD.
Elex 2: Caja or Nasty Romance (Or Nyra!)
First things first,Elex 2limits the relationship and birth of Dex to events that place afterElex 1and beforeElex 2. It’s implied that Jax sets out on a new quest to warnMagalan’s factions about the Skyands, but it doesn’t go well, with Jax eventually closing himself off from the world. This travels around the world come into contrast with Nasty’s own issues among the outlaws, meaning no split was ever really official—if players did romance Nasty. In those travels, Jax had to work closely with several factions including Caja’s Berserkers.
Yes, Jax has a child with Caja—but it’s immediately clear that the relationship is over. Jax and Caja do attempt to co-parent, but it seems they can be either do so amicably or tensely. Indeed, it’s clear that Ja and Caja’s relationship around Dex’s birth isn’t defined as an actual relationship or a loving partnership; no, it’s left ambiguous and is rather defined by dialogue choices between Dex and Caja.
This lets players continue a relationship with Caja, romantically or not, building on the dialogue of one or the other. It could be a mostly-loving if strained relationship or just a strained relationship, depending on player choice. And it works the same for Nasty as well. She isn’t particularly a people person, so it fits in her character that, after a major betrayal, she joins theMorkons inElex 2and herself too detaches from society.
Bringing Jax andNasty inElex 2together again complicates things with Caja, and understandably so. What players learn from Nasty is that she loves Jax—whether he loves her or not—and she has since the first game. If players didn’t even romance Nasty, it works because of how Nasty communicates and shares her emotions—through hateful remarks and sometimes violence covering real emotions. This means that a relationship can be formalized or restored, should they so chose to romance her, or they can pay the price of her spurned affections—if they don’t.
For those who also don’t want to pick up romancing Caja or Nasty again, there’s a new character and LI named Nyra. Ultimately, while it seemed at first the idea ofromance inElex 2could have gone south, player choice is maintained and respected.
Elex 2’s handling of choiceand romance means that each relationship is complex, complicated, and mature, all while ensuring player choice remains intact.Elex 2may even canonize the Caja relationship, but it doesn’t do it in a way that harms player choice. It’s not a simple story, but it all brings it all together nicely.
Elex 2is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
