Okay I'm gonna make this review mostly about ONE particular sidequest because it is that good. I'll do a tl;dr at the end about the rest of the game so let's go.


When I got access to The Fort after doing a couple too many fetch quests so that bald bastard of a guard lets me in, I stumbled upon a merchant Morkon in Berserker territory named Ivan. After talking to him, it's easy to notice he isn't like most Morkons I've encountered before -- he's too nice, too polite and doesn't want any trouble but for being a Morkon he is treated like crap by everyone else, within reason mind you given the Morkon's reputation isn't the best in the world of ELEX 2 but Ivan just wants to help with whatever he can, and he supplies the gas masks necessary for the miner's quest I got early from Scrappy.

So, why is this guy the main reason of this review? Because his questline is easily on the top 3 of my all-time favourite quests I've EVER done in any videogame ever and I'll explain why.

Ivan needs his rations from Chloe, the bar owner in the Fort region, who is currently dealing with some problems of her own so she is in a dire, dire mood. After resolving her issues and getting access to the Upper District, she can get Ivan's rations from an eccentric dude who lives up there. See, Ivan couldn't do anything to get his rations because nobody gave two craps about whether he lived or died just for being a Morkon in an unwanted territory, as his first quest is aptly named "An Unwelcome Morkon". With that done, he is beyond excited he can finally go back home to the Grotto to see his family and here's where I started to get very attached to this character's story.

If you're like me and prefer exploring before doing main missions, just wandering around visiting places and talking to every character you find, you will probably find an entrance guarded by two mechanic beasts -- this is the Morkon's place, the Grotto, an old subway station turned into a hub for this particular faction.
The Morkons are ruthless, they have their own religion worshipping Raavac (dudes worshipping a battery lmao Rayovac) and there are some 'heretics' who have their own sub-faction who follow Kriiton, a name that most Morkons fear mentioning because the consequences involve torture and more of that good stuff; I won't get too much into their lore because that's a completely different quest to get but basically, followers of Raavac like destruction and followers of Kriiton do not, and Ivan is a guy who talks briefly about the cult of Raavac and even says something along the lines of "If you stand by what's right, the right ones will find you, or you will find them" referencing Kriiton followers who want this unrestrained carnage to stop.

Inside of the Grotto, I found PINGAS-- I mean, TENGIS, some self-indulgent prick who wants to know Ivan's whereabouts, and demands that he comes back but here's the thing, Ivan is a merchant, and he has traded with other factions which is strictly forbidden by the law of the Morkons and Tengis knows that, he just wants Ivan to come back so he can have a reason to kill him.

When I told Ivan back in the Fort that PINGAS wants him back, he sounded a bit jittery but he packs up and asks me if I want to accompany him to the Grotto. You can choose here and say no and that's that but I said yes, I want to go with Ivan and we begin this little 'escort' mission this game loves throwing at us.

Ivan talks about his life, about his old partner Danilo, another Morkan who came with Ivan to... well, not trade. They were sent to pillage and murder people but in one of their misadventures, Danilo got killed which made Ivan rethink his life. He just... isn't made for this. Yes, he killed people before because Morkons don't mourn people, they think death is some kind of privilege and they need to earn their deaths to reach Eternal Oblivion (Tibia reference!) and Ivan attempts to recruit me but, personally, I'm not interested in joining any factions so we keep going. We stopped at a place to rest; Ivan asks me to kill some biters and get their meat so we can cook a meal, then he tells me to get some rest and that he will stay up instead. Here I was sure something bad was gonna happen -- is this happy-go-lucky guy is gonna steal my stuff? Is he gonna try to kill me? Well... nope, when I woke up, Ivan is there by the campfire, excited we are ready to continue the journey to the Grotto.

This guy... man, he's such a sweetheart and I am going to protect him with everything I can. We keep walking, he makes jokes, tries to figure out where Jax, the protagonist, is from and such -- all in good fun, until we find some Poachers from the Grotto and Ivan is terrified of them. They haven't seen Ivan in a long time and there's severe punishment for not returning so when they're approached, they seem surprised Ivan is still alive and they ask about Danilo. Ivan explains everything and there we have the option to vouch for him or not, and I vouched for him. They treat Ivan like a vermin but I decided to not get involved, I don't want to complicate things for him, especially now that we are so close to the Grotto. No physicality necessary, just keep going.

Ivan talks about how ecstatic he is to see his family again and we finally get to the Grotto, he bids me farewell and hopes to see me again. I go straight to PINGAS to tell him Ivan is here, but this ♥♥♥♥ guy doesn't care, he wants Ivan murdered for 'betraying' the Morkons. At this time I panicked, "NO, I WILL NOT LET IVAN DIE". I ran (jetpacked at full speed inside of the subway station) to Ivan's location, found him and his wife Marika and told him what happened. Ivan was mortified, he begged me to tell PINGAS he fled, escaped somehow and so I did, I ran back to that twit and protected Ivan. PINGAS wasn't happy, blamed on the Poachers but whatever, fk this guy.

At this point his questline was over and guess what? Ivan was safe, his wife as well and to my surprise they were back in The Fort so I fast-traveled there to check in on him and here's where my heartstrings were pulled -- Ivan was safe, there's an epilogue to his quest. He asks his DAUGHTER, Tamara to see me but she is scared; she was kept hidden her entire life because the Morkons couldn't find out he had kids. It'll take time for her to adapt to the outside world. Ivan even said "Tamara, please, he's a friend" YES I AM YOUR FRIEND IVAN!!!
Marika, his wife, is so happy to see me and beyond thankful I helped them escape. She also had no idea there was a world so big outside the Grotto and wished she got out earlier in her life with her parents.
Ivan said everyone is treating him better, it helped he showed up with his family at the gate and even Chloe seems like a different person, doing everything she can to help Ivan stay afloat.

This... this side mission in this janky game made me so emotional. A side character whose fate doesn't mean anything to the main plot made me feel things I yearn to feel again. To whoever wrote Ivan's story, if you read this somehow-- thank you, thank you for making such a wonderful character and giving him an actual happy ending because it's stuff like this that makes me happy. ELEX 2 is not a particularly good game but the writing for a couple characters is simply incredible. I love you, Ivan, and I will never forget our adventures together, my friend.


Other than Ivan's quest, ELEX 2 is a 6.5/10 game in my opinion. Janky controls, awful combat, terrible story pacing, wonky animations but a vast world to explore, funny easter eggs and many, many quests with interesting characters to talk to and know more about. The upgrades for the jetpack are a must to reduce the slog to the minimum but it's a drag to get there.

I only recommend this game because there's a lot of love poured into the writing of minor characters that make the RPG experience all worth it.

Okay I'm gonna make this review mostly about ONE particular sidequest because it is that good. I'll do a tl;dr at the end about the rest of the game so let's go. [h2] SPOILERINO BELOW - IVAN'S QUEST - HUGE TEXT AHEAD [/h2] When I got access to The Fort after doing a couple too many fetch quests so that bald bastard of a guard lets me in, I stumbled upon a merchant Morkon in Berserker territory named Ivan. After talking to him, it's easy to notice he isn't like most Morkons I've encountered before -- he's too nice, too polite and doesn't want any trouble but for being a Morkon he is treated like crap by everyone else, within reason mind you given the Morkon's reputation isn't the best in the world of ELEX 2 but Ivan just wants to help with whatever he can, and he supplies the gas masks necessary for the miner's quest I got early from Scrappy. So, why is this guy the main reason of this review? Because his questline is easily on the top 3 of my all-time favourite quests I've EVER done in any videogame ever and I'll explain why. Ivan needs his rations from Chloe, the bar owner in the Fort region, who is currently dealing with some problems of her own so she is in a dire, dire mood. After resolving her issues and getting access to the Upper District, she can get Ivan's rations from an eccentric dude who lives up there. See, Ivan couldn't do anything to get his rations because nobody gave two craps about whether he lived or died just for being a Morkon in an unwanted territory, as his first quest is aptly named "An Unwelcome Morkon". With that done, he is beyond excited he can finally go back home to the Grotto to see his family and here's where I started to get very attached to this character's story. If you're like me and prefer exploring before doing main missions, just wandering around visiting places and talking to every character you find, you will probably find an entrance guarded by two mechanic beasts -- this is the Morkon's place, the Grotto, an old subway station turned into a hub for this particular faction. The Morkons are ruthless, they have their own religion worshipping Raavac (dudes worshipping a battery lmao Rayovac) and there are some 'heretics' who have their own sub-faction who follow Kriiton, a name that most Morkons fear mentioning because the consequences involve torture and more of that good stuff; I won't get too much into their lore because that's a completely different quest to get but basically, followers of Raavac like destruction and followers of Kriiton do not, and Ivan is a guy who talks briefly about the cult of Raavac and even says something along the lines of "If you stand by what's right, the right ones will find you, or you will find them" referencing Kriiton followers who want this unrestrained carnage to stop. Inside of the Grotto, I found PINGAS-- I mean, TENGIS, some self-indulgent prick who wants to know Ivan's whereabouts, and demands that he comes back but here's the thing, Ivan is a merchant, and he has traded with other factions which is strictly forbidden by the law of the Morkons and Tengis knows that, he just wants Ivan to come back so he can have a reason to kill him. When I told Ivan back in the Fort that PINGAS wants him back, he sounded a bit jittery but he packs up and asks me if I want to accompany him to the Grotto. You can choose here and say no and that's that but I said yes, I want to go with Ivan and we begin this little 'escort' mission this game loves throwing at us. Ivan talks about his life, about his old partner Danilo, another Morkan who came with Ivan to... well, not trade. They were sent to pillage and murder people but in one of their misadventures, Danilo got killed which made Ivan rethink his life. He just... isn't made for this. Yes, he killed people before because Morkons don't mourn people, they think death is some kind of privilege and they need to earn their deaths to reach Eternal Oblivion (Tibia reference!) and Ivan attempts to recruit me but, personally, I'm not interested in joining any factions so we keep going. We stopped at a place to rest; Ivan asks me to kill some biters and get their meat so we can cook a meal, then he tells me to get some rest and that he will stay up instead. Here I was sure something bad was gonna happen -- is this happy-go-lucky guy is gonna steal my stuff? Is he gonna try to kill me? Well... nope, when I woke up, Ivan is there by the campfire, excited we are ready to continue the journey to the Grotto. This guy... man, he's such a sweetheart and I am going to protect him with everything I can. We keep walking, he makes jokes, tries to figure out where Jax, the protagonist, is from and such -- all in good fun, until we find some Poachers from the Grotto and Ivan is terrified of them. They haven't seen Ivan in a long time and there's severe punishment for not returning so when they're approached, they seem surprised Ivan is still alive and they ask about Danilo. Ivan explains everything and there we have the option to vouch for him or not, and I vouched for him. They treat Ivan like a vermin but I decided to not get involved, I don't want to complicate things for him, especially now that we are so close to the Grotto. No physicality necessary, just keep going. Ivan talks about how ecstatic he is to see his family again and we finally get to the Grotto, he bids me farewell and hopes to see me again. I go straight to PINGAS to tell him Ivan is here, but this fkng guy doesn't care, he wants Ivan murdered for 'betraying' the Morkons. At this time I panicked, "NO, I WILL NOT LET IVAN DIE". I ran (jetpacked at full speed inside of the subway station) to Ivan's location, found him and his wife Marika and told him what happened. Ivan was mortified, he begged me to tell PINGAS he fled, escaped somehow and so I did, I ran back to that twit and protected Ivan. PINGAS wasn't happy, blamed on the Poachers but whatever, fk this guy. At this point his questline was over and guess what? Ivan was safe, his wife as well and to my surprise they were back in The Fort so I fast-traveled there to check in on him and here's where my heartstrings were pulled -- Ivan was safe, there's an epilogue to his quest. He asks his DAUGHTER, Tamara to see me but she is scared; she was kept hidden her entire life because the Morkons couldn't find out he had kids. It'll take time for her to adapt to the outside world. Ivan even said "Tamara, please, he's a friend" YES I AM YOUR FRIEND IVAN!!! Marika, his wife, is so happy to see me and beyond thankful I helped them escape. She also had no idea there was a world so big outside the Grotto and wished she got out earlier in her life with her parents. Ivan said everyone is treating him better, it helped he showed up with his family at the gate and even Chloe seems like a different person, doing everything she can to help Ivan stay afloat. This... this side mission in this janky game made me so emotional. A side character whose fate doesn't mean anything to the main plot made me feel things I yearn to feel again. To whoever wrote Ivan's story, if you read this somehow-- thank you, thank you for making such a wonderful character and giving him an actual happy ending because it's stuff like this that makes me happy. ELEX 2 is not a particularly good game but the writing for a couple characters is simply incredible. I love you, Ivan, and I will never forget our adventures together, my friend. [h2] The rest of the game [/h2] Other than Ivan's quest, ELEX 2 is a 6.5/10 game in my opinion. Janky controls, awful combat, terrible story pacing, wonky animations but a vast world to explore, funny easter eggs and many, many quests with interesting characters to talk to and know more about. The upgrades for the jetpack are a must to reduce the slog to the minimum but it's a drag to get there. I only recommend this game because there's a lot of love poured into the writing of minor characters that make the RPG experience all worth it.