Rating
Xel
Xel is an epic 3D sci-fi fantasy action-adventure. Explore the mysterious world of Xel and help protagonist Reid to uncover her enigmatic past. Make new friends and foes along the way and collect exciting gadgets to master challenging dungeons and solve time bending puzzles.
Details
- Released
- July 11, 2022
- Developer
- Tiny Roar
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG) · Adventure · Indie
- Publisher
- Assemble Entertainment
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Xel Reviews
Professional reviews from gaming critics
XEL initially caught my eye with its bright and vibrant art style, not to mention taking inspiration from one of my favorite franchises, The Legend of Zelda. Not only is the inspiration prevalent, XEL‘s sci-fi theme helped set it apart from the others. Indies lately have been setting a bar for taking classic games and expanding upon them in very unique ways, and I had a feeling XEL would be another one to surprise.
So, XEL comes across as a game that probably should have spent more time in the oven before being released into the world. There’s potential there, and it could be a great little game with some fixes. Although, all the bug fixes in the world wouldn’t fix the dialogue. But maybe you enjoy that kind of dialogue! Who knows!
XEL looks great on the surface, but unfortunately it has too many bugs and technical issues to warrant recommending it to anyone. The framerate drops and slow-loading zone transitions alone can cause some frustrations, but add in an uncontrollable camera that is overly distant from the action, difficult to detect enemies, and terrain that is easy to get stuck to - forcing you to reload from your last save point, and you have a game that is near unplayable in its current state. Patches may resolve these issues, but as of right now XEL is too frustrating to fully enjoy.
XEL is an action-adventure RPG from Assemble Entertainment. This top-down 3D game has plenty of hack ‘n’ slash and puzzle elements to keep you busy. But whi
And ultimately that’s where XEL fails hardest of all. It doesn’t differentiate itself enough from the other indie Zelda-like games that are available on Switch from a gameplay perspective. Titles like Death’s Door, Cross Code, and Blossom Tales offer a much more refined and unique take on the ideas Zelda is known for and run fantastic on Switch. XEL has little character to enjoy, there’s no story to keep you fully engaged, and gameplay feels contrived and repetitive. And that’s before we get to the frankly abysmal state that this game was released in. I was holding off this review to…