Just started playing Elex 2 (I bought it yesterday and had NO IDEA that it had gotten released that very day!) and not impressed by a lot of what I'm seeing.

These are just some mild critiques.

The opening itself is done wrong. Jax starts with level 1 stats and skills even before he gets 'infected' which is the game's explanation for him being weak.

What SHOULD have happened is that after his house gets destroyed, he is weak, shaken and equipmentless, in no state to fight. At THIS POINT the cutscene where he flees the two dog things should happen.

The gameplay should begin after he talks to Adam. Now that he's 'infected' due to the events of that second cutscene, it makes sense that he's really weak in context.

The segment in between the cutscene where his house gets destroyed and where he flees the dog things is pointless and makes the cutscene make less sense.

(Him not wearing any armor despite having just returned from hunting in the beginning also makes no sense.)

You do have a point. Maybe they decided to introduce some small tutorial before getting into the real game. The linear area is well enough suited for that. The real "starting" area is way to open already.

I personally found it just odd, to kind of succesfully sneaking up a hill and suddenly seeing myself being chased. I wouldn't overthink that point. You do get to know why he was up there. And he probably just unwinded. Killing some small critter (for an experienced Jax, atleast) in the process. So, not so unplausible not to be in full armor.