Is anyone else thoroughtly disappointed in the new map? I get that it's the original map a few years later, but it just isn't as interesting.

I understand that it had to be a bit different from the original, but I'm finding this one to be curiously empty and featureless in comparison to Elex's map. The builldings here are all basically all the same, and most of them don't have any real exploration capacity, unlike the previous game. The factory on top of the cliff on the far left of the map, for example, was a wonderful place to explore and it took quite a while, too! Now it's just an empty shell. There are very few places to actually explore.

The desertscapes are gone, brick buildings that withstood the original apocalypse have magically vanished over a decade for no reason And the map seems like it's been compressed, shrunken in half, and flattened out.

Maybe it's just me, but I find the game world to be far less compelling than the original.

It's a pretty common complaint among people who've played both that Elex 2 is lacking compared to Elex 1. You are definitely not alone. For me, it's a matter of how few developers craft worlds on PB's level even in one of their "lesser" games like Gothic 3 or Elex 2.

I cannot easily find the world crafting anywhere else, so I am tolerant of the world itself being lacking compared to Elex 1.

well Elex 2 is lacking all kinds of stuff compared to 1. The only thing that is better it seems is graphics, but creativity and imagination? None of that in Elex 2. Basically the same game as 1, same mechanics except a few annoying tweaks to the jetpack.

If there was stuff in Elex 1 you didn't like.. camera angles, aiming ranged weapons, companions always in the way, sit animations (stop doing this games), using jetpacks in general, or what ever else, its still the exact same in 2 just with better graphics.

But hey, still a world to explore which is fun and even ok games are worth it when you get them on sale. I played 2 the exact same as 1, and it worked out the exact same. They learned to make the tougher foes a little more bullet sponges which is good because in 1 once you maxed your weapon/skills you yawned and chewed up everything in seconds.