the overall design is a mixture of medieval fantasy and science fiction Piranha Bytes is aiming for 70 hours of gameplay, and the short presentation build already was crammed with interesting places to discover and explore, like a flock of hovering rocks or a huge mill wheel which was rotating mid-air (sic!) at the edge of a chasm usage of the jetpack is limited, you'll only be able to use it in short bursts
there are no predefined (or at least not as obviously marked as such) ledges the PC can pull himself up on, to reach higher and particularly difficult, almost inaccessible places you will be able to get yourself a jetpack
from the very beginning on you are free to travel to wherever you want, unless you stumble into the obligatory hurdle, represented by particularly tough enemies you'll only be able to defeat by returning later and having gained a few or quite a lot of levels buildings, caverns and subterranean bases (reminiscent of architectures from Halo) can be entered and left without loading screens as well the traversable world is one continous landmass without any loading screens Most of the NPCs can be killed, which can have consequences on the progression of quests you'll have access to melee and ranged weapons as well as spells or magical abilities, with which you can rid the world of wild beasts/animals, aggressive mutants and members of the other, potentially hostile factions
the tone is more grim dark and mature and less bawdy and light-hearted like in the Risen series the PC is still controlled from third person perspective and NPCs have been seen following their daily routines again. according to Piranha Bytes the engine has also seen significant improvements and what was shown from an early Pre-Alpha version was very reminiscent of vistas in the Gothic or Risen series the combat system has been completely overhauled (parrying/blocking with a sword and dodging were shown) companions are able to join the PC on his journey, but will leave if the PC's behaviour and actions don't align with their moral compass or view of the world cut off from his daily ration of Elex the PC (who has a name this time) will rediscover his humanity over the course of the game, unless you decide to make him an Elex junkie again the predefined PC was a general of the 'Alb' faction, whose plane crash-landed on the continent, on which Elex takes place faction-specific decisions, together with other variables have impact on the story and affect the overall outcome or ending world state, of which there are multiple ones obviously joining up with one faction grants access to specific quests, skills and items the PC is able to join one of those factions 'Bandits' are a group of cyber terrorists that go up against the 'Albs' and are not shying away from using stolen technologies like a plasma-crossbow the 'Berserkers' are another faction that also live in citadel/fortress-like structures but are more open to take advantage of Elex consumption, which they transform/refine to get rid of the negative side effects the known factions thus far include a paramilitary group called 'Albs' or the 'Clerics', that frown upon anything Elex-related and have chosen the rather archaic lifestyle of mud hut-/stone fort-dwelling and using bows and swords Overdosing or prolonged intake of Elex increases the chance to end up as a soulless cyber zombie (sic!), for which many inhabitants of Magellan are rather dismissive of the 'wonder drug' Elex not only causes mutations to the fauna but also grants magical abilities and traits to anyone who consumes it Elex actually refers to an alien raw material (similar to Tiberium) which the meteorite/asteroid was carrying survivors only dare to venture outside in heavy-armored exo-suits while carrying high-caliber laserguns bases may have been outfitted with automatic turrets for better protection certain technologies have also survived, like drones that still patrol the ravaged and to an extent terraformed landscapes that include forests, deserts, swamps, ice plains and places with high volcanic activity or force fields that bar the way most of the structures and the infrastructure are gone, while some architecture like factories, highways have outlasted the cataclysm and have been reclaimed by nature Magellan, home to a prosperous and technological advanced civilization has been destroyed by a global impact event takes place on a fictional world called Magellan