I update my system today and a few minutes after the update was done, my system started to fall apart.
Everything began with icons of the window controls not showing up anymore. Further I could start any applications anymore as if they weren't installed. Wingpanel and plank were closed and not startable from the terminal, too.
I tried to restart my computer, but it's stuck on the elementary logo. On recovery mode I can boot however.
Never had an issue like this before, so no idea what to do about it. Any suggestions?
Esc
while the elementary OS logo is displayed should give you some messages about what's going on. But by what you're saying, it could be a failing HDD, so, from recovery, try running fsck on your drive.