Square Enix has found immense success with its signature HD-2D art style, breathing new life into classics and creating successful new properties like Octopath Traveler. Now, the developer brings this aesthetic to real-time action for the first time with The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. At its best, Elliot is a loving homage to classics like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, blending top-down exploration, varied combat, and a time-hopping story into an adventure that is very easy to lose yourself in. But it also plays things surprisingly safe in places, and consistently struggles to break out of the generic JRPG mold.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales casts you as the titular Elliot, an orphan who works as an adventurer in the land of Philabieldia. The kingdom of Huther is constantly threatened by hostile beast tribes, but Princess Heuria keeps them at bay with a magical barrier known as the Spell of Safekeeping. A routine assignment from the king quickly spirals out of control, throwing Elliot into ancient ruins and thrusting him through a Doorway of Time. From there, Elliot teams up with an amnesiac fairy named Faie. Together, they jump across a thousand years of history to save the kingdom and stop a disaster that threatens the present day.
The time-travel premise is engaging, albeit familiar, and the game lets you eventually fast-travel freely between four distinct eras. This creates some interesting moments where actions in the past have a ripple effect on the present. For example, some clever side quests require you to search a previous age for an item that no longer exists in the present. The core map layout stays the same, but the land’s geography shifts depending on when you visit. An inaccessible ruin in the present might be a fully explorable, technologically advanced labyrinth in the Age of Magic. The central town changes dramatically across the eras, too, giving a good sense of how civilization evolves.
A True Adventurer
Unfortunately, the time travel doesn’t always live up to its full potential. Outside of the main city and a few key locations, the world doesn’t change quite enough between the eras to make them feel truly distinct. The snowfield looks the same in the present as it did hundreds of years ago, and the enemy variety is surprisingly lacking. You fight the same bugs, beastmen, and flying creatures in almost every time period. Even the beastman settlements never seem to evolve or expand over the centuries. This repetition sets in after a dozen hours, making the different eras feel too alike.
Where Elliot truly shines is in its combat and exploration. The top-down action is heavily inspired by 2D Zelda games. Elliot has access to seven different weapons, ranging from a basic sword and a long-reaching spear to a slow but heavy hammer and a crowd-clearing chain scythe. You can equip two weapons at a time and easily swap between your full arsenal using a convenient radial menu that briefly pauses the action. Outside of that momentary interruption, combat is fast and responsive, and each weapon feels viable.
Instead of traditional leveling, progression is tied to Magicite. These magical gems are found in chests or crafted from enemy drops, and they add powerful modifiers to Elliot’s weapons. The customization options here are fun to play around with. You can boost baseline stats or add new effects, like making your chain scythe shoot fireballs or causing enemies hit by an explosion to trigger a secondary blast. You can swap Magicite on the fly, allowing you to adapt to tricky boss fights or experiment with new combinations. Defense is just as important as offense. Elliot’s main defensive option is a shield with a durability gauge. You can hold it up to block most attacks, but a perfect parry reflects damage and stuns enemies. The parry timing is forgiving enough to encourage you to use it often, but landing one still feels satisfying.
A Tale as Old as Time
Faie isn’t just there for exposition; she plays a huge role in the gameplay. She floats alongside Elliot, but you can control her independently with the right stick. She has a handful of useful abilities, such as giving Elliot a speed boost, warping him to her location, creating a decoy, or lighting herself on fire to burn enemies. Maneuvering both Elliot and Faie takes some getting used to, but it adds a fun layer of strategy to the combat and puzzle-solving. If you feel like bringing a friend along for the ride, local co-op allows for a second player to fully control Faie, although it isn’t the most exciting playstyle for most to endure for tens of hours.
The dungeons are packed with secrets, and the game clearly rewards you for poking around every corner. You will find max health upgrades, weapon materials, and new abilities for Faie hidden behind puzzles and light platforming sections. The puzzles themselves are generally straightforward—mostly involving moving mirrors, pushing blocks, or hitting switches—but they provide a nice break from the combat. The boss battles are a consistent highlight, featuring massive, creatively designed sprites and distinct mechanics that force you to use your weapons and Magicite effectively.
Visually, The Adventures of Elliot is stunning. The HD-2D art style brings Philabieldia to life with beautiful lighting, vibrant colors, and detailed environments. The glistening structures of the grand city of Weyzn and the iridescent, oily surface of the swamp areas look fantastic. Sadly, the story and characters don’t quite match the quality of the visuals. The overarching narrative relies heavily on RPG tropes. Almost everyone you meet is a one-note character. Elliot is a flawless hero who always does the right thing, and the villains are completely one-dimensional. Faie is a charming companion, but she is also incredibly talkative, often giving away puzzle solutions before you have a chance to figure them out yourself. You can dial back her chatter in the settings—even with the setting change, Faie still talks far too much—the cast overall just feels a little too safe and predictable.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Review Verdict
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales: is a solid action RPG that proves the HD-2D style can work wonders outside of turn-based battles. The combat is fast and flexible, the Magicite system offers excellent customization, and the world is a joy to explore. The time travel mechanics and enemy variety leave a bit to be desired, and the story doesn't take many risks. Still, it's a nostalgic, satisfying adventure that captures the magic of the 16-bit era while bringing enough modern ideas to stand on its own. – Joshua
[Editor’s Note: The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales was reviewed on Switch 2, and a copy was provided to us for review purposes.]
