[0:00] I love pixel art. I find that even
[0:02] decades later, the best looking games of
[0:04] the '9s, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy
[0:06] 6, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the
[0:08] Past, can still be breathtaking in a way
[0:11] older 3D games usually aren't. That's
[0:14] why I take notice whenever Square Annex
[0:16] uses its signature HD 2D art style, and
[0:19] why it's so exciting to see that
[0:20] aesthetic expand past its turn-based
[0:22] roots with The Adventures of Elliot: The
[0:24] Millennium Tales, the first action
[0:26] adventure game to get this modern retro
[0:28] treatment. Even though its titular hero
[0:31] may be wearing red instead of green, it
[0:33] essentially asks the question, "What if
[0:35] Square made a Link to the Past?" The
[0:37] answer is an adventure I never knew I
[0:40] wanted. One with a compelling story,
[0:42] impressive build customization, and a
[0:45] world I hope we see more of.
[0:53] This light, I can tell it has all sorts
[0:57] of wisdom. And
[1:00] >> I think I got stronger.
[1:02] >> Elliot is an adventurer who helps anyone
[1:04] with a problem to solve.
[1:06] >> More than equipped to deal with beast
[1:07] tribes.
[1:08] >> After a summon by the king, your
[1:10] seemingly routine quest turns into a
[1:12] mission to save both the princess and
[1:14] the kingdom itself.
[1:15] >> Please, Kyifid, stop this madness.
[1:18] You've taken this too far.
[1:20] >> Traveling through time to do so.
[1:26] >> Uh-oh. Better hurry or else it'll be too
[1:29] late.
[1:30] >> Elliot is easy to root for. Charismatic
[1:33] without ever crossing into cheesy.
[1:35] >> Things have changed quite drastically
[1:37] from before I entered the door.
[1:39] Traveling aside our hero in Red is a
[1:41] slightly amnesiatic fairy named Fay.
[1:45] >> You're very welcome. She occasionally
[1:47] falls into the partner who gives you the
[1:49] puzzle answer too soon trope, which is
[1:51] unfortunate.
[1:52] >> Make those flowers bloom,
[1:56] >> but her chattiness can be adjusted if
[1:58] not turned off. And she still has a
[2:00] pleasant companion to have.
[2:02] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[2:04] >> Over the span of the 20-ish hours I
[2:06] spent with Elliot, Fay, and the rest of
[2:08] the supporting cast, I grew to love this
[2:10] world and was invested in the lives of
[2:12] these characters.
[2:13] >> I am Elliot, an adventurer. Time travel
[2:16] can be a tough thing to get right in a
[2:18] game, and it never quite lives up to its
[2:20] promise here. You'll jump from age to
[2:22] age, but the differences between them
[2:24] are rather underwhelming. It's neat to
[2:26] find ruins of a once great building in a
[2:28] later age, but venture outside the city
[2:31] walls, and you'll see the same trees and
[2:33] shrubs regardless of where you find
[2:35] yourself. Stranger still is the lack of
[2:37] any development in the settlements of
[2:39] the Beastmen tribes you frequently
[2:41] visit. You're telling me no one ever set
[2:43] up a few more tents across the hundreds
[2:45] of years?
[2:48] >> Enemies don't change much either.
[2:50] Whether I was exploring dark caves in
[2:52] the present day or the ancient sands of
[2:54] the age of budding, I was swinging my
[2:56] sword at the same slugs, rat people, and
[2:59] weird flying things. Which means you'll
[3:01] have seen a majority of your foes after
[3:02] the first few hours.
[3:04] >> You have them on the run. Elliot, don't
[3:06] stop now. But while the time travel
[3:08] might not alter them much, The
[3:10] Adventures of Elliot is still another
[3:12] beautiful example of Square Enix's HD2D
[3:15] aesthetic and action. The drooping
[3:17] indigo leaves of Grand Tree, the crown
[3:20] of Mount Phoenix volcano, and the
[3:22] glistening structures of the Grand City
[3:24] of Weisen are just a few of the stunning
[3:26] landmarks. Not to mention the creative
[3:29] boss sprites such as the laser shooting
[3:31] lava lizard, Salith Mandra,
[3:34] or my personal favorite, a frog don that
[3:37] rides a turtle around.
[3:46] Much of this adventure feels very
[3:47] familiar, but equippable magic to buff
[3:50] your weapons is one of the most
[3:51] interesting twists. This isn't an RPG
[3:54] where your growth is tied to stats that
[3:56] you gain as you level up. Instead, much
[3:59] of your power comes from these crystals
[4:01] that can either be found in chests or
[4:02] crafted at a special shop using shards
[4:05] that are dropped by enemies. Each of the
[4:07] seven weapons has a whopping 15 unique
[4:10] magic options that can be conveniently
[4:12] swapped in or out at any time, even
[4:14] during combat. Perhaps enemies are
[4:17] moving around a bit too much, so you
[4:18] want a stun effect that will let you
[4:20] land hits more easily. Just hop into the
[4:22] menu, equip a magistite that does that,
[4:24] and get right back into the fight. That
[4:26] flexibility is empowering. There are
[4:29] also some awesome combinations of magic
[4:31] that turn Elliot from an adventurer into
[4:33] a weapon of mass destruction. For
[4:35] example, the bow's fire magic will give
[4:38] its arrows a chance to light a target on
[4:40] fire, while the explosion magic causes
[4:42] them to, well, explode when they hit a
[4:45] burning target. It's exciting to
[4:47] experiment and find a powerful combo
[4:49] like this, which can melt a boss's
[4:51] health bar in no time flat.
[4:55] Combat itself is a nostalgic trip to
[4:57] simpler days when all that was involved
[4:58] was looking at an enemy and pressing a
[5:00] button to swing. It feels good to just
[5:02] walk up and spam my sword attacks to
[5:04] take out enemies. But there are still
[5:06] ways to quote get good for those that
[5:09] want to really excel. Elliot can parry
[5:11] with his shield, leaving a foe dazed and
[5:13] open for critical hits.
[5:18] You can cause some enemies to explode
[5:20] and in the process damage their allies,
[5:22] or you can just hurl some pots at their
[5:24] heads for old times sake.
[5:26] >> Come here.
[5:28] >> The Adventures of Elliot is rather
[5:30] gracious with its revives as well,
[5:32] allowing you to pay to have Fay heal you
[5:34] back to full health. The price doubles
[5:36] each time, but resets when you visit
[5:38] certain checkpoints.
[5:40] >> You can't let it end here, Elliot. And
[5:43] this optional safety net proved to be a
[5:45] welcome option against some of the
[5:46] bosses where I needed just a little bit
[5:48] more life to come out victorious.
[5:52] However, Elliot rewards you for playing
[5:54] well and avoiding damage, too. Every
[5:57] enemy you strike down will add to a
[5:59] chain count, and enemies drop more
[6:00] goodies if you reach a high enough
[6:02] number, making this a great way to grind
[6:04] for resources. But the moment you take
[6:07] the slightest bit of damage, the combo
[6:09] breaks, and you have to start all over
[6:11] again. meaning you should never get too
[6:13] overconfident.
[6:18] Outside of combat, The Adventures of
[6:20] Elliot has a surprising amount of
[6:22] platforming. Leaping across gaps, diving
[6:24] underwater, and figuring out how to get
[6:26] up to some nearby plateaus all play a
[6:28] far bigger role than I had anticipated.
[6:31] Dungeons tend to feature at least a few
[6:33] sections that will test your dexterity,
[6:35] requiring you to maneuver around pits or
[6:37] over lava. Thanks to how tight the
[6:38] controls are, I generally had a good
[6:40] time with these sections.
[6:42] >> So, this thing moves for us. I could get
[6:44] used to this.
[6:46] >> There are some handy accessories that
[6:47] can help you out, too. Such as the one
[6:49] that lets you briefly hover, or another
[6:52] that prevents you from taking damage if
[6:54] you drop into those pesky holes. Now,
[6:56] what might be in here?
[6:59] Since many areas of the map can be
[7:00] explored in whatever order you want, you
[7:02] may even encounter places with abilities
[7:04] like phase warp spell
[7:07] >> that let you bypass parts altogether.
[7:13] The varying terrain height also allows
[7:15] for some fun experimentation during
[7:16] combat. When enemies were nearby, ledges
[7:19] stopped being simple hills and instead
[7:21] became high grounds right for the
[7:23] taking.
[7:27] My go-to strategy usually involved
[7:29] chucking bombs down on the enemies below
[7:31] or sending Fay out to beat them up for a
[7:33] bit. Though setting them on fire or
[7:35] exploding nearby bomb slugs with her
[7:37] magic also proved devilishly effective.
[7:42] >> I think we better stay away from this
[7:44] mer.
[7:46] >> Traveling through time is just as
[7:48] convenient as traveling across the map
[7:50] itself. Special guideposts can be
[7:52] fasttraveled to from your map screen at
[7:54] any point once they're activated. It
[7:56] doesn't matter what age you are in or
[7:58] where your desired locations at, you can
[8:00] get there in a flash. The maps are also
[8:03] covered with various markers pointing
[8:04] towards treasure chests, shrines to
[8:06] upgrade both Fay and Elliot, collectible
[8:08] cats, and a lot more. That's quite
[8:11] helpful for secret hunting, but it's
[8:13] actually so much information that I wish
[8:15] I could filter out the icons out a bit
[8:17] or even turn them off completely for the
[8:19] times I simply wanted to discover things
[8:21] on my own.
[8:25] The door is moving. Will this truly
[8:28] transport me through time?
[8:30] >> Okay, let's address the Moblin in the
[8:33] room. The Adventures of Elliot shares a
[8:35] lot of DNA with A Link to the Past in
[8:37] the Zelda series in general. A lone
[8:39] swordsman on a top-own quest to save a
[8:42] blond-haired princess, wielding the
[8:44] likes of bows, bombs, boomerangs,
[8:47] and even a dash that you can bong into
[8:49] things with. You have a fire dungeon, a
[8:51] water dungeon, and a forest dungeon. All
[8:53] checked off the list, too. And you get a
[8:55] neat glowing sword.
[9:00] >> Frankly, it would take longer to list
[9:02] out all the things it has in common than
[9:04] those it doesn't. Being so reminiscent
[9:06] of one of the greatest video games of
[9:08] all time, and it's hardly a bad thing.
[9:10] And finding all the little nods and
[9:12] callbacks almost became a game of its
[9:14] own for Zelda fans like myself. Elliot
[9:16] does a great job of recreating that
[9:18] formula while also introducing a few
[9:20] twists that help it stand out. But when
[9:23] you follow the overall blueprint so
[9:25] closely like this, it unavoidably puts
[9:27] you into direct comparison with what
[9:30] came before. And Elliot's quality
[9:32] doesn't quite reach up to the same lofty
[9:34] heights. The dungeons tend to lean on
[9:37] the simpler, more straightforward side.
[9:38] And I never found the puzzles to be much
[9:40] of a brain buster. I can only recall a
[9:42] handful of times where trying to figure
[9:44] out how to reach a specific area on the
[9:46] map left me scratching my head. And
[9:48] people who have played a lot of 2D
[9:50] Zeldas like me may not find much of a
[9:52] challenge here in general. Though I can
[9:54] see how this could be a good on-ramp for
[9:56] the genre for that reason.
[10:01] Of course, The Adventures of Elliot
[10:02] differentiates itself significantly by
[10:05] having multiple endings to uncover, the
[10:08] best of which requires a deeper dive
[10:09] into the various ages. There's a good
[10:11] amount of stuff to do and discover here.
[10:13] Playing through on hard, it took me just
[10:15] under 14 hours to get my first ending,
[10:18] and I found the rest within another 10.
[10:21] That was the perfect size I wanted from
[10:22] a game like this. And some of those
[10:24] endings were so good, they may have had
[10:26] me holding back tears.
[10:30] What? The Adventures of Elliot the
[10:33] Millennium Tales isn't without
[10:34] blemishes, but it's still an excellent
[10:36] action adventure game that continues to
[10:38] prove why the HD 2D art style is among
[10:41] the best around. Its interesting time
[10:43] travel concept doesn't quite land and
[10:45] not enough changing between the various
[10:47] time periods to keep its enemies and
[10:49] environments from getting a bit
[10:50] repetitive, but Elliot is a hero I
[10:53] wanted to cheer on with a supporting
[10:55] cast whose stories were more than worth
[10:57] seeing through to the end. The match
[11:00] site system gave me plenty to minmax as
[11:02] I messed around with different builds on
[11:04] the fly, and I can't wait to see all the
[11:06] cool combinations people find. Though, I
[11:08] do wish it let me make a few more
[11:10] discoveries on my own when it came to
[11:11] stuff like finding collectibles. Still,
[11:14] I grew to love this world and the people
[11:16] who call its various ages home, and I
[11:18] truly hope this isn't the last we see of
[11:20] Elliot the Adventurer and his feather
[11:22] red cap.
[11:27] For all things HD 2D, check out our
[11:29] reviews of Dragon Quest 1 and 2 HD2D
[11:32] remake and Octopath Traveler Zero. And
[11:34] for everything else, stick with IGN.