The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales - Switch 2 Review
"Ultimately unmemorable in many aspects"
Square Enix has been crushing it lately with its HD-2D engine and whenever it comes up in conversation, the talk always tends to go to "Can you imagine [x game] in the HD-2D art style?!". When we do that, we always think of classic Super Nintendo games from Square, like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, but why does it have to be a Square game? What if The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past were remade in this style? Well, probably because Nintendo owns it, but they could make their own top-down action-adventure game... and that's (probably) how we got The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales.
In this open-world action-adventure, Elliot is tasked by the king of Huther to explore new, unknown ruins that dwell outside of the Kingdom's protection magic. This event triggers a grand adventure for Elliot and his fairy companion Faie, as they brave the outside world across multiple ages in time.
The Good
One of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales’ core features is the ability to transport yourself through different ages in its history. This sets up a plethora of story and gameplay opportunities and it’s always fascinating to be able to see how places and landmarks differ from one time period to the next. It’s quite akin to Chrono Trigger in this way, but with much more freedom to travel back and forth as you see fit.
HD-2D continues to surprise me! I’ve gushed over it in every single review I’ve written of these games, most recently being the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake. But here, it goes a step above the rest. Since its first iteration in Octopath Traveler in 2017, it’s continued to increasingly utilise the 3D space, and it’s with The Adventures of Elliot that you feel a much grander sense of depth. Most HD-2D games have felt 2D in their core design, but this latest entry feels much more like an open 3D space, similar to the recent top-down The Legend of Zelda games. In fact, it mostly reminds me of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds in this way, and seeing Square Enix do this with their HD-2D approach brings new life.
There is a whole lot of customisation for the player to experiment with. Along with a slew of weapons and Faie’s many abilities, it all offers plenty of variations for almost any kind of playstyle. This is also heightened by the Magicite system, which offers a wide variety of upgrades that the player can choose from, but each upgrade costs space in the respective Magicite box, which can be upgraded with standard Tul (currency) the player finds throughout the world. It’s a great system that encourages a lot of experimentation.
The game's plot centres primarily around magic, its dangers, and the beings who possess magical abilities known as the "myu". These characters are cat-like humanoids who have been shunned from society, largely due to humans being sceptical about magic and the myus' physical similarities to the beast tribes. This scepticism evolves throughout the ages, and it's this theme of tribalism and fear of the 'other' that is truly fascinating (and very frustrating) in key moments of the story.
The open world becomes increasingly satisfying to explore as you continue to find new abilities and upgrades for Elliot and your fairy companion. I also enjoyed how small and contained the map was, with more to explore as you travel between the ages. Large open worlds can feel exhausting, so it feels less tedious when travelling off the beaten path in order to reach a chest or optional dungeon.
TL;DR
- Being able to travel between ages makes for a plethora of possibilities
- HD-2D does it again!
- Plenty of combat customisation for all preferred playstyles
- Bustling open worlds to explore
- Curious themes of tribalism and fear of the “other”
- You can pet and collect kitties!!!
The Bad
What players love about games in The Legend of Zelda series is needing to consider the items that are at your disposal in order to solve puzzles or defeat enemies. So I felt so let down when either the companions or literal tutorial boxes would pop up on screen to tell you what you should do. And speaking of…
Navi was one thing, but my goodness the companion characters in The Adventures of Elliot just won’t stop talking. I’m writing this even after I’ve gone to the settings and turned down the chattiness. Seriously, you don’t need to say, "Look Elliot, there’s a chest over there. I wonder what’s inside” every time I enter a room with a chest in it. It’s completely disrespectful to the player’s intelligence and it gets in the way of the music and atmosphere that the world is attempting to create. Bring back Navi, I say!
What makes my previous annoyance worse is that, quite often, the dialogue feels so stilted and forced. It’s clear the voice actors were given little-to-no direction during various scenes. And when the companion dialogue is as repetitive as it is… my goodness!
And for further comparisons to The Legend of Zelda, the dungeons here just pale in comparison. It goes the Breath of the Wild approach, where there are a lot of mini dungeons, but they're all ultimately unmemorable, with no key themes, puzzles, etc. Ultimately, it all just feels like going through the motions and I can't think back and remember a single one for its innovation.
TL;DR
- Puzzle and enemy solutions are overexplained
- Companions just won’t stop talking!
- Stilted dialogue
- Dungeons aren’t memorable
Final Score: 7/10
I can look back on The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales fondly, but it's ultimately unmemorable in many aspects. Its theme of tribalism is a well-fitting one, especially in the current sociopolitical climate, but outside of that, most of it just made me unwillingly compare it to The Legend of Zelda games and it very rarely beat them in most aspects. I was going to go with an 8, but as I continued to think back on it in the days leading up to its launch, I found myself becoming less and less fond of my playtime. But it's still a fun game and the HD-2D art style pops incredibly well, so there's that.
Thank you for checking out our The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales Switch review, thank you to Square Enix (via Bandai Namco AU) for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
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