Version: Digital retail review code provided by the distributor
Independence & Ethics
Region Free is entirely reader-supported and maintains full editorial independence. For more on my scoring and standards, see the Review Guide.
If there's one thing I've learned over the past decade of reviewing games, it's that you should never underestimate the power of charm. The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a perfect example of that.
As its name would suggest, this is an unwieldy and overstuffed title that packs in more ideas than it knows what to do with. It's also often a very silly game with some atrocious voice acting and flat writing. But, at the same time, it's so much fun to play that almost all other complaints fall by the wayside.
Elliot's adventures are set on the continent of Philabieldia, where a benevolent king and his sorceress daughter protect the kingdom of Huria from an ancient malice that once again threatens the world. Elliot's close friend, Euygene, believes to have discovered a solution to defeat the evil for good, but powerful forces conspire to use the ancient methods for their own nefarious purposes.
Elliot sets off on a routine quest to save the kingdom, only to wind up in the center of a thousand-year voyage that will shape the history of the continent itself.
The first few hours of Elliot's adventures are rough. The writing is all over the place, the names are unintentionally funny, and the dialogue is painfully bad. The mammoth plot skips about in genre and style, going from a traditional sword-and-sorcery adventure to a childlike fairy tale, a slice-of-life drama, a time-travel epic, and even flirting with biblical fantasy. While it does come together in the end, at least somewhat, The Adventures of Elliot is so densely packed with ideas that it often feels overwhelming just to keep up.
The English voice acting is particularly grating, too, especially as your companions will constantly chime in with pointless interjections and hints that can't be turned off. I ended up switching over to the Japanese VO, which, for some reason, is less chatty by default.
But after an extended prologue, which lasts about three to five hours depending on how much you explore things, Elliot's adventure starts to expand rapidly. Before long, I found myself thoroughly engaged with this epic tale that deals with issues of isolationism, racism, bigotry, love, and found family. After the nearly thirty-hour-long campaign came to a close, I felt tremendously moved by its simplicity and earnestness – even if the writing still is occasionally quite clumsy.
As a game, though, The Adventures of Elliot is catnip for anyone who grew up with titles like A Link to the Past, Secret of Mana, or Alundra. Like them, this is a semi-isometric action-adventure game with an emphasis on light exploration, dungeon crawling, and fighting a variety of enemies with a variety of upgradeable weapons. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but you could argue that it's more like an upgrade with better traction. Familiar feel, but tighter and more modern than what we've had before.
At its best, The Adventures of Elliot captures the nostalgia of old-school adventure games while still doing something new with the material. It makes smart use of technical innovations like the 2.5-HD graphics engine to evoke a 16-bit aesthetic, even as it does things older consoles could never have achieved. It is a game made for the present, but one that feels timeless as well.
The gameplay loop is surprising only in how traditional it feels. The Adventures of Elliot embraces convention, yet that's more of a compliment than anything else. The world map is split into distinct biomes and levels, each connected via dungeons where Elliot can collect money and magicite, which he can use to upgrade his weapons. There are a limited number of sidequests alongside the main campaign, and the game helpfully warns players if they reach a point where any of them might become unavailable due to the plot progression.
If you're already familiar with the genre, chances are you'll want to select the higher difficulty level right off the bat. For everyone else, the lower settings are a perfect entry point to the story. You can also adjust them at any point without penalties, which makes The Adventures of Elliot a fantastic first game for almost everyone.
There is only one world map, but it is repeated through the multiple time periods that Elliot travels through, each with slight variations to the layout and dungeons. This does not mean you get five different maps, but rather one large one that you unravel over multiple eras. It's lovingly crafted, and there are plenty of secrets peppered around the place. You can purchase items that reveal general locations of important upgrades, but these are mostly optional if you want to keep things a bit more difficult.
It has the feel of a classic SNES and PlayStation 1-era adventure, where the boundaries are clear from the start, and the scale isn't exactly vast, but the content is diverse and deep. And honestly, in an age where everything is a gargantuan sandbox, I'm more than happy with a tightly curated package like this.
Like the games that inspired it, The Adventures of Elliot features a Metroidvania-style progression system where Elliot and his fairy companion, Fae, learn new skills and acquire better gear throughout their quest. This, in turn, lets them return to previous locations to discover hidden paths and overlooked treasure. A lot of the time, these beats are tied to the story, and you can return to any dungeon at any point later on, so there's no chance to miss out on loot.
Combat is similarly easy to pick up and moderately difficult to master. Elliot can use two different weapons at once, each tied to a different key, along with a special skill from Fae. You can switch weapons and skills on the fly using a radial menu, and there's a quick select for potions, which you carry around in empty vials that are unlocked as quest rewards. As in The Legend of Zelda, Elliot can uncover heart fragments on his journey, and for every four pieces he gains an upgrade to his health.
At first, combat is straightforward. Enemies aren't particularly clever or numerous, and the basic sword and shield combo works for almost everything. By the end, Elliot's skills are put to the test with magical armor, mobs of enemies working together, explosives, and environmental hazards. The Hero Trials, which is an optional dungeon towards the latter half of the game, is particularly challenging and a lot of fun for those seeking to hone their skills.
Quests range from inventive and moving to mind-numbing busywork, and it's in this area that Elliot's story has the widest disparity in quality. Some of the writing is downright awful, with characters who speak like sycophantic chatbots and endless monologues crammed with trite platitudes that reek of falseness. A few quests that require traveling back and forth between the ages to gather materials for a meager reward are a true test of patience. Especially as they require you to first go and collect the items, return to the quest giver, then travel out for more busywork, and so on, at least four times with no option to do everything at once.
The main quest itself also goes on for far too long, with multiple endings to unlock and an extended, grueling final boss that is nowhere near as fun as some of the others that precede it.
Despite complaints, I kept returning to The Adventures of Elliot consistently during my two weeks with the game. Even after I finished the main quest, I kept searching for optional rewards, dungeons, and upgrades simply because the actual gameplay is a blast. The controls are remarkably tight, the action is fun, and the sweeping orchestral score is one of the best in recent memory. It's simply a joy to play, and that overrides any issues I might have with the narrative.
For all its faults, it's a charming and beautifully realized adventure filled with quirky little things that make it feel alive. My favorite of these is a minor questgiver, who is obsessed with cats, and tasks Elliot with bringing all the strays on the continent to the kingdom across all time periods. It's genuinely heartwarming to see your work bear fruit as the streets and pubs fill with lazy kittens demanding attention.
It's also an original adventure title at a time when everything is tied to an IP, and that alone deserves praise. The Adventures of Elliot feels like a complete story with a true ending, yet I wouldn't be opposed to many more journeys set in this world.
For fans of this genre, The Adventures of Elliot is an endearing and accessible game for all ages, and a shining example that Square Enix hasn't lost their magic touch for crafting adventures that evoke the spirit of childhood wonder.
