The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Reviews
Of all of Square Enix’s HD-2D games, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is my least favorite – but I don’t think that makes it a bad game. Some fun boss battles, great music, and satisfying movement throughout four beautiful eras just barely make up for how little depth there is to the story, combat, and especially the puzzles/exploration.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a fantastic, fleshed out experience, with wonderful combat and absolutely jaw dropping visuals.
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.
Bringing together a captivating story filled with charismatic characters, a richly detailed world that begs to be explored, and a satisfying gameplay loop that rewards the player's curiosity and sense of adventure, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales takes the HD-2D format to new heights, definitively proving that the formula can go far beyond turn-based RPGs.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a game that aims to be simple and accessible, yet fun at the same time. The game doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel and offers a solid experience. As the studio’s first foray into using HD-2D art direction in an action RPG, the game is a big hit for Team Asano. By stepping completely outside their comfort zone, the team demonstrates its creative potential and willingness to experiment more and more, which is very positive for Square Enix.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales could've been the next big action RPG, but instead, it feels like a lesser version of a game you've played before.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is Team Asano’s take on the action RPG genre. Their signature 2.5D art style brings this vibrant world to life. This is especially clear in the attention to detail in both the art and the vocal performances. Although the combat is button-mashy, it feels responsive and fun. This is especially true after augmenting your weapons with Magicite. Dungeons are quick and snappy, offering loot without becoming stale, and exploring off the beaten track is highly rewarding. However, the talkative companions and the reuse of enemies for long parts of the game sometimes hinder immersion. The story may lack depth, but the gameplay always keeps me coming back for more. Is there a better feeling than the satisfaction you get from finding a new artefact in the depths of an ancient cave?
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a gorgeous HD-2D action RPG that blends compelling time-travel storytelling, satisfying combat, and rewarding exploration. Packed with secrets, memorable adventures, a stunning world to discover, and of course cat collecting. It’s a journey well worth exploring, making it meowtastic.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is an uneven, but ultimately satisfying title. An incredible soundtrack, solid gameplay, and, at least for me, fantastic visuals help carry it — despite the grind needed for its true conclusion.
With The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, Square Enix has once again delivered a compelling JRPG. This incredibly charming HD-2D time-travel adventure may not be a complete revolution for the genre, but it’s a quintessentially cozy JRPG adventure with all the hallmarks of the genre.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
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.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a classic, accessible, and highly enjoyable action RPG that pleases players with its pacing rather than with revolutionary mechanics. Despite some repetitive elements across its eras and some forgettable characters, its relaxed loop, outstanding art direction, and evocative soundtrack make for a solid and engaging, nostalgia-filled 16-bit era adventure.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales brings solid action-adventure foundations to the gorgeous HD-2D style, which has now reached its pinnacle. While the story and characters feel flat at times, it is an excellent first entry to what I hope becomes a formula that Square Enix uses more often.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a solid and captivating action RPG, combining the charm of 2D HD with an adventure structure clearly inspired by the classic Legend of Zelda games. The exploration works, the bosses are well-crafted, and the relationship between Elliot and Faie gives the journey personality. The experience is held back by a certain repetitiveness related to time travel, uninspired side quests, and inconsistent inventory management. However, it remains an enjoyable, well-crafted adventure, recommended for fans of classic action RPGs.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Its engaging combat, rewarding exploration, clever customization systems, and gorgeous visual presentation combine to create one of Square Enix’s strongest action-adventure games in recent years. The story may be predictable, and the enemy variety is rather lacking, but neither issue detracts from an experience that consistently rewards exploration.
There’s no denying that The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales borrows heavily from The Legend of Zelda, particularly classics like A Link to the Past. Yet rather than being a drawback, this foundation serves as a proven blueprint, one that Square Enix builds upon with its own creative flourishes to deliver a memorable experience in its own right. In many ways, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales feels like a literal link to the past, echoing the pixel‑and‑sprite era of Square Enix before the studio’s leap into modern visual spectacles. It’s a game that invites both nostalgia and discovery, offering retro‑styled fun that can even be shared with a friend through cooperative play.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is good comfort food top-down adventuring, bolstered by its stellar presentation and simple-to-play-yet-challenging-to -master gameplay. While the story does go through some predictable routes at the start, and one of its characters earning the dubious award for "most chatty companion" even with that dialed down in the in-game options, this HD-2D jaunt has layers worth uncovering and may just surprise you.