Nintendo Switch Critic Reviews

The Adventures of Elena Temple is a great platformer in a super-cool package of retro novelty. If what you’re looking for is a quick fix of good gameplay with some old-school flair, this is a perfect choice. However, if you are looking for extensive exploration or near-impossible platforming, this experience may be underwhelming to you.

The Adventures of Elena Temple is a quick little puzzle platformer assembled within a single dungeon to explore. However, at just over an hour to 100% complete it, you'll be done with it quickly unless you create challenges for yourself or care about improving stats.

The Adventures of Elena Temple does a solid job recreating a certain era of platform gaming, despite minor problems linked to level design. What’s unfortunate is how more time, effort and focus seems to have gone into the fictional history of the game and the machines it can be played on for the sake of nostalgia, rather than the gameplay. It’s nice there is reasoning behind the visual filters, but this and the silly story comes across as overbearing when the actual gameplay perfectly captures the feeling of nostalgia.

Those looking for a retro throwback will find a lot to enjoy in The Adventures of Elena Temple. With its tight gameplay and clever puzzles, it’s probably a much more enjoyable experience than revisiting the games it’s based on. Unfortunately, the option to play the game on multiple systems ends up being little more than a gimmick, and the experience is over a bit too quickly. It’s a fun game while it lasts, but the inclusion of online leaderboards or the ability to conveniently toggle between system modes would have made the experience less likely to be forgotten.