PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a remarkable action-adventure RPG that blends heartfelt storytelling, rewarding time-travel mechanics, and engaging combat into an unforgettable journey. With a lovable cast, meaningful side content, and expertly crafted world design, it stands as one of Square Enix's strongest modern releases and a standout adventure for JRPG fans.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is an excellent action RPG that clearly demonstrates its influences, but uses them to deliver a unique game. It shines in its combat, exploration, and a good story that makes every hour worthwhile.

Every once in a while there’s a game where I put off completing my review because I'm busy trying to grab the Platinum trophy. The Adventures of Elliot is one of those games. I found entire evenings and weekends disappearing, and even when repetition threatened to set in, I found new ways to shake up the game. Look past the odd pacing foible and this is an excellent action adventure to sink into.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is one of Square Enix’s best original IPs in years. It’s a perfect blend of classic Zelda and Final Fantasy Adventure, mixed with a unique time-traveling mechanic. While the game initially starts out deceptively simple, it quickly turns into a mind-bending adventure story with complex mechanics and exploration.

Featuring time travel, a narrative structure influenced by Mana, and the combat and exploration characteristic of Zelda, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales demonstrates that the HD-2D style still has a lot of life left in it, including in other genres, and that it has matured significantly in recent games. After years of refining the formula in smaller-scale games, Square Enix seems to have finally found a Zelda to call its own.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a treat for fans of action RPGs such as The Legend of Zelda and Alundra, with plenty of exploration to be done, dungeons to conquer, and weapons and spells to acquire. Some may find it a little simplistic in ways, but those who get engrossed in the adventure it provides will undoubtedly love it.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales demonstrates that the HD-2D style isn't confined to the traditional JRPG genre but can also successfully adapt to the adventure genre. This new IP can be summed up in one word: exploration. It features a single continent spanning four eras, an emotional narrative, and a progression system based on various weapons and gems that allow for skill development with significant room for growth. With its balanced difficulty and solid length, this title shines without needing hyper-realistic graphics.

Square Enix’s love letter to old-school adventure games is a genuine delight to play, especially for players with a soft spot for the older days of the Legend of Zelda franchise. There’s an impressive mix of natural worldbuilding, impressive art design, and tight gameplay that encourages exploration – both with actually checking out the overworld for secrets and playing with the wide array of weapons and magic made available to the player. While the story may not be as impressive as the rest of the product, Adventures of Elliot is a genuine accomplishment by Square Enix that makes for one of the year’s most enjoyable adventures yet.

Square Enix's first foray into the action RPG scene with the HD-2D engine is a majestic success. The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales delivers an effortlessly fun and mechanically satisfying experience, making it an ideal pick for anyone who prefers games where pure gameplay reigns supreme over all other elements. That doesn't mean The Adventures of Elliot slacks in its narrative. Even though the time-travel mechanics are largely inconsequential to the plot, it still tells a cohesive story that beautifully showcases its world through the eyes of the ever-helpful Elliot. Square Enix clearly knows they have struck gold with the HD-2D engine, and I hope they continue to let it shine in many projects to come.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is an excellent game that could be a great start to a new Square Enix action-adventure series. Though I think the tools are given out a bit too quickly, the exploration, combat, and narrative all succeed at what they set out to do, crafting a breezy and exciting title that’s certainly worth your time. I hope Elliot gets to take part in more adventures going forward, as I’d be there day one.