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The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales:
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The Kingdom of Huther is about to face the most dangerous period of its existence. Not only does it have to deal with a terrifying beast's tribe, which the Princess Heuria's magic barrier has continually repelled for years, but the discovery of what is believed to be a door to travel through time in a nearby ruin seems to have weakened the Princess Heuria's magical power. It has also affected her health, and her father, King Hichard, has decided to summon the great adventurer Elliot to investigate matters. The fate of the Kingdom and its Princess is solely in the hands of this adventurer in The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a 2.5D JRPG, action-adventure game developed and self-published by Square Enix on the 19th of June 2026 on the Steam platform. The game is Steam Deck verified and is also available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
The world Elliot will travel, called Philabielda, has four different eras, each about 250 years apart. The world itself will look basically the same, apart from the town and village in the early eras. As the story evolves, Elliot will converse with other characters, activate side quests, and purchase ammunition, health, strength, and protective potions.
It will all begin in the Age of Safekeeping, the era in which our adventurer was born. At the start, Elliot will only have a sword and a shield. As you progress through the story and complete specific quests, Elliot will acquire six other weapons that you can swap at any time through a very quick and easy interface, which I really liked, by the way. To give you an example, there are caves and a few paths and dungeons that you won't be able to go through because rocks block them until you acquire the boom weapon. My favourite weapons are the sword and the boomerang, but I can quickly switch one for the boom, use it, swap it back before it explodes, and off I go - nice and easy. I must admit that I was a bit concerned at the start of the game about how to travel back and forth across the eras, because you need to go through the Philabielda landscape to reach each doorway of time, located in a different spot in each era. I was put at ease very quickly, because as you explore the world, every so often you'll reach a small obelix with a circular crystal on top. This will save your progress automatically and will also become a travel point which you can use to go from one age to another without going through the doorway of time.
The combat system is really simple, but really good. As I mentioned, Elliot will have access to several weapons, each with its own characteristics to suit different types of gameplay. The sword is my favourite melee weapon, as I like to fight nice and close to enemies. The boomerang is particularly good to strike multiple enemies while avoiding attacks from foes, as the boomerang comes back to you and hits them for the second time. The spear will give Elliot more reach, but it is slower than the sword. The chain and sickle can hit multiple enemies, but you have to move them, making it slightly more difficult to avoid incoming attacks. There are three different types of attack, which depend on how long you hold the key on your keyboard or button on your gamepad. As for the defence, it's all about parrying and moving around to avoid projectiles; it's fun and works a treat. In terms of enemies, there aren't many variations across the different ages. Yes, you'll have a few new ones in each age, but that's about it. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that you can also attach additional perks to your weapons by using the magicite, which are white crystals that can be found both in chests around the eras or after killing elite enemies or bosses.
The boss fights will take place in dungeons, which are marked as castles on the Philabielda maps, and let me tell you, they are fun and quite tricky, too. As usual, I always play each game as it was intended to be played, which in the majority of the cases is on the normal level of difficulty. I am pleased to report that I have died more than once, although mostly in a boss fight. So, yes, the level of difficulty is quite adequate for this game.
At one point toward the start of the game, Elliot will acquire a companion - a fairy named Faie. She is very talkative and has a high-pitched voice that some may find annoying. Being a big boy, I was not bothered by her squeaky voice – all you have to do is switch off the old hearing aid, and you beauty! (There are benefits to getting older, after all!) Faie will be a big factor in the adventure, bringing abilities for Elliot, and will mainly be useful for figuring out light puzzles to reach chests in caves, dungeons and temples. There are several temples in each era; some give Elliot an extra shard of life, and the others increase each of Faie's abilities when completed.
I reached one of the endings after 20 to 25 hours, and I had only cleared everything in the first era, explored 75% in the second, and still had at least 50% on both the last two eras to do. I missed a couple of quests by deciding to take on the Beast boss. Anyway, at the time of writing this review, Elliot and the muffled fairy are attempting to reach the last two Myu mages to secure another ending.
In terms of collectibles, there are cats to find, and you'll be rewarded by giving them back to the cat lover, who is located in the town.
The pixel graphics are excellent, as is the voice acting. The soundtrack is soft and pleasant, complementing the game perfectly.
Positives:
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+ Splendid pixel graphics and animations
+ Great story with multiple endings
+ Simple but satisfying combat system
+ It takes around 20 hours+ to reach one ending
+ Entertaining boss fights, although I wished we had more of them
+ Achievements and trading cards
Negatives:
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- Needed more enemy variations throughout the eras
- The world doesn't change much, apart from the main town in each era
Great story, and the combat system is simple and works beautifully. I enjoyed my time with The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
8/10
Note: Key provided directly by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!
