The Adventures of Elliot: Millennium Tales review - another HD-2D triumph

There's so much doom and gloom in the world of gaming at the moment.

Hardware prices are through the roof, more and more studios continue to be shuttered and barely a day goes by without the threat of hard working employees being laid off somewhere in the sector.

It makes it all the more refreshing when there's a good gaming story around and I'm pleased to say Team Asano and Square Enix are the catalysts for this one with the upcoming release of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

Square Enix has been cooking with the HD-2D formula for a number of years now and it's got yet another gem on its hands with a brand new IP from the studio behind the Octopath Traveler series.

A review code was provided by the publisher and I played The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales on a PS5 Pro.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales has a distinct art style on top of the HD-2D approach / Team Asano, Square Enix

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a HD-2D time travelling action adventure game. HD-2D is the term given to games with classic 16-bit characters with fully rendered 3D environments.

To lift the curse on Princess Heuria, who keeps humans safe in a corner of the Philabieldia kingdom away from beast tribes in the present day Age of Safekeeping, adventurer Elliot and his fairy companion Faie must cross through the Doorway of Time to visit different periods of history.

They travel further and further into the past in a tale that spans a thousand years and across each age, of which there are four in total, a large threat looms over Elliot and Faie.

Without giving away any spoilers, the tale it tells is terrific and there's actually quite a lot of depth to the characters. You'll form emotional bonds with them quickly as you learn more about the experiences that have shaped them.

That's because the main protagonist himself, Elliot, is an orphan who dedicates his life to being an adventurer and helping others, donating a portion of his earnings to the orphanage to keep it running and looking after the children there.

The art style you see in some of the cinematics looks superb. Although scenes play out in HD-2D, there's also voice acted text that appears on screen along with varying character art for each major character that appears hand-drawn. It truly is a work of art in that respect.

I played this on a PS5 Pro but even on a base PS5, as I discovered in the preview, the game runs at a consistent 4k resolution at 60fps (frames per second). I did not encounter a single dip on either the resolution or performance during my time with it.

There's so much to do and find in the world of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales / Team Asano, Square Enix

The controls for main character Elliot are fairly straightforward in that you move around using the left stick, along with the face buttons featuring an interact button, jump button and two weapon attacks that can be mapped to whichever weapons you have at your disposal.

There are a range of swords, bows, hammers and more and I generally kept one for close quarters and another for ranged. These can be upgraded using magicite that's generated from magicite fragments that can be collected. Magicite forms different stat boosts for your arsenal.

There's also a single button that can be pressed for items or Faie's magic abilities required when you need them in an instant. You can easily toggle between these on the fly too.

Each age has its own overworld with different regions and dungeons to explore. Some of these dungeons are mandatory to advance the main story and others are optional, usually with great rewards to be found.

There are Shrines of Life which include challenges with the reward slowly increasing Elliot's health and Temple of Trials where players have to survive waves of enemies and defeat a boss for key rewards.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is quite simply a joy to play through. You feel as though you're gliding through each age at all times and the gameplay feels as though it's always moving forward, even when new mechanics or elements are introduced. That helps to keep a strong pacing throughout.

Elliot's movement is quick and snappy, making taking on enemies with your preferred weapons and creating openings feel fluid throughout. Faie's abilities include being able to set things on fire, using vacuum to draw enemies and collectibles closer and copy which generates a copy of Elliot so there's effectively two of him on the battlefield.

These abilities can be upgraded too and offer some satisfying ways to switch up combat. There's a range of different ways you can chain the abilities and attacks in some incredibly satisfying ways.

Faie's abilities are also key for exploring and traversal so you can navigate through the world and overcome obstacles that would otherwise stand in your way.

Some boss fights force you to think on your feet quickly and to have a strong grasp of the controls / Team Asano, Square Enix

This all together sounds quite straightforward but the challenges Team Asano present in dungeons have you racking your brains and keeping you on your toes, especially with some of the boss fights you'll come across. The level design across the board is absolutely stellar.

That's because as well as the dungeons, the open worlds have loads of aforementioned trials and things to find off the beaten path that don't take up too much time. There are lots of small little things to discover, including cats to collect, and it makes you feel like you're truly exploring, organically finding things such as hidden caves for fruitful rewards without it ever deviating too much from the main objective.

Main quests are fun and engaging throughout but some of the side quests themselves could be a little stronger. These usually amount to fetch quests or taking out a number of enemies in a certain area.

This isn't enough to massively detract from the overall experience and there's a handful of these more than anything, usually with some pretty strong rewards, but it would have been nice to have a little bit more variety in this area.

That's the only real gripe I have with the game though. Ironically, with this being a game about time travel, I occasionally lost the concept of time in real life when playing this.

There are loads of neat little quality of life features, especially in the open world, such as ticks appearing next to characters you've already spoken to and even things like going into buildings is seamless as the camera zooms in without any loading screen and zooms back out when you leave.

These little details really help to elevate The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is another HD-2D triumph for Square Enix / Team Asano, Square Enix

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a truly fantastic HD-2D action adventure game that kept me engaged and immersed throughout.

The HD-2D aesthetic works so well here, it has a distinct and successful art style, the gameplay is fast, frantic and fun, the story has a lot of depth to it and there's a lot to do in this game.

It sounds fabulous across the board too with a superb soundtrack, along with the voice acting and sounds you hear in game. The only gripe I have is with some of the side quests but that's not a major drawback all things considered.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a joy from start to finish. Team Asano and Square Enix, yet again, have cooked up another HD-2D triumph.

9/10

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales releases on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC on 18 June.

Elsewhere from Indy100:

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is too ambitious for Nintendo Switch 2 - here's why
• Dragon Quest VII Reimagined review: Bold, brave and brilliant

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