Rarely does a visual style win me over as much as HD-2D – pixel art immersed in three-dimensional spaces, bathed in lighting that turns every frame into a small illuminated diorama. Square Enix popularized it with Octopath Traveler and it’s been back almost as a trademark ever since. Behind that style is Team Asano, the team also responsible for Bravely Default and Triangle Strategy, the people who have built their reputation on turn-based RPG titles over the years.
And right there is the catch that makes Elliot interesting. This is their first attempt at something different – a real-time action-adventure, closer to classic Zelda than anything they’ve done before. If, like many, you’ve shied away from their games precisely because of that turn-based combat, The Adventures of Elliot could be the ideal entry into their world. And by the way, it is compact enough in terms of time that it never goes into that, for many people, frighteningly long-lasting JRPG sphere.
| Initial price | Reviewed version | Reviewer copy |
| 60€ | PlayStation 5 | Provided by publisher |
EVERYTHING IN ITS TIME
The story here places us in a fantastic world where some kind of beasts are rampaging, and the few remaining people took refuge behind the walls of the Huther kingdom. Elliot is an orphan and a relatively famous adventurer, one of the few who even dares to go outside those walls. On one such trip, he stumbles upon an ancient portal that leads to other time periods. When the king’s evil henchman uses this discovery to reshape history in his favor, Elliot sets out on an adventure to stop him and save the entire kingdom.
The premise is relatively simple, and the characters seem the same at first – one-dimensional. The villains are comically predictable, and Elliot is an absolute good guy ready to help anyone. It sounds like a recipe for a forgettable, clichéd story, but the game gets a surprising amount out of these modest ingredients.
Elliot manages to get a lot out of a modest premise and seemingly simple characters.
Elliot, despite his simple-mindedness, is still an interesting character. And since the whole story relies on time travel, there are very interesting secondary characters and intertwined events that can only come from such a theme. It also helps with the relatively good voice acting, new for Team Asano, which really brings these characters to life despite being otherwise portrayed through static portraits and pixel-art. It all has a Disney/anime atmosphere that combines with the visual style into that feeling of a great adventure that warms your heart, and along the way mercilessly hits the nostalgic chords of fans of retro classics.
In addition to all that, the game is kind to your time. Relevant things start happening right away, without that idle pace and ten-hour introduction before the adventure really starts. Already in the first half hour you are in the spotlight of the main action, which is a real refreshment for a genre that knows how to spend half the game in the preface.
The story has almost no idle time, so it never becomes tiring.
This continues when it comes to the total duration. If you only follow the main missions, the whole thing can be completed in about twenty hours. But don’t worry, there are enough side missions, secrets, research, and even alternative endings that can raise that number to 50 hours for those who want to squeeze the experience to the last drop.
However, I feel almost compelled to mention here that these alternate endings are locked behind a few conditions that I honestly don’t know how anyone would discover without some sort of guide at hand. It’s worth keeping that in mind, because the best part of the whole story is hidden in them, so I’m afraid that a lot of players will unfortunately never see it.
THE ADVENTURES OF YOUNG ELLIOT
As you can see from the images, The Adventures of Elliot takes place from a sort of hybrid isometric and bird’s eye view, very similar to other games from the studio like Octopath Traveler. And here you explore an open world that gradually unlocks for you like in some kind of metroidvania – by finding key skills or tools. For added spice, there’s the mechanic of traveling through four different time periods which then transforms key parts of the map or opens up paths that weren’t available in other periods. It’s cleverly done, because the level design itself sometimes becomes one big puzzle that you solve by switching from one time to another.
But I have to be honest: there aren’t enough such examples to make the game feel like we’ve been served the same map four times. A large part of these maps are visually almost the same with a lot of repetition and going through identical paths. It’s all the worse because the enemies you meet in those four periods, separated by thousands of years, are almost the same, with only a few minor variations.
Four time periods offer insufficient variation in map design.
As what i am mentioned in the introduction, fight takes place in reality time and is more fun than what would you expected. Not I mean here kind of dizzy dynamics – it is, after all word about isometric RPG, deny it how much is it simply satisfactory. Perfectly fits into the vibe of the game, a removes by the way that breaking toka kakvo nose titles in which fight takes place in turns.
During the game you get some different weapons at your disposal: sword, spear, chain, boomerang, bow and arrow, bombs and the like. Each has one simple combo attack and an alternate special attack, and along with them is a shield that, in addition to blocking damage, allows parrying with timely execution. All together it is surprisingly diverse and mechanically deeper than it seems at first glance. The very lineup of opponents forces you to vary your approach to some extent: chain to mow down several at once, spear for more damage to a single opponent, and so on.
Combat is mechanically simple, but surprisingly fun.
It can all be a bit imprecise because the game takes place online, where you can attack (or be attacked) in eight directions, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really not a problem. The feeling of hitting is satisfying, and the game also has a fun mechanic: by avoiding hits, you build a kind of combo meter, and the higher it is, the more currency you get from your opponent. It’s such an addictive little addition that I used to just walk around the map looking for opponents to see how high I could keep it.
Since the game relies less on turn-based combat and stats, progression is handled a little differently. First of all, it’s great that you can find equipment and more powerful weapon variants on the maps. In addition to making you stronger, exploring and deviating from the given path becomes a really rewarding activity. There’s also the Magicite currency, which are gems you insert into weapons to improve their power or even change how the weapon behaves. Quite a robust system, as each weapon has a commendable number of these gems with different effects. But the way you get them is literally like playing some sort of gacha game: pay in-game currency and get a random gem.
Success depends more on player skill, so progression systems are relatively trivial.
All that aside, the progression itself is actually not effective enough, primarily because success in battle depends more on your skill and less on statistics. Even if it wasn’t, the opponents are so lackluster and relatively weak that more advanced gems are almost unnecessary. The only difference is that, say, the upgraded sword kills the opponent in one hit instead of two, which is not a power fantasy.
Even the boss fights are relatively imaginative, but quite easy even when you’re not upgraded. Even worse, if you put in the effort, you can find or buy items that will further trivialize that challenge. Either way, don’t expect a demanding game. This is not necessarily a disadvantage if you came for a relaxed, feel-good experience, but it’s worth knowing what you’re getting into.
Elliot is perhaps the most beautiful game of this style on the market right now.
Visually, little can stand up to Elliot today. HD-2D here does everything we love it for – pixel art in three-dimensional spaces, dynamic lighting, a variety of biomes from deserts to snow to volcanoes. I would venture to say that this is perhaps the most beautiful game of this style on the market right now, where each location acts as a visual reward in itself.
The music contributes to the whole volume feel-good atmosphere and you really have the feeling that you are going on a real little adventure. No song stands out in particular, but the soundtrack as a whole carries the vibe of the game very well. Technically, I played on a basic PS5 and the game runs flawlessly – no bugs, crashes or freezes, with fast loading times.
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY PIXELS
The Adventures of Elliot drew me into its world despite the fact that it doesn’t do anything groundbreaking. It has completely legitimate gripes, but despite them, the combination of exploration, fun combat, visual style and enjoyable story is able to keep you in that casual rhythm that is hard to tear yourself away from.
Many will potentially raise an eyebrow at the price of 60 euros, but after everything that has been played, I would hardly call it overly controversial. For the same money, I’ve played bigger and more expensive titles that didn’t entertain me half as much as this one. And that’s why I recommend it without thinking too much. Don’t let the pixel-art and compactness of the adventure make you think it’s a little indie thing, because Elliot is a full-blooded adventure that knows what it’s doing.