‘The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales’ Review: We Have Zelda at Home

Toward the middle of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, swashbuckling explorer Elliot prepares to brave the frozen caverns north of a quiet village. Before hitting the road, he can choose to speak to a nondescript local, who warns him of a ferocious monster in the area and advises him to strike it in the eye. The tip sparks the thrill of stumbling upon secret knowledge. With his bow at the ready, Elliot descends into the depths of the caves, where he finds the creature, which turns out to be a giant eyeball. Who would have thought to aim at the peeper? The townsperson’s galvanizing but ultimately needless counsel, like much of the game, merely gestures at a feeling of fortuitous discovery.

Developed by Square Enix’s Team Asano and drawn in its polished “HD-2D” visual style, The Adventures of Elliot borrows exhaustively from The Legend of Zelda. This is the story of a plucky orphan who undertakes a quest to save a princess and annihilate an ancient evil. Along the way, he travels through time, fires arrows and flings a boomerang and tosses bombs, delves into dungeons where blocks must be pushed onto switches and braziers need be lit aflame, faces trials in mysterious shrines, and unearths a mirror-like shield and a fabled sword.

The cherry atop the heap of Zelda-isms is Faie, the far-too-chatty fairy Elliot links up with early in his journey. Faie feels like an overbearing A.I. companion: She spills heavy-handed hints about even the simplest of the game’s straightforward puzzles, summarizes plot points following cutscenes, and praises Elliot’s prowess with the blade during skirmishes.

Faie earns a bit of sympathy, as her eagerness for conversation clearly stems from her past loneliness, but The Adventures of Elliot fails to examine her inner life beyond her elation to finally have company. As a result, her grating, patronizing presence doesn’t reflect the anxieties of a fleshed-out character so much as it betrays the game’s lack of trust in the player. (There’s an option to reduce Faie’s loquacity, but the stream of commentary remains ever-flowing.)

Elliot eventually gains the ability to hop across four historical eras, and in doing so witnesses the rises and falls of the sole human settlement on a continent populated by “beastmen,” whose stigma and motivations the game leaves unexamined. Each era has its own version of the world map, which shakes up the placement of items and dungeon interiors, but the minor changes do little to prevent repetition in traversal and even less to consider how shifts in magic and technology, two key forces in the narrative, have shaped the land. And while some of the game’s side quests engage in compelling anthropology, depicting the transformation of families and societies over the eons, most amount to rote bouts of fetch bookended by protracted dialogue.

Combat, though, offers an escape from the drudgery and space for player expression. Elliot can wield weapons that feel distinct and satisfying in the hands, like the whirling chain and sickle, and the weighty, ruinous hammer. His armaments are customized with gems that unlock special moves and attributes, and it’s delightful to stumble upon a perk that redefines your approach to fights. On the “Very Hard” mode, two or three blows are enough to send Elliot packing, placing an exhilarating emphasis on strategic positioning and deft reflexes—and encouraging the use of the supremely pleasing parry, which protects Elliot and stuns enemies.

Thoughtful tactics also yield greater rewards in The Adventures of Elliot, as chaining together kills without taking damage causes foes to drop additional loot. Even Faie finds welcome purpose in the pitch of battle: While controlling Elliot, you maneuver Faie with the right analog stick and cue her spells, including bursts of fire, teleportation, a mirror image of Elliot, and others. Coordinating the two characters to weave between attacks and maintain a streak evokes the white-knuckled highs of a score-chasing twin-stick shooter.

There’s a gripping experience nestled in the final few hours of The Adventures of Elliot, when its world, in its sweeping history, becomes your oyster. The dungeons develop a meaner bite and a stronger sense of place, the riveting bosses unleash gnarlier offensives, and multiple endings build on one another to add, at long last, intriguing twists and turns to Elliot’s millennium-spanning saga. What a shame to bury all that beneath mounds of banality and bloat.

This game was reviewed with a code provided by fortyseven communications.