{"id":1609226,"date":"2026-06-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/WfYq9J6ycYFiVmDfuf8vkQ"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T12:00:00","slug":"the-adventures-of-elliot-the-millennium-tales-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/the-adventures-of-elliot-the-millennium-tales-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I always thought history was boring as a kid. Nuts to the past, I want cool tech, body mods, and lightspeed travel! But maybe I would have felt differently if I had a game like The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales back then. What better way is there to appreciate the past than violently cutting down a million monsters in a ye olde fantasy Philadelphia<\/p>\n

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Need to know<\/div>\n
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What is it?<\/strong> Time-traveling adventure full of optimism and high-octane hack-n-slashing<\/p>\n

Release date: <\/strong>June 18, 2026<\/p>\n

Expect to pay: <\/strong>$60 \/ \u00a350<\/p>\n

Developer:<\/strong> Square Enix, Claytechworks<\/p>\n

Publisher: <\/strong>Square Enix<\/p>\n

Reviewed on: <\/strong>Intel Core i7-13700F, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, 16 Gig RAM<\/p>\n

Steam Deck: <\/strong>Verified<\/p>\n

Link: <\/strong>Official site<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Centered around the\u2014you\u2019ll never guess\u2014adventures of a guy named Elliot, this is a classic top-down action adventure through and through. I can taste a healthy smattering of Zelda in its recipe, a smidge of Ys, a dash of Quintet\u2019s informal Gaia series. Traveling through time to explore the history of the magic city Philabieldia (no relation to the real magic city of cheesesteaks stateside), all the elements you\u2019d expect of the genre are here: a condensed map, various tools to help uncover secrets, and plenty of puzzle-filled dungeons, all spruced up with Square Enix\u2019s now-iconic HD-2D style looking the best it ever has. You\u2019ve even got a little blue fairy friend yapping your ear off.<\/p>\n

And boy does she talk<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Square Enix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With her portrait sitting in the corner of the screen so she can mug gameplay and cutscenes alike like a hungry react YouTuber, Faie the fairy truly loves to yap. All I’m trying to do is fight my way through a tiny cave, and yet there she is complimenting me after every fight, pointing out every item that drops or chest sitting out in the open or immediately explaining how to solve the world’s simplest block pushing puzzle the second I see it. Luckily for my sanity, there’s an option buried in the menus to cut her rambling down significantly, turning her from borderline unbearable to a charmingly optimistic companion. It\u2019s frankly baffling that\u2019s not the default.<\/p>\n

Besides making sure you\u2019ve always got someone to listen to, Faie provides The Adventures of Elliot\u2019s biggest addition to a style of turn-based RPG Square Enix has gotten comfortable with in recent years., She has an entire host of abilities of her own to experiment with. I can urn her into a body double to clear out a host of monsters while sitting safely in another room, or have her warp me past entire sections of dungeons. Faie specializes in producing moments that make me feel like a genius cheating the system.<\/p>\n

Controlled with either the right stick or by a friend, taking full advantage of her freeform powers can be brain-breakingly busy (and sometimes left me gripping my controller in a monstrous double claw), but the satisfaction of whacking an evil elephant with a hammer into Faie right as she\u2019s turned into a mini tornado to hurl them into a pit is incredibly satisfying.<\/p>\n

Timed events<\/h2>\n
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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

While a sword is your bread and butter, there are plenty of other weapons to take your enemies out with. <\/span>(Image credit: Square Enix)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not that I wasn\u2019t swinging a sword plenty myself. The Adventures of Elliot is a lightning fast game. Classic JRPG electric guitar wails while I hop over boulders that are sinking into lava. As soon as I land in a locked room, half a dozen murderous monsters are beelining right for me. At its best it\u2019s positively exhilarating, a total high-octane thrill ride. Many of the bosses especially, these gorgeous behemoths of detailed pixel work, call to mind the furious action of Ys, dashing and jumping and blocking and parrying in an endless back and forth ballet of violence.<\/p>\n

And while there\u2019s not many graphic options\u2014mostly the prerequisite smattering of resolution sliders and depth of field toggles\u2014the HD-2D style ensures a strong visual look while keeping the requirements humble, and on my rig it all ran at a perfectly constant 120 fps; ideal for a game that has a tendency to get chaotic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too bad, then, that the game is so obsessed with making sure I\u2019m never without a rogue rodent to explode that the puzzles suffer. Most about as complex as pushing a single block left a couple inches. Worse, without any memorable puzzles or interesting layouts, the dungeons all lack a strong identity, slipping right out of the mind the moment they\u2019re done.<\/p>\n

Acting your age<\/span><\/h3>\n

The Adventures of Elliot will have you hoping through a handful of time periods. Here’s what to expect.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Age of Budding<\/h3>\n
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The earliest time you’ll be visiting, when man and nature were close and magic still a mystery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Age of Magic<\/h3>\n
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You might be convinced you’re playing some steampunk sci-fi jumping here, where magic rules alongside rapidly evolving tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Age of Reconstruction<\/h3>\n
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We all have our bad days, and this is Philabieldia’s: a dark, ruinous era where the sun hardly shines and everyone lives a moment away from death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Age of Safekeeping<\/h3>\n
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With Philabieldia’s protective magic weakening, the present’s JRPG fantasy land seems happy enough, but it could very well be on its last legs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n