Since the first Octopath Traveler game, I’ve leapt at any new HD-2D game in the Square Enix oeuvre. So when the publisher revealed The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales during the July 31 Nintendo Direct, and announced that a demo was available the same day, I knew what I had to do. Sure, one hour of demo can’t warrant a full assessment. But my time with it showed that The Adventures of Elliot is heading in an interesting direction.
Published by Square Enix, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is an action RPG developed by Team Asano — the same team behind other terrific RPGs like Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, and Triangle Strategy. Described by Team Asano head Tomoya Asano as a game that features a “simple and easy to understand gameplay,” The Adventures of Elliot puts players in control of, well, Elliot, a guy who travels alongside the fairy Faie while exploring the regions controlled by the beast tribes. The game is set to release on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X in 2026, but the demo is only available on Nintendo Switch 2.
Combat and exploration are the focuses of The Adventures of Elliot demo. You can experiment with some weapons for short or long-range combat. From the classic sword to literal bombs you leave on the field, à la Bomberman, I had fun playing around with different combinations. Because melee weapons have a charged attack, I could employ the slow but effective strategy of walking, then charging my sword to unleash a one-hit-kill hit whenever an unwary frog or snail appeared.
On the other hand, trying to shoot enemies with a bow is a trial that can break a person’s spirit, since the HD-2D environments replicate those of old-school action RPGs — right down to the lack of depth perception. Do you think the dangerous blue frog is right in front of you? Wrong! Your arrows (plural, because you always end up spending more than one) will miss them. You eventually learn that a body is always a little bit to the right, or maybe a little bit below, from where it seems to be.
In The Adventures of Elliot, the rhythm of the combat is reminiscent of a time when arduous battles were fought by fancy sprites wielding pixelated swords. You repeat the same attack animation as you furiously press the attack button. There are no dashes to avoid dangerous attacks, or complex full-party combos that end encounters with style. You need to study whether the best approach is to start attacking or to wait for the enemy’s move to block them. After years of playing complex action RPGs, The Adventure of Elliot feels too simple. Too basic. The simplicity of Elliot’s combat skills, however, gives room for intricate, quite chaotic, and yet fun boss fights.
When you’re not fighting enemies, you spend time visiting a new region or exploring a new dungeon. The demo only gives access to a few locations, but it’s more than enough for it to show off different biomes: a desert with floating fire stones, for instance, or a forest area with grassy sections that slow you down.
Although fun to explore, most of the areas I could see in The Adventures of Elliot demo feel very generic — at least, more generic than I expected from a world called Philabieldia. They lack interesting landmarks or details that sparked my curiosity. Of course, the HD-2D treatment makes all these areas beautiful to see, but none of them shone or made me eager to explore every crook. Maybe those in the full game will be more compelling.
The first dungeon I explored was a multi-layered cavern with quicksand and holes on the ground, requiring you to drop from one layer to another in the right order. On the other hand, the second dungeon I found had mechanisms you need to activate to elevate platforms. I was captivated by these dungeons because of how well they worked with Elliot’s skills. Our solo adventurer can only jump and use fairy magic to explore. Although jumping on a series of platforms within a time limit can be infuriating because of the game’s imperfect spatial experience, these challenges made me feel like I had mastered Elliot. I knew how quickly I needed to press the buttons. I knew how far he could jump. I pushed his limits.
Ironically, Elliot himself is the least interesting aspect of The Adventures of Elliot. He has his cool design, which makes him look like a Red Mage from Final Fantasy, and he has his fair share of lines in the initial segment of the demo. Nevertheless, I can’t shake the feeling that it doesn’t matter whether he’s Elliot the Famous Explorer or just Elliot the Random Dude in the Red Hat. For a game called The Adventures of Elliot, the fact that the main character has the personality of a plank of wood is funny, to say the least.
It took me around one hour to finish The Adventures of Elliot demo, and I put down my Switch 2 wanting more. The quirkiness of the game makes it appealing, and, while I enjoy my turn-based RPGs, I didn’t know I wanted to experience a game that reminded me of Ys I and Secret of Mana. There isn’t much I can do now besides wait and wish for the final version of the game to be as good — or better — as my memories of it are.
