Would you kindly join me as we talk about a new journey? Square Enix and Team Asano’s newest HD-2D adventure is a marvel in several ways, harkening back to a different age in more ways than one. The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is way better than social media would have you believe, and I’m happy to give you the full rundown.

Of course, when we talk about things like this, there is always a Princess, always a sword, and so on. Okay, that’s my second Bioshock reference. I think I’m done for now. The Adventures of Elliot puts you in the role of the titular character as he undertakes a journey across several eras in order to protect his home.

If we want to break The Adventures of Elliot down into its base elements, it weaves together the storytelling of Octopath Traveler, the time-travel elements of Chrono Trigger, and the adventuring gameplay of the Zelda franchise. In particular, you’ll find yourself exploring a large world map, notably in the style of classic Zelda titles. As you progress, you’ll get 8 different weapon types, a few of which will help you explore in new ways.

Each weapon can be enhanced with Magicite, which can be fused via a vendor in town. Across each of the 4 eras, each settlement will offer places to buy medicine, fuse Magicite, and do a few other fun things such as following a lengthy “cat collecting” side quest. Cats are spread all over the world map, sometimes hidden in dungeons. As you find a certain number of cats, you’ll get different rewards.

Also, I should probably discuss the elephant in the room. If you have followed any discourse about The Adventures of Elliot, you’ll have heard about Faie, Elliot’s fairy companion. Yes, she is a little bit annoying. However, you can turn off her unnecessary commentary if you aren’t interested in it. If you can withstand it, however, Faie serves as a sort of detector for items and can even help you solve puzzles if you are confused or stumped.

With that said, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is designed in such a way that puzzles can often be solved in multiple ways. On top of that, the designs of each era, dungeon, puzzle shrine, and overall environments are meticulously crafted. As you play, you’ll begin to understand more and more. You can also mark things on your map, and certain things (cats, shrines, etc) will be marked on your map over time as you progress.

With the previous mentions of weapons and magicite, the combat is also highly customizable. You can set up builds for your weapons to do all sorts of things, and you can change magicite on the fly. As you upgrade your Magicite box, you’ll be able to equip more magicite to each weapon, increasing your options for what you can equip. Magicite comes in different rarities, too, so as you progress, your magicite will (or should at least) strengthen too.

Side quests are also more than just simple “Go here, do this thing, get money” adventures. Most of the time, they are self-contained small stories, which give you a useful adventuring tool. It may be something small like an extra vial for healing, or something larger like a new weapon type or even a traversal ability.

The visual design of The Adventures of Elliot is immaculate. The environments are beautiful, the animations are crisp, and the character portraits during dialogue are detailed and gorgeous. It goes perfectly with the beautiful soundtrack and great voice acting for Elliot and the various leads in-game.

I would say 90% of The Adventures of Elliot is voice-acted. A few bits here and there aren’t, but it is usually from small NPCs that aren’t really necessary. Because of this, I think Elliot’s Adventure is very accessible, even for younger players. There are even multiple difficulty levels to make things easier if the normal difficulty is too much. I played on Normal and haven’t had too many issues, even despite my slower reflexes due to chronic pain problems.

Overall, I can easily say that The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is easily one of my favorite games for 2026 so far. Faie is a little annoying, and I can see people being turned off by her, but if you can stick through it (or turn her excess talking off), there is a fantastic adventure waiting for you. I would even go so far as to say that Nintendo could learn a lot from The Adventures of Elliot, even in the small quality-of-life things here and there. Give this game a try; you won’t be disappointed.

A PC Review Copy of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales was provided by Square Enix for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales

$59.99

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful HD-2D Visuals
• Wonderful Time-hopping, Heartfelt story
• Versatile Combat Mechanics
• Faie's talking can be reduced
• Lots of side content to explore

Cons

• Faie can be Annoying