The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales has everything an RPG fan could want. It has gorgeous HD-2D graphics, multiple time periods to visit, action-based combat and a fantasy world full of mystery. Sounds like the next big adventure on paper.
Sadly the last experience never quite reaches its full potential.
The game has a strong concept and attractive presentation but suffers from repetitive gameplay, uninspired dungeon design, and a time travel story that seldom lives up to its own potential.# A Hopeful Tale That Plays It Safe
The adventure tells the story of Elliot, a young hero from the kingdom of Huther. When strange Doorways begin popping up everywhere in the world, Elliot is sent traveling through different eras to stop a rising danger.
Kaifried, an evil advisor, begins to alter history, putting the kingdom and Princess Heuria in danger. Elliot must go through different ages to repair the timeline and save his world.
The premise is interesting but the storytelling is never as inspired as it should be. Time travel usually has memorable moments, surprising twists and major consequences. Here those possibilities are largely ignored.
The game rarely explores alternate timelines, hard choices, and meaningful changes to history. Instead the story takes a familiar course that feels surprisingly secure. # Different ages that are too much alike
Each place should feel distinct, even as you move through different periods. Most environments look and play the same unfortunately.
Towns and settlements differ slightly from era to era but the dungeons are very repetitive. The game is mostly about pushing blocks, flipping switches, turning mirrors and solving familiar puzzles.
There are several areas that are revisited multiple times as the adventure progresses, which makes the experience feel repetitive rather than exciting.
Time travel is more a plot device than a gameplay element.# Combat at Shallow
Combat starts off well enough, but quickly becomes repetitive.
Elliot has a few different weapons to pick from, but only a few feel really useful. Most battles are dominated by the sword and heavy hammer, with other weapons feeling weak or awkward to use.
The Magicite system attempts to inject progression by allowing players to unlock abilities and upgrades. But the system is so dependent on randomness that the character growth feels inconsistent.
There is no traditional leveling system and many battles are optional. Most enemies can be ignored by players, who just need to concentrate on the main objectives and boss encounters.
It makes for an ever-evolving combat system for the whole adventure.## Side Content Feels Like Work
The game features optional quests, collectibles and hidden cats around the world.
Some quests bring interesting ideas to the table, but most of them are simple errands, collecting items or defeating enemies. The rewards are nice, but the activities themselves often feel like rinse and repeat.
One of the biggest side activities is collecting cats but they are in plain sight for the most part and not very challenging to obtain.
Much of the side content just adds more hours to the game instead of expanding the world.## Faie is the biggest problem
One of the most frustrating things about the game is its companion, Faie.
She comments on almost everything the player does. Dialogue is constantly being triggered by opening maps, entering areas, solving puzzles, using abilities and even basic exploration.
The constant talking gets tiring after a while.
Even with her limited dialogue choices a lot of the same lines keep cropping up. Faie helps players by describing obvious mechanics or giving hints after the puzzles have been solved.
Her powers can be useful for exploration at times, but the constant interruptions make for a chore to play.# Beautiful visuals can’t save experience
The Adventures of Elliot looks amazing, that’s for sure. The HD-2D art style makes for some beautiful environments and the world itself has charm.
But the strong visuals can’t compensate for the repetitive gameplay, shallow combat systems and underdeveloped story.
The game hints at something larger all through the adventure. Every mechanic has potential, but very few ideas are given the time to become truly memorable.# Final Judgment
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is not a bad RPG. It works fine, looks nice and is sometimes fun.
But its biggest weakness is how safe it feels.
The time-travel concept is uninspired, the fighting gets old, and the dungeons are soon tiresome. The game suffers from frustrating companion dialogue and forgettable side content that make it hard to keep the excitement up throughout.
There might be some fun to be had here for those who want a simple action RPG, but they might be disappointed if they were expecting a fresh and ambitious adventure.
Score: 4/10