The Adventures Of Elliot: The Millennium Tales review – SNES greatest hits

Square Enix’s latest game borrows from Secret Of Mana, The Legend Of Zelda, and Chrono Trigger to make a brand new HD-2D action role-player.

Although the SNES and other consoles of the early 90s are famed for hosting the golden era of Japanese role-players there are an awful lot of franchises from that time that have little or no modern counterparts. Inevitably it’s the more unusual titles, like Konami’s Suikoden that have fallen by the wayside, but Square Enix themselves have been strangely resistant to the idea of bringing back the acclaimed Chrono Trigger.

They’ve gone to so much effort to remake or remaster absolutely everything except it – including its less famous sequel Chrono Cross – that we can only assume they’re purposefully avoiding it for some unknown legal reasons or perhaps some unique reverence for the original and its ‘dream team’ of developers.

Only this month, Japanese gamers voted Chrono Trigger as the game they would most want to see get a remake. Instead, Square Enix provided them with The Adventures Of Elliot, a new HD-2D game that has clear similarities with the aging classic, as well as other contemporaries such as Secret Of Mana and The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past. The more positive elements of all three games shine through here, but the cloying membrane of nostalgia is difficult to push past.

Despite the generic HD-2D look and its many, and obvious, homages to classic 16-bit role-players, The Adventures Of Elliot is a brand new IP. In it, humanity is beset by ‘beast tribes’ and only one kingdom is still holding out against them. You, as the titular adventurer Elliot, are tasked with exploring ancient ruins, out beyond the protective walls of the castle, where you discover a portal that allows you to travel through time.

The immediate problem with this set-up is that the storytelling is incredibly dull and extremely long-winded. This has been a hallmark of Square Enix’s Team Asano since they started making HD-2D games, which have many positive qualities, but not a willingness for any of their characters to get to the point. Rather than looking forward to meeting a new person, in The Adventures Of Elliot you dread them telling you their life story, like some lonely granny cornering you at a bus stop.

In terms of combat, the key point of reference is Secret Of Mana, which is still technically going as a franchise (Visions Of Mana was only a couple of years ago) but peaked on the SNES with what was basically The Legend Of Zelda but without any puzzles. The Adventures Of Elliot continues that legacy, with some simple but enjoyable top-down action, that incorporates a lot of Zelda favourites, like a boomerang, bombs, and hammer, as well as others. There’s a modern style parry system but otherwise it’s all pleasingly fast-paced and moreish.

The one problem with battles is a distinct lack of enemy variety, with the game making substantial use of literal palette swapping, usually to denote tougher enemies, in what is one of the game’s less agreeable nods to the past.

Unlike Secret Of Mana, The Adventures Of Elliot does have proper puzzles. That’s good in theory but the dungeon design leans so heavily on specific Zelda games that the Water Temple equivalent, and the one where you’re reflecting light beams off mirrors, are difficult not to roll your eyes at.

Your progress is aided by an irritatingly twee fairy called Faie, that only Elliot can see. This isn’t an indication that he’s on the bottle, as she also has several magic powers, including teleportation, that can aid dungeon exploration. You can even control Faie separately, for a short distance via the right stick, which makes her one of the most mechanically interesting additions to the game, even though she herself is intensely irritating.

The standards of storytelling are weak throughout, as not only will most characters never shut up but everything to do with time-travelling, which is presented very similarly to Chrono Trigger – to the point where it’s clearly meant to be a nostalgic nod for fans – is completely mishandled. There are four different time periods, but they all look almost identical. Whereas Chrono Trigger went from the stone age to the far future, The Adventures Of Elliot is just four minor variations of the same fantasy kingdom.

All the time travelling is purely in terms of the story, so while going back to meet the ancients that are merely legends back in your own time is theoretically interesting, it’s little more than a narrative detail, since all the maps still look more or less the same no matter what era you’re visiting. There are some quests that involve doing things in the past to influence the future, including in terms of changing the attitude of ancestors of other characters, but not many and the whole time-travelling conceit feels woefully underused – as if it’s there first and foremost simply to pay homage to Chrono Trigger.

The combat is fun, and you have a lot of control over Elliot’s build – including customisable magic and special abilities, but beyond that the only real appeal is the HD-2D graphics and heavy-handed nostalgia. In truth, the most interesting thing about The Adventures Of Elliot is how perfectly it illustrates that new IP is not nearly as important as new ideas. Technically, everything here is brand new, and unconnected to any other franchise, and yet if feels more generic and overfamiliar than many games with a lengthy series of Roman numerals after their name.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
Price: £54.99
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix and Claytechworks
Release Date: 18th June 2026
Age Rating: 12

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