Final Fantasy meets Zelda? Yes please

Let’s be real: there is no shortage of ZeldaStyle games to play now. This is true even if you have exhausted everything you can see Kingdom tears or Echoes of wisdom. Indie developers continue to find new ways to update the formula, be it Integrated with Soulslike, Which makes it more comfortableor Simply shrink attic To something more manageable. Now we have Square Enix and… Eliot’s Adventures: Tales of the Millenniuman RPG with a strange name that mixes classic games Zelda Structure with something like Final fantasy. This is a combination I can’t seem to get enough of.

Elliot’s Adventures It is the latest in Square Enix’s “HD-2D” game collectiona loosely put together series that is largely defined by its visuals, which reimagines pixel art for modern audiences. Another distinguishing feature is Each game has an incredibly strange nameSo Eliot It fits perfectly. Many of them are traditional JRPGs, e.g Traveler Octopath series, some Dragon Quest Remakesand actual Final fantasy game. But Square Enix has also evolved the HD-2D style to include more genres, e.g Triangle strategyIt was, well, a strategy, and now it’s an action-adventure game.

As you can probably guess, Eliot It stars an adventurer named Elliot in a world of magic and monsters. In Eliot’s time, most of the land is a dangerous place, with only one city free of monster tribes, because it is under the magical protection of a young princess. This makes adventurers like Elliott an integral part of society: they are the people who go out into the world and complete tasks that are considered too risky for ordinary citizens. He is soon drawn into a greater adventure where the fate of the kingdom is at stake, initially involving one of the king’s power-hungry advisors and eventually spanning multiple timelines across a millennium.

There are many obvious similarities with Zelda. You cut the grass and the gems appear. You collect pieces of heart to increase your health; You slowly unlock an arsenal of weapons including bombs and a boomerang; You can heal yourself with magic elixir collected in empty bottles. In the end you get a very annoying fairy companion. The chassis also feels good Zelda. There are smaller dungeons where you can unlock new powers and abilities, and then there are larger dungeons where you have to use those powers and abilities to solve puzzles, find a big red boss switch, and then beat the bosses themselves.

I make Elliot’s Adventures It seems like Zelda A clone with the sheen of HD-2D, but so much more, thanks in large part to its role-playing and world-building elements. Although you don’t gain experience and level up like in typical RPGs, there are a number of elements that are reminiscent of games like Final fantasy. Most notably, a collectible item called Magicite, which allows you to customize Elliot’s various weapons to best suit your playstyle. Likewise, there are a number of different magic spells your fairy can learn, which allow you to do things like set enemies on fire or move away from danger. As in traditional JRPGs, you spend a lot Time spent talking to people in the towns, watching cutscenes, and thinking about dialogue as the story unfolds. Eliot It’s a very talkative game, and its main character will give you a good idea of ​​what Link would be like if he talked. (Nice but kinda boring.)

But what really attracted me to this world was how detailed and expansive it was. You explore the same map across four different time periods, and as you return you learn more about what the world was like, and thus how it came to be the way it was in Eliot’s time. There is a highly advanced age in which magic has spread and led to new technologies, an age that lives in the ruins of that society, where humanity struggles to survive amid the growing threat of monsters. You might see a beautiful building in one era that will be nothing but ruins in the next, or empty fields that eventually give way to a sprawling kingdom. The game allows you to move freely between time periods, with many missions involving going back or forward in time to learn some vital information or collect an important item.

Everything is very nice Chrono triggerAnd makes the world of Eliot You feel like you are in a real place with centuries of history to discover. The layout of the world remains largely unchanged from one era to the next, but there are important differences: larger and more elaborate cities in one time period, or bridges that have not yet been built, forcing you to find a different path. The same goes for caves and dungeons, which are like modified versions of themselves as you explore them through the ages. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how important cats are in this game; They are everywhere In the world, finding and befriending them unlocks some very important items.

Eliot It’s also been simplified in a way that makes it accessible without being too easy. The game is very generous with save points and fast travel. For example, I’ll often complete a dungeon up to the final boss, then fast travel to town to refresh my resources before jumping into the main battle. Your fairy companion can revive you in boss battles for a price that increases with each revive, so if you’re fighting a specific enemy, you can always scavenge for money to make things a little easier. The game still rewards skill: you can create a combo for each enemy you defeat without taking damage, and the higher the combo, the better the item you get.

Like other HD-2D games, Elliot’s Adventures It takes something that seems very familiar, but adds just the right amount of modern touches and ingenuity to make it stand on its own. There may be a lot of Zelda-Style Games- And more to come — but few of them are as polished, creative, and expansive as Eliot. Don’t let the goofy name scare you off.

_{Eliot’s Adventures: Tales of the Millennium It will launch on Nintendo Switch 2, PS5, Xbox, and Steam on June 18.}