The game is set in Philabieldia, a continent overrun by beast tribes. Players assume the role of the titular adventurer Elliot. Accompanied by his fairy companion Faie, he is tasked with exploring a set of newly-discovered ruins outside the protective walls of humanity's last bastion—the Kingdom of Huther.[3] Princess Heuria, whose magic maintains a barrier spell cast on the kingdom, aids Elliot's venture through the ruins.[4] After discovering a mysterious artifact called the Doorway of Time that connects the past and present, Elliot's journey transcends space and time.[1][5]
According to head developer Tomoya Asano, The Adventures of Elliot will have "simple and easy to understand gameplay".[3] Unlike previous HD-2D titles, the game does not feature turn-based combat or a party system. Instead, the player fights enemies in real-time combat using seven different weapon types, such as swords, bows, chains, and sickles with different abilities and effects. A second player can control Faie in co-op mode, aiding in battle with her own combat abilities,[6] retrieving items and helping in navigating puzzles and platforming sections.[7][8][9] Elliot has a dash and a warp which lets the player instantly teleport to Faie's location. Players can utilize Elliot's shield to block and parry enemy attacks and detonate bombs to unlock doorways in walls.[10][6] Players can equip Elliot with two weapons at any given time and freely switch between them in battle. Treasure chests in dungeons and puzzle shrines contain magicite fragments that can be used to enhance weapons with various additional effects.[4]
Development and release
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is being developed by Team Asano and Claytechworks under the umbrella of Square Enix's Creative Studio 5.[10][1][5] Like previous titles created by Team Asano, such as the Octopath Traveler series and Live A Live, the game features Square Enix's trademarked HD-2D art style.[8]
The game was announced with a 2026 release date in a Nintendo Direct livestream on July 31, 2025. A free demo for the game featuring approximately 90 minutes of gameplay launched on the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop the same day.[10] Square Enix invited people to provide feedback through an online survey open until September 30.[8][7]
Reactions
Following the game's announcement, The Adventures of Elliot has been compared to The Legend of Zelda series[6][10][11] and various titles developed by Square Enix. The Punished Backlog compared the game's "colorful" and "flashy" real-time combat to the Mana series.[10][12] Quinton O'Connor of TheGamer noted that Elliot bears a "hilarious" similarity to red mages from the Final Fantasy series and pointed out that the word "magicite" is also used in the series.[13] Gameplay was compared to 2D The Legend of Zelda games like Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom by James Galizio from RPG Site. Particularly, The Adventures of Elliot contains caves, dungeons, and shrines, which increase your maximum health upon completing them with your fairy companion; Galizio likened Elliot's combat, using a basic sword and shield, bow, and bombs to Zelda games of the Game Boy era.[11] Orpheus Joshua of Noisy Pixel described the game as a fusion between the Mana series and Nihon Falcom games from the Ys, Zwei, and Nayuta series.[12] Bruno Yonezawa of Screen Rant calls it a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger; both Joshua and he call The Adventures of Elliot their most anticipated game of 2026.[14][12]
The game's fictional continent Philabieldia caused viewers of the Nintendo Direct to make humorous remarks about its nominal similarity to Philadelphia.[15][16][17]
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