The “classic” Zelda format has been on hiatus for a little while now. While Echoes of Wisdom certainly tapped into a nostalgic vibe, but for a new top-down Zelda, you’ve got to go all the way back to 2013’s A Link Between Worlds to get your typical set-up of unlockable dungeons, Sage collecting, and puzzles with clearly-designed solutions. Even then, it was a lot more open than the 2D titles before it, thanks to Ravio’s item rental. My point is, Zelda is a different beast in this post-BOTW world, and who knows when Nintendo will next return to its roots?
Fortunately, we don’t need to sit around waiting for the House of N to get that classic Zelda fix. Many other developers have picked up the mantle in recent years, but few have reminded me of SNES Hyrule quite as much as Square Enix’s The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
You might recall this one rounding out the July 2025 Partner Direct. I wouldn’t blame you if it slipped your mind, however. The HD-2D art style, while still gorgeous, is hardly as groundbreaking today as it was back in 2018, and that name… talk about word soup, eh?
A demo arrived shortly after its reveal, which, upon closer inspection, had more than a little Zelda in its DNA. All these months on, I see that the Hylian vibes have grown even stronger.
I was lucky enough to go hands-on with an even bigger chunk of the game at a recent Square Enix preview event, where I played through roughly 90-minutes of dungeons, battles, and a good helping of open-world exploration. My biggest takeaway is that ‘Elliot’ is how you remember your first Zelda game, overflowing with mystery, puzzles, and adventure possibilities. Nobody does Zelda quite like Nintendo, but Square Enix is taking a damn good run at it.
Just in case this one slipped your mind, ‘Elliot’ is an action RPG from Square Enix’s Team Asano — the team that brought us the likes of TRIANGLE STRATEGY, Bravely Default, and the Octopath series — alongside Bravely Default II co-dev Claytechworks. It follows a young hero named Elliot (funnily enough), who, joined by his fairy companion Faie, sets out into a monster-filled open world and hops through time to save a princess.
It’s all so very Zelda-coded that if Tingle had cropped up in one of the rooms, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid.
If that’s not ringing any bells for you, well, the set-up is Zelda to a T, and while Elliot is a little more chatty than the mostly-silent Link, Faie is absolutely Navi, Tatyl or Tri — albeit a slightly more useful variant with a ‘Partner Chattiness’ option to tweak to your liking.
My demo started in the Doorway Ruins, a dungeon that appropriately greeted me with a huge, red locked door. Taking the side routes led me through a series of bouncing-light mirror puzzles, treasure chests, bombable walls and solutions hidden between multiple floors, all before a final boss key kicked me back into the very room I started in to unlock that first passage and face the boss inside.
It’s all so very Zelda-coded that if Tingle had cropped up in one of the rooms, I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. But there’s more to ‘Elliot’ than mere imitation. While the puzzles and dungeon layouts themselves were immediately familiar, there’s an unexpected depth under the surface.
Take Elliot’s combat skills, for example. We’ve all seen the sword, bow and arrow, bombs and boomerang before, but this hero can wield them like no 2D Link ever could. Aside from the ability to aim in all eight directions, there’s an upgrade system that packs in bonus abilities in return for collectible Magicite — shards of which can be found in smashed pots or monster remains. These boosts include arrows hitting multiple enemies, self-aim projectiles, or more powerful swing in certain scenarios, and they can be toggled on or off as you please.
Adding even more variety to proceedings, Faie comes with a batch of special abilities of her own. A few I saw include granting Elliot a burst of speed or warping abilities, but some of these can also apply to combat. The ‘Ignite’ skill, for instance, lets Faie chip away at enemies on one side of the screen with flame attacks, while Elliot takes a more traditional sword-and-shield approach on the other. It all allowed for a level of customisation that made exploring the overworld a blast.
Once I left the dungeon, I was only able to see a small section of what Philabieldia has to offer, but I was immediately drawn to the snowy Whiterea region; it’s so densely packed with secret caves, micro dungeons and shrines, I could have spent my entire time in a small segment alone and still only scratched the surface. Bearing in mind that the overworld and all its challenges will change as Elliot travels between different ‘Ages’ (think Hyrule as Child Link vs Adult Link in Ocarina of Time), this promises to be a rather beefy adventure.
I spent my time getting to grips with the attack patterns of the impressively varied enemies, collecting cats (yes, really), and uncovering hidden paths to yet more loot, but this was one of those joyous preview sessions where I could scan the room and see 10 different journalists embarking on 10 different missions.
I’m sure that the titular tale of ‘The Millennium Tales’ will be interesting enough to keep us on the main path (I didn’t really get a sense of any narrative in this brief look), but for all those prone to getting lost in a side quest or two, watch out for this one.
It should go without saying, but yes, this HD-2D joint is another stunner. The character sprites are just as detailed as we’ve come to expect from this art style now, but perhaps more so than any HD-2D title before it, the backdrops feel truly alive. Be it the glint of a treasure chest on a far-off platform, or the glow of a fire enemy in a dark cave, Philabieldia is a treat for the eyes — I’m already making an advanced apology to my screenshot button for the repeated mashing that’s in store.
I should note that my preview took place on PS5, but based on everything I saw in last year’s Switch 2 demo, I’m hopeful that the game will hold up every bit as well on Nintendo’s hardware as it does on the more powerful system, especially as it’s only coming to the newer Nintendo console, unlike Octopath Traveler 0. Keep those fingers crossed, folks.
With a final bit of dungeon exploring under my belt (in the wonderfully fantasy-named Dragon Pillar Dungeon, of all places), my preview came to an end. If the demo had my curiosity, this session fully had my attention. June is already looking like a busy one, but I’ll certainly be putting some time aside to see what else ‘The Adventures of Elliot’ has in store for me.
