Adventures of Elliot review: a charming throwback RPG that respects your time

The Adventures of Elliot, co-developed by Team Asano and Claytechworks, feels like discovering a lost SNES or PS1-era classic. It doesn’t reinvent modern RPGs, but its pacing is tight, boss fights are varied, puzzles satisfy, and the music and visuals recall a fairy-tale storybook.

A compact map and a roughly 25-hour runtime invite exploration without feeling daunting. The story leans into a Ghibli-esque earnestness that can feel hokey at first. Elliot is a kindly, boy-scout adventurer who starts by retrieving a lost comb for an elderly man and soon accepts the king’s request to investigate ruins and stop a time-traveling villain; his line "My family believes me to be the greatest adventurer in the world.

I’d hate to disappoint them," sets the game’s cheery tone. Gameplay borrows from Zelda-style exploration, using new skills and weapons to reach previously unreachable areas.

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