This Switch 2 game from Square Enix is basically the new 2D Zelda game you’ve been waiting for

When I first booted up the free Nintendo Switch 2 demo of The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales shortly after its reveal in the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did.

The new game from Final Fantasy maker Square Enix seemed like a harmless, simple adventure utilizing the HD-2D style refined by Octopath Traveler and remakes for classic RPG series like Dragon Quest.

In practice, The Adventures of Elliot is basically the new 2D game The Legend of Zelda fans have been yearning for since 2013’s A Link Between Worlds.

Most HD-2D games are outright remakes, taking the pixel art of the originals and mixing it with more detailed environments.

However, this game feels more like it’s from an era of titles like Ys, Alundra, and Landstalker, which leaned into the sense of adventure offered by the earliest The Legend of Zelda game.

It turns out that this kind of game design is a perfect fit for an HD-2D title.

The Adventures of Elliot highlights the best parts of HD-2D games

Visuals and gameplay take precedence over the story

The Adventures of Elliot follows its titular character and his fairy companion Faie as they explore and fight monsters across time and outside the protective, magical wall keeping a castle and its surrounding town safe.

It’s a premise that feels like a light tribute to Chrono Trigger, but I honestly couldn’t care less about the plot from what I played.

This doesn’t seem like a game I’ll play for its narrative, but for the sense of adventure I feel while I explore the hilariously named world of Philabieldia.

More so than the other HD-2D games I’ve played, it felt like The Adventures of Elliot wanted to emphasize the beauty of the world itself.

I was always curious to see which gorgeous visual effects I’d encounter in every new area and how the pixelated characters and enemies would blend in with them.

While the greatest strength of most HD-2D games is their visual style, I often felt like prior HD-2D games bogged players down in menus or sequences of sub-par dialogue that didn’t play to the visual style’s greatest strengths.

Conversely, this demo had minimal story content. It allowed me to take in the beauty of its world uninterrupted as I explored, discovered hidden caves and dungeons, and completed its main quest.

The Adventures of Elliot fills a void that The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom didn’t

Getting to the core of what made the original The Legend of Zelda great

Over time, The Legend of Zelda games have gotten a lot bigger and more complicated.

Rather than just focusing on exploring and dungeon puzzle solving, the latest games in Nintendo’s franchise are more systems-driven.

Take 2024’s The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which seems like a traditional 2D Zelda game on the surface but is entirely built around an echo mechanic where players spawn objects to help them progress, puzzle solve, and fight.

While I enjoyed Echoes of Wisdom’s unique gameplay mechanics, it didn’t quite scratch the classic 2D Zelda itch in the way I hoped.

The Adventures of Elliot does just that. Its combat and gameplay mechanics are pretty standard for a Zelda-like game, outside of a Magicite system that allows players to modify or strengthen Elliot’s abilities.

But that simplicity is just what I wanted.

There’s a simple pleasure to be had in exploring a world unknown to you and feeling clever when you stumble upon a secret area and get rewarded with a helpful item or upgrade for making your way through it.

That feeling is why games like the original The Legend of Zelda are still fun to revisit, but it’s also something newer Zelda games have muddled for the sake of innovation.

The Adventures of Elliot strips away all that extra fluff, and that works to the game’s benefit.

The Adventures of Elliot is now one of my most anticipated games of 2026

Move over Grand Theft Auto 6

On the surface, The Adventures of Elliot isn’t the most ambitious-looking game and seems like a tribute to a simpler, earlier era of action-adventure video game design.

One where complex game mechanics or realistic visuals didn’t get in the way of providing purely fun experiences.

Even in the brief hour-long demo I played, I felt this game tapped into the same magical elements that made me love The Legend of Zelda games in the first place.

If the whole game maintains that open-endedness and sense of adventure, I feel that we’re in for something special, even if I couldn’t care less about a world named Philabieldia.

It also proves that the HD-2D can be more than a gimmick art style for remakes or throwback turn-based RPGs.

The Adventures of Elliot looked amazing as I explored and fought enemies in real-time, and allowed me to stop, interact with, and truly appreciate the game’s aesthetic in a way I couldn’t always do with other HD-2D games.

I can’t wait to play more when it launches next year, as The Adventures of Elliot has quickly rocketed toward the top of my most anticipated Switch 2 game list.

I’ll be replaying its demo on a harder difficulty soon, and I recommend you check it out as well if you own a Switch 2.