Elliot Quest review - A familiar but still entertaining adventure
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| Elliot Quest

If you've owned the game on a previous platform it's likely you won't find much to chew on in Elliot Quest's Switch sibling.

If you're new to the adventure and are a fan of the older RPGs like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, there's a large chance you'll find the game right up your alley.

Leap through time

In Elliot Quest you play as Elliot, a forlorn hero who has been losing his vitality after the demon, Satar, cursed him. It's up to you to explore Urele Island and find a cure.

The story is told through a variety of cutscenes with classic, written dialogue and basic audio. Though it gets a little jumbled at times, unless you've been playing it for hours straight, there's still some charm to it as it leaves you wondering why and how Elliot has come to be cursed.

You take on five dungeons and 16 bosses as you head through the world. Each dungeon is intricately designed, if not a little confusing at times, and in them you can find crystals which open up new areas of the map. Not necessary, but a nice detail for the completionists out there.

Leveling up is super simple. Kill a lot of bad guys and you'll get more XP. These points can be used to upgrade your skills, like reloading your bow faster.

Controls-wise, things take a little getting used to if you've played the Switch a lot. Whereas 'A' is usually the jump button, 'B' to interact, 'Y' to fight and so on, everything feels a little backwards off the bat.

You may find you'll open up your menu with the slip of a finger, or accidentally drink a health potion when you don't need it, but that'll eventually wear off.

Though the graphics are very classic and fit nicely to the genre and feel of the game, its over-simplistic take does tend to make it difficult to see some areas or tell some items apart.

So close but so far

One needlessly frustrating element is the way things are labelled. Or rather, the way things aren't labelled. In the first throes of the game it's extremely difficult to tell what an item is in your inventory, and what part of the menu you are actually in.

Another is the layout itself. The mini-map is beautiful but barren, and completely lacks description or signs to tell you where you're going or where you've been.

It's also maddening how far apart some checkpoints seem to be, especially when you've only got a small amount of health at the start.

Some areas of the dungeon are pretty straight forward, while others contain a lot of enemies and more complex obstacles.

While it may look pretty, the pixel graphics wear thin on such a small screen, and the story falls a bit flat after a while.

But, Elliot Quest is a good game, especially for lovers of the classic dungeon-crawling / platforming genre.

Elliot Quest review - A familiar but still entertaining adventure

Elliot Quest is fun with beautifully designed dungeons, but the finer details and overall story fall short of what it needs make it a truly great game
Score
Emily Sowden
Emily Sowden
Emily is Pocket Gamer's News Editor and writes about all kinds of game-related things. She needs coffee to function and begrudgingly loves her Switch more than she lets on.