The Adventures of Elliot: Series & Beginner's Guide

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a real-time action RPG from Square Enix, developed by the internal group known as Team Asano together with co-developer Claytechworks. It launches on June 18, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

You control Elliot, a young adventurer, and his fairy companion Faie, exploring a continent overrun by beast tribes. After discovering an artifact called the Doorway of Time, the pair travel a thousand years across four eras to lift a curse on Princess Heuria. It is an original story with no prerequisites — a perfect entry point even if you have never touched a Square Enix RPG before.

Genre

HD-2D real-time action RPG

Developer

Square Enix (Team Asano) · Claytechworks

Publisher

Square Enix

Release

June 18, 2026

Platforms

Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC

HD-2D is a visual style coined and trademarked by Square Enix for Octopath Traveler in 2018. It combines hand-crafted 2D pixel-art sprites with fully 3D environments, then layers on modern lighting and camera tricks — dynamic shadows, depth of field, tilt-shift blur, bloom and volumetric fog.

The result looks like a living diorama: a 16-bit Super Nintendo RPG remembered through a dream. Elliot is positioned as the next evolution of the style, proving HD-2D can carry a fast, top-down action-adventure and not just turn-based combat.

Team Asano — led by producer Tomoya Asano under Square Enix's Creative Studio 5 — is the studio's revivalist RPG group, known for Super Nintendo-flavoured games built with modern polish. Elliot draws on more than a decade of that craft.

Elliot is the team's first real-time action RPG and its first game with local co-op — a deliberate step toward a broader, newer audience.

Producer Tomoya Asano has said the goal is 'simple and easy to understand' gameplay. Having already explored the classic RPG (Octopath) and the strategy RPG (Triangle Strategy) in HD-2D, the team chose an action RPG specifically to welcome players who might bounce off menus and turn order.

In practice that means tactile, physical combat — swing, guard, dash, throw — wrapped around light puzzle-solving and exploration, with depth tucked into weapon and magicite customization rather than stat screens.

• A roughly classic-length adventure focused on exploration, dungeons and puzzles rather than grinding.
• Four hand-crafted eras to explore via the Doorway of Time, each with its own town, cast and dangers.
• Build-craft depth through seven weapons and the magicite system — approachable up front, deep if you want it.
• An adjustable difficulty so the action stays welcoming, plus optional co-op where a friend plays Faie.

1. Try the free Prologue Demo

   Available now on all platforms. It covers the opening chapter and lets you try all seven weapons — and your save carries over.

2. Pick your edition

   Standard, Digital Deluxe, or the Collector's Edition. Pre-order before June 17, 2026 for the Elliot's Departure Pack.

3. Link old saves (optional)

   Have a past Square Enix HD-2D game on your platform? Linking its save grants small bonus items at launch.