Square Enix's Best Classic Zelda Clone Lands a Demo

Nobody's made a proper classic-style Zelda in over a decade, and Nintendo doesn't seem interested in going back. Square Enix, apparently, is happy to fill that gap. A free Prologue Demo for The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales dropped today across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store. Save data carries over to the full game when it launches on June 18.

The demo covers the opening chapter and, according to Square Enix, offers "the same freedom of adventure as in the full game," letting you push through the main quest, explore, or hunt for weapons and magicite at your own pace. It's built by Team Asano and co-developer Claytechworks, the same people behind Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default, and preview coverage from outlets that went hands-on has been overwhelmingly positive. Nintendo Life's hands-on called it "how you remember your first Zelda game," and Eurogamer praised both the world's scale and a surprisingly deep set of minigames tied to Faie, your fairy companion's abilities.

The Zelda comparison isn't subtle. Top-down perspective, bombable walls, mirror puzzles, a fairy sidekick, pot-smashing, locked dungeon doors with boss keys behind them. Elliot wears its influences so openly it's almost brazen, but the previews suggest it earns the comparison rather than just copying homework. An upgrade system built around collectible magicite, Faie's combat abilities letting you essentially control two characters at once, and a time-travel mechanic that changes the overworld across different historical eras all sound like they give the game its own identity. I'm excited about this one; the HD-2D style might not turn heads the way it did when Octopath first showed up in 2018, but pairing it with classic Zelda structure feels like a natural fit that I'm surprised took this long to happen. The full game launches June 18 on all platforms.