Nintendo Switch – Elliot Quest #35

Zelda, Castlevania, and Metroid all in one?

Elliot Quest – Nintendo Switch – Released: 10/20/17 – $9.99

Short Review (Review copy provided by Developer)

This game may seem innocent and might look like a nice stroll in the park but this game is massive. For $10, you are getting a whole lot of game even if you tried to rush through the game. Elliot Quest is in the same vein as the Adventure of Link as its a “where do I go” type of game. I originally beat this game on the 3DS in May and loved it. It maybe a game that takes me a while to figure out where to go and I get lost constantly but I never wanted to put it down. Elliot is a character that has to deal with a very serious issue, he is cursed but not any curse, he is unable to die and a demon is slowly trying to take over his body. The game has a relatively small amount of dungeons but areas can be fairly big with many bosses to defeat. Just like in Adventure of Link, the world map has you going place to place as a big sprite and enter areas by selecting them, Castlevania and Metroid’s influence is self evident in footage of the game of defeating a boss, collecting an item and going back to previous areas to use that new item or weapon. The game also has a level up system that lets you tailor Elliot the way you want by letting you level up his strength,  wisdom, agility, vitality, and accuracy. These can really change how you play the game since depending on your level up path you can be more defense or go all damage. I highly recommend this game if you want something like Zelda or a MetroidVania style game that is more open world. On the other hand if you don’t like Adventure of Link or the idea of getting lost in a world, I would have to say to look up footage of mid way through the game or pass on the game. It is hard to recommend this game if you don’t already like those games because Elliot Quest is a call back to those games.

Simple icon even though I wish it was in the style of the game itself:

Story

I explained a bit in the short review but to expand a little bit on it. Elliot is cursed and he has to find a way to lift the curse. In the opening scene he tries to commit suicide resulting in him falling to the ground but not dying. He goes to talk to a wise man about it and he finds out he is cursed and there is only one way to lift the curse. He proceeds to go from place to place in search of answers until the final boss. 

Gameplay

This game is exactly what you see it is hard to talk more about it. The game takes from Adventure of Link and that can be a good thing or bad thing. For me the ability to pick and choose what to level up is the biggest draw since not many games outside of RPGs give you this sort of option. Many platform adventure games have a set level up system or just items to spice of the gameplay. Elliot Quest gives both which is the welcome addition. For some reason when playing through this game one more time, the bosses feel kind of like Mega Man with the small rooms to fight in and the room having hazards. Not sure if this is just due to me recently running through all the X games again or Elliot Quest might have used some ideas of bosses from Mega Man. It even has the same idea of when you defeat the boss the item you get from defeating them is based on the boss you killed.

Personal Experience

First off I have gone through the bulk of the game on the Switch but most of my knowledge of the game stems from the 3DS version. The Switch version is an excellent port and I believe it is slightly cheaper than the 3DS port when it came out. The only thing I miss is the touch screen which had all your information. Dual screens will be missed in this game when you can easily click between things using the 3DS while the Switch you need to open another menu. I do highly recommend changing the button layout on the main menu to option B, feels kind of weird on option A but glad the game gives the option to have different layouts.

Final Thoughts

Like Adventure of Link? Go buy it! If you don’t like Adventure of Link check out some gameplay that is several hours into the game and decide after that. I still stand by my short review that if you don’t like Adventure of Link it is hard to recommend since the game takes a lot from that game. To me isn’t an issue but for others I can definitely see that being a problem but I believe it is a game that most people should try out if they like Zelda in general. Elliot Quest is an amazing call back to games of old and for $10 it is a steal, I would pay $15 or $20 for the experience it has to offer. It is a solid game overall and hopefully all Zelda fans are picking this one up after playing Breath of the Wild.

UPDATE: 5/30/18

I would give this game a 9 out of 10!

My gameplay footage: 

Trailer:

End Credits

This is going to be fairly short since I am working on two reviews today! I am excited to announced that my first set of PC game reviews are coming from Mega Cat Games, a company that I didn’t know anything about but they send me review copies of some of their titles to look at. I believe it is known already but they will be releasing some of their games on Switch which is exciting so please look forward to Log Jammers and Coffee Crisis. Personally I am really excited for Coffee Crisis and after watching the 8-Bit Guy’s video about them I can’t wait to play through that one.

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