Elliot Quest

Elliot Quest is an exploration based platformer that borrows heavily from the platforming classics of yesteryear such as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Kid Icarus, Metroid and Wonder Boy in Monster World. You play as Elliot, a young man with a troubled past, afflicted by a powerful curse. The story here is secondary and is conveyed through short, vague cutscenes and occassional flashes of internal dialogue. It has yet to draw me in and is so far nothing more than a simple backdrop for the game itself.
Mechanically the game is very impressive and satisfying. You start with the simple ability to shoot and jump. Jumping is floaty and allows for change in trajectory mid jump which enables tricky platforming sections and the ability to fight in mid air. The arrows Elliot fires travel along a set arc rather than directly ahead allowing you to kill grounded enemies from above and calculate your aim. Killing enemies in succession fills a 'chain' meter in the bottom left of the screen which seems to increase your overall damage, of course it could be doing anything which leads me neatly to my next point.
Elliot Quest in true old-school style presents incredibly little in the way of tutorial, granted there's not a lot you can do at the start, but simple keybinding would have been sufficient. This becomes a greater problem later down the line however as new items and upgrades don't even come with a line of text explaining what they do or to what extent. Additionally, the game contains no options whatsoever beyond adjusting audio levels. No remappable keys, no screen-size options, nothing. The game opens in a window by default which can be maximized but cannot enter fullscreen and while controller support exists it does not seem to allow control with the analogue sticks, these are, however, only minor criticisms.
The game employs an overworld map with sidescrolling levels and enemy encounters (think Gargoyle's Quest on the gameboy).The metroidvanian influence becomes clear during the first level as I was soon presented with inaccessible secrets and shortcuts I would have to come back to later with enhanced abilities. Those who care to explore will be rewarded with many 'secret walls' and rooms containing treasure, all optional and all hidden. There are a number of collectibles to find including rare treasures which are housed in Elliot's trophy room and 11 crystals - I have no idea what either might do, but I want them all.
The first dungeon boss bestowed upon me the power of the wind which can be used not only as a means of traversing new areas, but for combat aswell, allowing me to travel through enemies and stun them while still being able to fire arrows from within my mighty typhoon. Pretty much all spells and items thus far have had different uses in and out of combat making the upgrades you receive feel more meaningful as opposed to simply being a tool to beat the dungeon it was found in. The inspiration from the Zelda series is undeniable here from the dungeons, to the items ,even the aesthetic. And as expected, before long, I found ERROR sitting happily in one of the village houses.
Graphically, the game creates a pleasing, simplistic pixel world with vibrant colours and a charming style. Nothing fancy here, and I wouldn't ask for any more. The soundtrack by Michael Chait is well constructed with suitably archetypal tracks that scream 'dungeon, or 'town' or 'forest' (which if I didn't know any better was a straight rip from A Link to the Past's lost woods theme). Some of the compositions are very enjoyable to listen to and knowingly harken back to the 8-bit classics the game so heavily resembles.
Mild rpg features such as exp and skill trees grant a sense of purpose to the never ending slaughter in which you will partake. Enemies respawn every time you exit and re-enter an area and many cannot be comfortaby avoided. The fact that even when revisiting an area for the umpteenth time and having to kill the same enemioes over and over, im still benefitting myself reduces much of the drudgery of backtracking. Additionally the passive abilities granted by the multiple skill trees can assist somewhat in combat and help to vary gameplay styles a little potentially aiding replayability. By the time the second town is reached the gold gained from backtracking and grinding can be put to good use for more meaningful equipment upgrades, Elliot keeps getting stronger and the pace never slows.
Overall Elliot Quest is a fun, suitably challenging (the difficulty seemed to leap up after the first dungeon, compounded by the fact that health is scarce) adventure-platformer that should appeal greatly to sidescroller, Zelda and metroidvania fans. It's a little rough around the edges but the gameplay shines through. There's a meaty amount of content on offer here, rife with secrets, shortcuts and easter eggs. There are a few frustrations such as sometimes cheap insta-deaths (which can be a real pain late on in the game as dying results in loss of XP), and I got painfully lost on more than one occasion, but those looking for a challenge should feel right at home with Elliot Quest's old-school style of action platforming.
=EDIT=
Developer Ansimuz has continued to patch and update the game. Fullscreen option can now be toggled from the ingame pause menu. Game fixes and enhanced pixel resolution have also been added.
Pros:
+Nice overall difficulty
+Exploration is fun and rewarding
+Classic dungeon delving meets metroidvanian upgrade syatem
+Clean pixel graphics
+No hand-holding
Cons:
-No hand-holding
-Backtracking can become a tedious memory game
-Some music tracks border on plagiarism (overall nice)
-Lack of polish
Score: 8.5/10

Elliot Quest is a side scrolling 2D action adventure with a low fidelity art style that adds a lot to enhance an already great game. There's a good blend of action, puzzle solving, exploring and traversal. A lot of what the game does, others have done before it with a few exceptions such as a whirlwind attack that pulls in enemies and items that also lets you cross large gaps or cut through green vines.
You play as a boy named Elliot on his way to rescue Cara. Its a typical plot for a typical game. Every so often text will appear telling you about Cara or what she means to Elliot, but beyond that the story and plot are an afterthought.
The time was spent in making little traversal puzzles that feel engaging. Defeating a snail and using its shell to get to a higher place. Throwing the body of a stone spitting octopus into purple goo to travel across. Rolling a giant bomb off a cliff are just a few ways the game turns the typical into engaging.
Your primary weapon is a bow with short range arrows. Gravity affects your arrows and it turns the game into one of skill and finesse. There's a nuance to timing, gravity and enemy location that more games should have. Shooting off a cliff to have gravity take your arrow down onto an enemy is satisfying. At some point you can unlock a charge shot that launches the arrow straight forward with no drop off. This charge shot results in a critical hit every time rather than a small fraction of the time.
Along the way you get a number of different items, skills and abilities. You gain a shield that you can use to block projectiles if you are standing still, a double jump feather, a shovel for digging, a lantern so you can see in caves and light other lanterns, a limited supply of bombs and much more. The only catch to the bombs is that they have to be purchased or found in a specific spot. So if you run out, you'll be headed back into a dungeon to replenish your supply. Defeated enemies will drop hearts or magic pellets to restore health and mana.
While the game is a 2D side scroller for the most part, there is an overworld map with several locations some are hidden and you need to touch them before a bubble comes up indicating you can enter. There are a few towns, labyrinths and out of the way places to explore. In the labyrinths these are so big that you'll get a map indicating which room you're in. Its nice to have, because there's a lot you can miss and a lot that you'll need to come back for once you've got specific abilities. You'll have to scour a lot of places several times over.
There are a couple of enemies on the overworld that you can run into. These enemies send you to one of a few random side scrolling battle zones. These zones are well thought out and can be little mazes by themselves. One has an old key for a house door, another has a bag. It adds exploration and intrigue to what could have been mundane.
There are often labyrinths on your way to labyrinths; the second of which is the one with the boss fight. The boss labyrinths have keys and giant keys needed to unlock boss doors. Guardians can be found in select locations across both types of labyrinths.
While you're scouring dungeons, you can come across heart containers that increase the maximum amount of your health and green elixirs to increase your maximum mana. Its a mechanic used it plenty of other adventure games, even action games and it helps give a sense that you're getting better. There are plenty of other things taken from its inspiration, but there's always a twist to them in order to make them feel fresh. Stone shooting octopi are only vulnerable when they're shooting at you. Slime will split into other slime.
Make sure to push up against every wall, because there are frequent hidden areas that become visible only when you've found them. These are nothing mandatory, but they do contain plenty of chests with gold inside and collectible crystals. The gold itself feels near useless. There are only a couple of things worth purchasing in the entire game. Other than necessities, there are a few consumable items like red potions for health, green potions for mana and a feather to return you to the last save point. You can only carry two consumables at a time and often, I'd just forget that I have them.
As you defeat enemies, you'll earn experience and once you get enough of it, you will level up and earn a skill point. With these points you can assign them to one of five stats: strength, wisdom, agility, vitality and accuracy for an improved chance of critical hits. Each stat can have a level of five with each level unlocking new or improved abilities. Strength is to shoot arrows farther, but at the third level, you can unlock a charge shot. Wisdom says magic orbs might give double the mana, and at the second level, your mana regenerates, level four spells do more damage and at five spells cost half. Agility improves your shooting rate, level four lets you run faster and level five lets you evade projectiles. Vitality says hearts may give double health, the second level takes half damage 15% of the time, at the fourth health regenerates and the fifth lets you take half damage 30% of the time.
With all the great stuff that's here, the only real issue I have with the game is that it can be cryptic. The townsfolk are no help. Some things are self explanatory, but others such as catching a draft as a whirlwind to launch yourself up took me a few hours to understand that's what I needed to do. I was stuck looking and searching through every secret room looking for a double jump.
There's often too much locked away from you at once. Since the game is open world, you can enter fifteen different areas, but only get so far in them before you need to head back. If you're stumped, taking a look back through each labyrinth for something you've missed just takes too long. Is that a bad problem to have though? At least the leveling up and experience mechanic meant that every time I explored the same area, I was still being rewarded.
The only other downside that I can think of is there are no achievements or Steam overlay. Instead there's great music and a charming art style. I'll take the latter over the former.
Elliot Quest is a wonderful game that scratches every itch for intelligent gameplay. Its well worth the price of admission, even if its been done in other games, Elliot Quest does it on par with its forefathers and surpasses them.

Imagine playing Zelda 2, but instead of Link you play as Kid Icarus, and collect Metroid style power-ups. Thats is Elliot Quest in a nut shell. This game far surpassed my expectations in terms of how big it is, and how well designed it was as a Metroidvania. Tons of secrets, optional bosses, and upgrades to find. The game also has a leveling system that allows you to allocate points into various stats that yield various passive bonuses, although the max level isn't high enough to let you get everything, so decisions need to be made carefully. Clearing the game and all of its final bosses took me about 20 hours, which is really good for a metroidvania, so good value for your money here.
As far as negatives go, the in-game options are pretty weak. There is no way to remap your controls, and the default ones are a little weird using SPACE to jump and D to shoot. It's not enough to ruin the game or anything, but why wouldn't pick 2 buttons next to each other. Also there is no explanation for many of the items you find telling you what they are and what they do. Not a super big deal as many of them are obvious, but some of them have pretty obscure uses that may not be obvious at first, like using ice to freeze wooden boxes? Would have liked to see steam achievements as well.
All of the positives far outweigh the negatives though. The game is everything you could want in a metroidvania, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes these types of game or any Zelda 2 fan.

Elliot Quest is essentially the second Zelda game, on the NES.
It feels old, and it's intended. While it does have some more modern features (the checkpoints, for instance), it doesn't really try to do much beyond being a Zelda tribute, and a really hard one at that!
I'll admit that I didn't finish the game, entirely. I beat the main story, but I gave up on the last "end-game" Boss, out of frustration. The pay-off wasn't very alluring either.
The problem isn't the Boss itself, but all of the little problems around the game that make big fights a problem.
I won't go into details about most of it, so don't consider a review. These are just some of my thoughts about the game, and one aspect that might make the game worth it, for you.
If you're looking for that old-school, very hard experience, go for it! Including some of the very cryptic puzzles, and being lost and disorientated for hours.
The game is somewhat like a metroidvania. You have an overworld separated into areas. Each area, then, is separated into other areas, these being gated by several of the items you will acquire on the adventure. It gets very confusing, because you'll see many "gates" throughout the areas, and when you get the item, you have no idea where the gate was. There are also many gates for little upgrades, to make matters even more confusing.
Nothing too unusual for NES-like games.
Anyway, my problem was mostly the checkpoint system: it doesn't restore your HP fully. Nor your mana. Only half of it. So, if you die in a boss, you'll be handicapped. The only way of getting HP/Mana then is either to kill enemies, or go into a town to buy potions/rest. You can imagine how incredibly frustrating this is. It's a waste of several minutes each time you die, if you want a decent shot at the later bosses!
Not to mention you can only carry 2 potions at any time, and these are not replenishable at checkpoints. So yes, it's a far too punishing checkpoint system for me to bother with that one Boss fight. I endured through all the others, but after 5 bosses, the 6th one was too much. Death from a thousand cuts, I guess.
So, rant is over. So far, you have my reasons for not enjoying it (well, the ultimate reasons, although there were several little reasons throughout -- old design. I don't like it, but I expected it from this game, so no hard feelings!)
The thing that surprised me -- and the reason for me being writting about the game, right now -- was the end-game. Things you can do after you beat the story. Technically, you should do it before, but it's much harder than the final boss, so you might as well...
Anyway, you can collect these little crystals that are very well hidden. Either hidden, or behind a very cryptic puzzle, and mostly isolated (as in, the game doesn't prepare you for those types of puzzles). It's cool. It's supposed to be hard, and the ultimate challenge.
What I loved about it, was how "grand" it felt, in a way. I was simply exploring, after collecting some crystals, and saw a door that required crystals to enter (there are many). I entered a completely different area, and discovered even higher upgrades than the ones you encounter through the normal story. Then Bosses! I was pumped.
It reminds me of the Legendary aspect of Pokemon, where you go into these secluded areas and find ancient monsters to either capture or simply beat.
Plus hidden stores, etc.
I wasn't expecting that at all and it seems like something games don't really do much, anymore. PC games, anyway. The whole end-game seems rather lost. The story guides you through all of the upgrades, and after you beat a game, there's isn't anything "bigger" beyond it.
So yeah, sorry for ruining the surprise! Regardless, if this seems something you enjoy, get the game -- but know what you're getting into.

40+ hours so far. The most frustrating feature of this game is the obscurity. Controls are L-shift, S, D, Esc, Enter, Space, and arrows and cannot be changed. They are not explained in the game. The max level is 20 for a total of 19 upgrades. This was not explained beforehand. I could not figure out how to progress at one point until I tried using an item in a slightly different way. And I only just realized what an item I found days ago even does.
But this is where the lack of explanation in-game enters the gray area of pro/con. To some, it's a barrier. To others, it becomes an invitation to experiment and explore. I was incredibly frustrated while I was stuck, but when I progressed it was extremely satisfying. I've died again and again trying to find out how to even damage some of the later bosses. But slowly learning their weaknesses and taking them down has been incredibly rewarding. The exact order in which to explore the progressively open map is a little foggy, but the overall direction is clear.
Exploration is where the game truly shines. Many areas are more accessable than they first seem. Enemies can be tackled with more practice as opposed to more items. Many puzzles are solved not by finding a new upgrade but by creative use of Elliot's existing abilities. There are many side areas with their own rewards, and one or two decisions for Elliot to make that will stay with him for the rest of the game. There are always multiple uses for an upgrade. None of them are spelled out, but some are made clear by the design of the area they are found in. The clever puzzles make yet more applications for Elliot's powers clear.
In summary, this is a game that is difficult to get into at the start due to the complete, *absolute*, UTTER lack of hand holding. But it quickly builds momentum and continues building it the longer you play. For those who enjoy exploring their surroundings, their alternatives, and the hidden mechanics of their game world, this is an experience I can't recommend highly enough.

I got this game from a code out of a Loot Crate. It is nothing special. I wish the plot made more sense.

Elliot Quest is a great neoretro game. It's got beautiful big-pixeled graphics with a soothing earth tone palette. The music is very nice. The gameplay follows the framework of its primary inspiration, the unfairly snubbed Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, while outdoing it in nearly every way: better challenge balance, ten times the enemy diversity, a more sensible level-up system, the list could go on. The most impressive thing is that though Elliot Quest is astoundingly organic (no copy-paste), the game is very long, with tons of hidden content to uncover (extra bosses, secret items, etc.)
So taken was I with Elliot Quest that I was on the verge of calling it the next Cave Story -- that is, until I reached the tired, brief, depressing ending. It made me very sad, because it undercut the rest of the game so much! And I even got the "good" ending (apparently, it gets worse)! As fun as the ride was, I will probably never play this again because of the hateful and hackneyed finale. Childish? Perhaps, but I believe that an epic fantasy quest calls for an appropriately epic conclusion, and anything less is unacceptable (a SHMUP or an arcade brawler shouldn't have to worry much about this, obviously, though it should still not end in a needlessly depressing manner).
Dumb ending aside, you should get this lovingly handcrafted game when it is on sale; it fills the Adventure of Link niche like no other modern game I've played and we need more like it.