Square Enix team behind JRPG gems like Octopath Traveler is trading turn-based combat for Zelda-like action with The Adventures of Elliot in hopes of reaching "a new audience"

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"As the HD-2D series has expanded and evolved, we’ve gradually shifted genres"

The protagonist of HD-2D action RPG The Adventures of Elliot explores a city
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The head behind Square Enix's Team Asano says its new HD-2D JRPG being more The Legend of Zelda than vintage Final Fantasy is a "good direction" for the team that he hopes will "reach out to a new audience of gamers."

At last week's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, Square Enix unveiled The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales – you know, the game we thought was the rumoured Octopath Traveler game before we got the actual new Octopath Traveler game. It's an HD-2D RPG from the internal Square Enix studio behind the likes of Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and more – if the signature art style didn't give it away.

What sets this one apart, though, is that it's an action RPG that ditches the turn-based stylings of Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. While that may seem quite the leap, Tomoya Asano – in charge of concept and planning – says the move is quite natural.

"As the HD-2D series has expanded and evolved, we’ve gradually shifted genres," he says. "We started with a classic RPG with Octopath Traveler and went on to do a strategy game with Triangle Strategy. When we thought about where to go next, we felt that challenging ourselves to an action RPG would be a good direction.

Iain Harris
Iain Harris
News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.

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