A Link To Gaming’s Past
Developed by AnKae Games, Elementallis is a top down adventure game which casts players in the role of a young boy who must atone for the actions of his parents by restoring magical elements to the world. The silent protagonist is joined by a creature that is able to absorb various elements which grant the hero each element’s associated magic power. Armed with these abilities and a trusty sword, he sets out to conquer the various dungeons throughout the world in order to gain the elemental power hidden within.
To call Elementallis a Zelda-like is an understatement, Zelda-clone would be more accurate and that is no bad thing. Elementallis plays like a tribute to the golden era of Nintendo’s adventure franchise and in particular feels like a spiritual sequel to the seminal SNES title: A Link To The Past. The graphical style, dungeons and pieces of heart are all one big homage to the Legend of Zelda.
A Deeper Story Than It First Seems
Perhaps the one area where Elementallis is not trying to ape Zelda is its narrative; there are no Princess Zelda or Gannodorf stand-ins here and whilst the lack of the latter is a weakness, the overarching story is stronger for it. The game’s opening sets the protagonist’s deceased parents as the villains of the story, with the hero having to rectify their terrible choice to destroy the world’s elements. For this reason the hero is given a frosty reception in the towns scattered across the land as each town’s inhabitants resents the loss of the elements. The protagonist must venture into every town’s local dungeon in order to restore the element and gain the favour of the people.
This sets up a perfectly serviceable story for Elementallis; granted it is nothing we haven’t seen many times before, but it’s enough. At least it would be were it not for further plot developments as the game progresses. Without venturing too deeply into spoiler territory, the initial narrative is recontextualised by both these later events and by various pages of the parents journal that can be found throughout. These late game developments provide a good reason for the absence of a Ganon style antagonist, however, I do feel it suffers for the lack of one.
Elements Provide Variety
As is tradition in Zelda, each dungeon will grant the hero a power which will not only allow him to progress through that particular level, but will then allow him to move into new areas in the larger overworld. This mechanic, whilst at times frustrating, helps make a relatively small world seem much larger. It requires repeatedly returning to locations in order to access certain areas we could not enter previously.
In a sense, this is more of a Metroidvania style mechanic than Zelda, but is not entirely dissimilar to Link’s gaining of the hookshot or the boomerang allowing him to access previously undiscovered treasure.
In keeping with its retro style, the gameplay is simplistic, consisting of a single attack button for the hero’s sword and a magic button for the elements. It is the aforementioned elements that keep the gameplay interesting and allow the hero to interact with the world in various ways as the story continues.
For example: the water element provides a bubble shield and allows the player to traverse water, whilst the ice element freezes enemies and enables the moving of pillars that block our path. There are plenty more elements to be found including wind, lightning, fire and earth, all granting associated powers. Although they are simplistic in their design, it is the variety of these powers that keeps Elementallis interesting for the majority of a playthrough.
There are a couple of concessions made to modern gaming in Elementallis, chief among them being the inclusion of autosaves and a fast travel mechanic. The latter in particular is a welcome addition as the amount of backtracking necessary would be intolerably tedious without it. The autosave is essentially a safety net, constantly in action as you move between areas, it assures that no progress is lost in the event of a death. The autosave certainly diminishes any real semblance of a challenge, which will be off-putting for some, but it will be appreciated by those that deplore the loss of progress. In fact, the only sequence where a player will have to redo a large portion of action is a final dungeon boss rush which requires the defeat of every boss previously fought in the game.
A Long Game… Perhaps too long
Ordinarily I am not one to complain about an overabundance of content, but in Elementallis’ case, it is a problem. My main critique of the game is that it overstays its welcome. A single playthrough took me about 16 hours to complete, although that is in keeping with the length of A Link to the Past, Elementallis does not quite justify the length. A big contributor to this is the need to farm enemies for gold in order to upgrade the hero’s sword and armour, both of which can be improved twice. Admittedly, these upgrades are not a requirement and particularly skilled players may be able to do without them, but for those of us that are mere mortals, they are necessary.
That is because the late game is quite challenging, surprisingly so actually. Make no mistake, most of Elementallis is a breeze to play, perfect for younger players and those of us that were young when this kind of game was all the rage. However, the later dungeons up the ante and provide a challenge that is not present for the majority of the game. As such, the upgrades that you may not think you need, will probably become a requirement by the time of the endgame. Farming resources so close to the end feels like unnecessary padding in a game that didn’t need it.
Looks Simple, Sounds Simpler
Given the 16-bit style, it is fitting that Elementallis should have an old school look. The pixelesque graphics are well done and craft a few distinctive characters, but the visuals are too mundane to be effective. No character or landscape is particularly eye-popping, as such nothing will live long in the memory from a visual standpoint. Similarly, the soundtrack, whilst serviceable, is banal and unable to produce a melody that will remain in the players mind in the long term. For a game that invites comparison with the Legend of Zelda, its soundtrack is the weakest point in this regard, there are no Koji Kondo classics to be found here. Although these are undoubtedly weaknesses, ultimately Elementallis is a game that is defined by its gameplay and story, not by the way it looks or sounds.
The best compliment I can pay is that it is easy to imagine Elementallis as one of the Zelda series handheld entries from yesteryear, with Link in the place of our unnamed protagonist. Elementallis is a successful Zelda-clone that manages to craft a unique story whilst clearly displaying deep reverence for the series that served as its inspiration.
Important Links
The Elementallis Adventures Hit Xbox, PlayStation, Switch And PC – https://www.thexboxhub.com/the-elementallis-adventures-hit-xbox-playstation-switch-and-pc/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/elementallis/9nrw48nx3ptv
