Avowed vs The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales

Right-scoped RPG writing versus nostalgic Zelda homage — both are hand-crafted, but they reward very different kinds of patience.

Updated 11d ago

Avowed cover
Avowed 8.0/10 Strong

Dual-wielding a wand and a flintlock is genuinely great — but the open world is empty and the choices never branch, so it misses the Obsidian reactivity you came for.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales cover
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales 8.0/10 Strong

Square's HD-2D Zelda homage nails combat and time-travel — pay full price only if you chase all three endings.

By the numbers

Prices checked Aug 7; they move faster than we refresh, so confirm on the store page.

Recent-review figures are Steam's own last-30-days window, read Aug 7.

Measure Avowed The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
Value Avowed wins on value
Price now $29.99 −40% · Steam $59.99 GreenManGaming
All-time low $29.99 $59.99
Cost / hour $1.49/hr $29.99 · 20 h main story $3.67/hr $59.99 · 16 h main story
Off its low At its low low was Jun 2026 At its low low was Feb 2026
Main story 20 h 16 h
Health
Steam reviews 77% 13k reviews 79% 2k reviews
Recent reviews 72% 242 votes · vs 77% lifetime improving trend only
Peak players 1,007 Jul 2026 · ↑ 16% MoM 1,901 Jul 2026
Launch peak 5% of Feb 2025 launch peak · as of Jul 2026
All-time peak 19,161 Feb 2025
Support
Last patch 5 months ago 4 weeks ago
Patch cadence 0 in last 90 days 1 in last 90 days
Steam Deck Gold Platinum

Shared scale — same months across the bottom, same player-count axis up the side, so the two lines are directly comparable. A shorter line means a younger game.

Avowed
Feb 2025 – Jul 2026
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
Only one month of data so far — the line fills in over time.
Jul 2026

What players say

Patterns from long-haul reviewers, taken from each game's verdict. Not live sentiment — each side is dated below.

Avowed

Love

The combat's magic toolkit — dual-wielding wands, guns, and swords with flashy spells — keeps long-haul players coming back.

Struggle with

The open world feels big for no reason, and choices don't matter, leaving progression gated and exploration unrewarding for many 100-hour vets.

from our August 2026 verdict

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales

Love

Being Square's Zelda — world design and exploration pull 100-hour fans through three endings for the payoff.

Struggle with

The slow opening and intrusive sidekick Faie test patience, nearly dropping veterans before the plot clicks.

from our August 2026 verdict

Key differences

Combat style
Avowed uses stamina/stagger loops with ranged and melee — ramp time before it clicks.
Elliot lets you swap seven weapon types mid-fight like a puzzle, with magicite customization.
World design
Avowed is a tighter, hand-crafted ~35-hour world with no simulation depth of a Bethesda sandbox.
Elliot offers a vast world of dungeons and time-travel puzzles, but with fetch quests and backtracking.
Story approach
Avowed leans on Obsidian's writing with dialogue trees and player history, though AI can be stiff.
Elliot uses a classic hero-journey narrative with a fairy companion, but no voice acting.

Which one is for you?

Pick Avowed if

  • You prefer first-person fantasy with meaningful dialogue choices and lore from Pillars of Eternity.
  • You want a focused 30-40 hour RPG without a 200-hour open world.
  • You don't mind a stamina/stagger combat system that takes several hours to click.

Pick The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales if

  • You treat combat like a puzzle, swapping weapons to exploit enemy weaknesses.
  • You've replayed Link to the Past and crave more pixel-art dungeon crawling.
  • You accept fetch quests and backtracking as part of nostalgic design.

Bottom line

Choose Avowed for Obsidian's narrative depth and tighter scope; pick Elliot if you value nostalgic Zelda combat and tolerate pacing drag.

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