In an era where Lara Croft and Nathan Drake are common placeholders, we tend to forget the ones that preceded them. Or, games that try to make you believe that preceded those. Let’s introduce our retro treasure hunter Elena Temple. In a game that clearly was created by someone who has a lot of fond memories of what it was like to be a gamer in the days of yore? This looks like a perfect rendition of what it was like back then. With some subtle names like the Pomo D’or or the NS-Bos. The Adventures of Elena Temple will make anyone who used to play games back then will instantly feel those nostalgic feelings bubble right back up! So, without further ado boys and girls? Let me introduce you to our review of? Elena Temple!
What do you do? You play as, obviously, Elena Temple. A tomb explorer who has one sole purpose. Collect all the coins and gems that she can find. The coins are not so necessary, the gems however are. These are meant as a means of escape.
- Pure Nostalgia: Elena Temple is a straight-up concentrated Nostalgia pill! Anyone who touched a game in those days? Will clearly see that GrimTalin captured this to the tiniest details. The sound that the game uses, the visual style? Heck, even the movement of the platforms clearly shows that this developer existed back in the ’80s. And if not? He sure as hell knows what it was like to play on any of these consoles! There are multiple monitors or consoles for you to choose from, yet all of these look exactly like they should.
- A surprising amount of rooms: For the extremely low price point that The Adventures of Elena Temple is selling for? There truly is a surprising amount of content in here. With 50 rooms for you to explore and adventure through, GrimTalin is offering us more than other developers might, for a game that is selling in the same category. You will be killing snakes and bats, uncover hidden secrets and jump over countless pitfalls before reaching the end of this dungeon!
- 2 adventures: But wait, there’s more! If you want to grab an amazing steal of a game and experience the purest form of nostalgia? Then you’re in luck! Because The Adventures of Elena Temple doesn’t just have 1 adventure, oh no! There are 2 in this bundle! Now that’s what I would call nice customer service!
- Missed Opportunity: You’ll notice that, before starting your adventure? That you’ll be given a multitude of choices as to which kind of monitor you’ll be playing on. Each one of these monitors represents a different era and console/computer. Each has its own graphical style and each their own resolution. But that’s about it. It would have been an amazing choice that, if swapping between monitors, and thus eras? Hidden secrets would’ve been shown that one monitor wouldn’t show. That would have been such an amazing addition. Now they’re just visual things that don’t do much. Why would you play on the Some Toy (Game Boy) when you’re sporting a 55-inch 4K television? So obviously I chose the biggest screen that I could find and never changed. A shame… In my honest opinion.
- Jumping pixel perfect: If there was anything that I absolutely dreaded in this game? Then it absolutely had to be the jumping. This thing just has to be pixel perfect. Because even if you are one step off? You’ll jump into some kind of invisible pixel and botch the jump. I mean, what? There was nothing there! So against what am I bumping my head! It just makes NO sense!
★ 71%
The adventures of Elena Temple truly surprised me. It is by far one of the truest forms of retro gaming and nostalgia-inducing experiences I’ve had in quite a long time. The sound, the visuals and all the different screens for you to choose from? Will bring you back into a time when things were significantly simpler and gaming was just that. A few pixels on the screen and some 8bit sounds. A perfect recommendation for anyone who is feeling nostalgic!
