Mid-Life Gamer Geek

Version Played: Xbox One – Developed and Published by: GrimTalin SRL

I reviewed the original edition of The Adventures of Elena Temple on Switch last year. I found it to be a clever little tribute to the hardcore platformers of the past, with a neat meta gimmick; the idea being that what we’re playing is the original Adventures of Elena Temple on the hardware of our choice, which determines the visual style of the game and the setting it’s played in.

The Definitive Edition – played for review purposes on an Xbox One X this time, rather than on Switch – doesn’t change the original premise, but does add some more background details with some nicely written faux history for the game. As well as this, we get more temples to explore and (hopefully!) conquer, with more deviously designed screens to work through and traps to avoid.

It’s still a really enjoyable game. Everything I mentioned in my original review applies to the Definitive Edition, though of course there’s more content here – including two new dungeons to add to the single one from the original game, which come with entirely new gameplay features. I still think it’d be a good idea to have a map available from the start, rather than as an unlockable feature, but I can highly recommend the Definitive Edition in any case.

Having originally played on Switch – which was perfectly fine on the TV, but felt slightly cramped in handheld mode – I’m impressed with how nice it looks on an Xbox One X; admittedly, the game itself isn’t pushing the console by any stretch of the imagination, but the faux retro scenes around the actual game window do benefit from the clarity of the higher resolution in selling the concept.

Though the difficulty level is high and there’s the occasional hiccup where you can get caught in a loop of death and rebirth (which sounds very profound, admittedly), it’s a decent challenge and the extra content is very generous; so much so that it feels like at least a sequel’s worth of content here in comparison to the original download. The original dungeon has seen tweaks too – but do note that it’s not an upgrade or DLC, however.

If you do own the first version of the game on Switch (on Xbox One, the Definitive Edition is the only version available), the Definitive Edition will be a separate purchase – albeit at a big discount. Given the extra content, however, if you were a fan to start with, the Definitive Edition is well worth investing in.

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