The Adventures of Elena Temple is a 2D Action/Platformer in where we take on the role of Elena, a woman that willingly jumped into a dusty tomb with the prospect of finding untold riches. As fine a plan as any, no doubt. That is until she realizes she can’t head out the same hole she jumped into and must traverse the large maze-like catacombs all while collecting the eight crystals necessary to secure her exit. The good part out of this entire possibly fatal ordeal is that her senses were indeed correct, there are a ton of golden coins to get her hands on down there. You will find 120 of them in total and they do not carry any gameplay benefits, outside of a few extra rooms to explore once you gather enough of them.
One of the most unique features of this title is in its attempt to recapture the sense of gaming during the 80’s and early 90’s. You will have access to seven unique themes which allow you to emulate playing on ancient PC hardware such as the Commodore 64, as well as including a few Nintendo portables. The most substantial difference between them is that the colors and graphics style of the game itself will change to reflect your selected machine. It can appear completely monochrome, have that green Gameboy tint, or that fuzzy CGA like look for actual colors on an MS-DOS PC. Somewhat less effective at capturing the nostalgia of that era are the backgrounds. Yes, many have woodgrain on even the household cat, but may look both too clean in the case of bedrooms and feature fancy homes in others.
An important thing worth noting is that you can back out to the main menu and switch between themes at any time while retaining all of your progress. Outside of the visual differences, it is still the exact same game across all systems so feel free to switch as often as you please. In an update, they also added the feature to zoom in on the screen to completely focus on the game itself and ignore the rest of the fluff if you choose. The music itself will remain unaffected and while it is pretty solid overall, it would have been nice if they replicated the bleeps and bloops of playing on a PC speaker for some of the hardware. You can achieve the same yourself by simply turning off the music, so it is just a small nitpick that slightly disrupts the illusion they were going for.
Now let’s get back to talking about the game itself, shall we? Once you stumble down into the depths of the tomb, you are free to explore to your heart’s content in this game world that contains over 50 interconnected rooms. You may be reaching for some graph paper and a pen if you are considering buying this title already, but there is a handy auto-map feature accessible at the pause menu. Though graphing your own would still certainly help to mark out rooms that you can just feel contain more than meets the eye or has an item you don’t know how to reach. There are certain hidden scrolls that show you which rooms are actually completed, however finding them is far from guaranteed. It is an interesting mix of old-school gameplay with modern helpful tools that will help out those just wanting to sit back and relax.
Elena’s controls are very simple. Outside of moving, her only other actions are to jump and to shoot. While it is tempting to blast any of the beasts that lurk below, you are limited to carrying only two bullets, forcing you to choose your targets wisely. All the monsters go down in a single hit, yet they all respawn back into existence as soon as you leave that room. Your bullets on the other hand, do not. It may be far wiser to avoid conflict whenever possible and use your valuable ammunition for switches or vases that may contain gold. Vases are an interesting equation to the mix. They only carry gold so they are not in any way needed to waste ammo for, but at the same time, it will drive the completionist inside of you mad. Whether they contain any gold is randomized every playthrough and I find it to be a very intelligent way to get more replay value out of it for those that want more.
During your time raiding this tomb for all it’s worth, Elena will not be receiving any upgrades. She’ll always only be able to carry two bullets, nor will she gain any new abilities. Regardless of the direction you set in once you start, if you enter that room you will be able to complete it, then continue on with only some brainpower alongside some platforming skills on your part. There are some destructible walls you can shoot through if you have the keen eye to spot them to create permanent shortcuts. Helpful since you will have to backtrack on occasion once you reach a dead end. This completely open-ended exploration is a ton of fun, especially with the knowledge that you won’t be locked off due to your character not knowing how to roll ala Metroid. On the other hand, this lack of guidance may prove a tad overwhelming for some.
Death is something that is hardly a concern in this title. You have infinite lives and will respawn immediately to the last safe area. That area will be the last place you spent a few seconds standing on, and is something you’d think would lead to a lot of inescapable situations of respawning in just the wrong spot, though it worked perfectly fine all throughout. Your full attention will still be needed to avoid the giant bats, spikes, and arrows flying your way. While at the same time, anyone will be able to complete the game due to its forgiving nature. In the pause menu you’ll find the amount of deaths you’ve had, bullets fired, and a ton more detailed stats to encourage you to do better on a future playthrough. It is certainly something that would indulge both completionists and speed runners alike.
In total, this adventure lasted me around an hour the first time around. The Adventures of Elena Temple is an interesting title that does a great job at capturing just what it set out to do. Its main feature of containing different visual styles for the hardware of yesteryear is not just an attempt to play at one’s nostalgia. The single developer that created this has a good understanding on just what made these type of experiences so enjoyable back then, with enough design decisions made to pull in those new to them. As a nice little touch, it even comes with free behind the scenes DLC to show the thought process behind its production and early sketches of the title’s life. At five US dollars it is well worth pulling out your wallet and giving it a shot for yourself.
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