Borrowed Slime

Old Habits Die Hard In Safety-first Jrpgdragon Quest Xi: Echoes Of An Elusive Age.

- Chris Schilling

From its glossy CG intro to its quaint villages, its range of British dialects to its tinny MIDI soundtrack, Echoes of an Elusive Age is a Dragon Quest game, all right. With the series finally making its debut on PC, it’s an opportunity for many to see a Japanese phenomenon in action – and yet you might well wonder what all the fuss is about. This is a stubbornly orthodox JRPG: even if you’re not familiar with the series, you’ll get the feeling that you’ve been here before.

For some of you that might as well be a glowing recommendation. Like pulling on a tatty old jumper you’ve just found screwed up in the bottom of your wardrobe, there’s every chance those early hours will give you a warm, enveloping feeling, perhaps even a few misty-eyed memories of happier times. Sure, the story might be a little threadbare (young male hero with a mysterious power sets off to save his home) but there’s an abundance of cheer in this world, right down to the first enemies you meet – those iconic blue slimes bouncing up to greet you with a welcoming smile before you promptly slice them to bits.