Recent reviews by Tidy

"Elin is like five different games in a trench coat—and every one of them is good."

If you took Tales of Maj’Eyal or another classic roguelike, removed the permanent death (optional here!), then stirred in some Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, Kenshi, and Pokémon, you’d still only be scratching the surface of what Elin lets you do.

This game is a pure sandbox. I spent the first in-game year farming and living a peaceful rural life like it was Stardew Valley. Got bored of that, dove into some dungeons, looted everything that wasn’t nailed down—classic roguelike vibes. Then I went full home decorator mode, stealing waterfalls (yes, actual waterfalls) from other towns to terraform my land into something out of Animal Crossing. Why? Because the Capitol pays me a better salary if my place looks nice. That’s just smart economics.

Now I’m living my best Pokémon life, capturing and training monsters I find in the wild.

The beauty of Elin is that it doesn’t just allow all of this—it encourages it. There are so many deep systems at play, and you’re free to pick the ones that click with you. It’s not trying to be a specific kind of game. It’s trying to be your kind of game.

If you’re into open-ended RPGs with tons of mechanics and weird, delightful surprises around every corner, this game is going to steal months of your life—and you’ll thank it.


- ChatGPT after vomiting my feelings about the game to it

so far so good

something something sony