Eurogamer commended Elaine's design as "worthy of acclaim", naming her the "Best Female Supporting Character" in their 2001 annual Gaming Globes awards, while IGN described her alongside Guybrush and LeChuck as one of "the most beloved adventure characters of all time". Alexandra Boyd and Charity James too have been praised for their voicing of Elaine; Computer Games Magazine described Boyd's work for The Curse of Monkey Island as "wonderful", though lamented that she did not speak more in the game, while Macworld admired the character's depiction in Escape from Monkey Island as "beautiful and plucky". Gadgette also listed Elaine as 4th of their favorite female video game character. IGN India, The Guardian, and GamesRadar all claimed that Elaine and Guybrush were the best video game romance, but TheGamer laments Elaine's perceived tonal shift in Return to Monkey Island, saying that "she is Elaine in name and appearance only, demoted to a background role when she should be at the fore".
