Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power Review

I played so much Trine these days that I started dreaming about it. Even when I close my eyes I see Zoya grappling and swinging or Amadeus conjuring boxes. I guess it's about time I started focusing on another game to rid my subconsciousness from anything related to Trine!

Sadly I won't be able to make a post about Trine 2 achievements completion as I will not even attempt hard+hardcore gameplay. I'm missing only 4 achievements from Trine 2 and it will be like this forever most likely. So after getting a 100% completion on Trine Enchanted Edition and finishing as many achievements as I could in Trine 2 it was finally time to play Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power.

I read a lot of negative reviews about Trine 3. The game attracted a lot of hate and negativity. Before I played this game I was baffled as to why so many people hated this game that much as I thought it looked absolutely stunning from the screenshots. Let's face it! Trine 3 does have some breathtaking graphics!

Now that I got a chance to play the game myself I really see why Trine 3 is not received very well. The main problem isn't the integration of 3D, it's the camera angles. Camera doesn't exactly follow your character, it gets fixed on a particular spot same as in Trine 1 and 2. However the first 2 Trine games were 2D. Once you add 3D, camera angles start becoming a major player.

There should have been options to set camera angles in Trine 3. Due to this major problem I really didn't enjoy anything the game offered. Both platforming and combat (with namely Amadeus) felt like an absolute torture due to fixed camera angles. I missed a lot of jumps because apparently I didn't align my character with my landing zone very well. Especially during a certain chapter platforming and jumping between some traps, I won't spoil here, really made me want to quit the game. Combat with Amadeus was also a horror story. I conjured boxes to stomp my enemies but I ended up missing a lot because again I couldn't position the box right above the enemy I wanted to crush. Current camera angles don't let you position your character or boxes effectively so prepare to miss a lot of jumps!

I'll briefly state the other negatives about Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power. Difficulty is fixed and there are no difficulty options. Main chapters are too long and low in number whereas side chapters are too short. In order to revive a fallen hero you must stand on top of their spirit but sometimes this spirit can be placed at a location you were trying to reach before losing your hero. For example I was trying to grapple on a platform to get to the other side to collect a Trineangle, I made a mistake and Zoya died. When Zoya died her spirit was placed on top of the Trineangle I was trying to collect, not where my other 2 characters are located. So I had to reload the save to get my Zoya back as her grapple was my only way of reaching that platform. This happens frequently and it starts to get extremely frustrating.

I'll be honest, Trine 3 is an insanely annoying game. But it does have its positive points too, albeit not enough to remove my distaste while playing this game. I already mentioned that the game has stunning graphics. But I particularly enjoyed the map and chapter select. Once you select a chapter in the map, the game will show you how many Trineangles are in each checkpoint and how many you collected or how many you are missing (provided you have finished that chapter before). You can directly select these checkpoints and start from there to collect what you're missing. So if you are missing a Trineangle at the end of a level, you don't have to redo everything you've done previously. You can simply select that specific checkpoint, collect your missing Trineangle and you're done. Sadly the game doesn't have as many secret areas as Trine so most Trineangles are quite easy to collect; however, I still loved this feature and in my opinion it's the 2nd best thing about Trine 3 after its beautiful graphics.

Would I recommend Trine 3? Absolutely not. Unless you are a die hard Trine fan or an achievement hunter who wants to get a quick completion in 6-7 hours, I would not recommend Trine 3 at all. Trine 1 and 2 are already fantastic games so replay them if you want to get your Trine fix! :)