Four years later, Frozenbyte allows us to once again face the adventures of one of the favorite trios in the gaming world, that of Ser Pontius, Zoya and Amadeus, the heroes of the Trine. After the adventures of The Nightmare Prince, THQ Nordic public on PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy.
Although it is the fifth chapter of the saga, this game is the second in Trine's new course: this means that it takes up the style of The Nightmare Prince and will be appreciated mainly by fans of that title. For all the details, though, here's ours. review of Trine 5: A Mechanical Conspiracy.
Conspiracies and watches
Trine 5: A mechanical conspiracy is one fable, as one might expect. There are heroes, there are villains and fantasy kingdoms, in an adventure that tells how sometimes even the greatest can fail. More precisely, Ser Pontius The Knight, Zoya The Thief and Amadeus The Magician are invited to a banquet in her honor by Lady Laria, who with the collaboration of the inventor Goderic intends to get the heroes out of the way to... dominate the kingdom . ?
We put a question mark because although the answer is yes, the truth is The two villains in Trine 5 aren't really interesting. and even his motivations are a little murky, as is the logic behind many of his actions (we can't say more without spoilers). Of course, Trine 4 had already shown that the narrative component is not so important and the objective of Frozenbyte is above all to propose a light story full of comic moments and excuses to go from one place to another, but with Trine 5 the level of characterization of the opponents is really low.
Our trio was treated a little better for once. is at a clear disadvantage and they must often flee or be victims of blackmail and threats, causing our heroes to question themselves and wonder if they really deserve Trine's powers. Considering the type of work, this is a deeper approach than expected.
However, as already mentioned, Trine 5 is still a happy and cheerful game, with colorful and cheerful settings even when they are dark caves or cemeteries frequented by resurrected skeletons. There are some environments that are too repetitive and a little less interesting on a visual level, but overall it is a well-made and pleasant to look at product, supported among other things by an excellent soundtrack.
Rope, chest, shield.
Like Trine 4, the fifth chapter stays true to the two-dimensional formula with a puzzle-platform structure, with regular fight Which turns out to be the least interesting part. Unlike the previous chapter in which Amadeus and Zoya were often useless in fights, in A Clockwork Conspiracy the fate of the fights is not solely in the hands of our Knight. Although the latter - especially in the early stages - is the best for finishing off enemies, the Wizard and the Thief will also have different weapons at their disposal. For example, Amadeus can smash boxes, create gusts of wind, and move enemies, while Zoya has bouncing elemental arrows and even bombs. Finally, Pontius can throw the weapon, clone himself, charge, and throw himself to the ground.
The usual combats are most of the time a bit banal and the enemies are very few (three-four archetypes, all very similar on a visual level among other things), but at least things improve with the boss. There are not many of them, but they are all pleasant and the combats are based both on the skills of our heroes and on the use of the environment, essential to eliminate the protections of the mechanical monster on duty. Frozenbyte has found the perfect balance and created battles where you have to rack your brains to know what to do, without making things too complicated (some real-time hero commentary is nice).
Although the most important part of Trine 5 is always the platform game and the puzzle, two elements joined together. In the approximately 12 hours necessary to complete the game (but almost never searching for secondary treasures), you will continually have to understand how to overcome increasingly complex sections, full of moving platforms, cannons that fire repeatedly, traps and action mechanisms with levers. , buttons or light reflections.
Amadeus can create objects to make platforms, Zoya can strike from a distance and use a rope to pull or launch herself towards objects, while Pontius can use light or "bounce" water with his shield. The abilities of the three heroes are continuously expanding., so that the following sections are increasingly structured and interesting. Zoya gains the ability to teleport to the other end of her rope, for example, Amadeus has more control over summoned objects and Pontius can push her sword as an additional platform/springboard.
Those indicated above are just some examples of the mandatory skills that we will obtain as we progress with the plot, but they are not lacking either. secondary skills which are unlocked with the green energy cores we collect. Many are hidden in multiple secrets or are difficult to reach, but even without finding them we can all obtain several new abilities, useful both in combat and in exploration.
They are especially those of Amadeus a change balance, since there will come a point where some sections of the platform game can be overcome by "cheating" by gluing many boards together. The same thing happened in Trine 4 and we believe that it is more of a strength than a weakness: the game encourages creativity and often does not force you to find the only possible solution.
Moreover, puzzles adapt to the number of players (up to four, also online) to always be interesting. Trine 5 is even more fun in cooperative mode, but you can perfectly enjoy the adventure even alone. Finally, we want to point out that on this occasion there is no dubbing into Spanish, but at least the translation of the text has not failed.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows digital delivery Steam Price 29,99 € Holygamerz.com 8.0 Readers (4) 8.8 your voteTrine 5 A Clockwork Conspiracy is exactly the game we expected. It takes up the formula of the fourth chapter, introduces some small innovations and continues on its own path. It is a fun solo and cooperative platform and puzzle game, which lacks characterization of the enemies, but can always count on the excellent trio of protagonists. Fans will not be disappointed.
PRO
- Great puzzles and platforming sections.
- Creativity is rewarded
- nice bosses
AGAINST
- The usual little story without biting.
- Uninteresting confrontations with common enemies.
