Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power

Save your sanity and go play Trine 4 and 5. Avoid this game like a plague. Some pseudo weird to make everything in 3D but puzzles solutions stays in some way majority in 2D view. It’s a good thing developers understood what a mistake they made and will never repeat this again.

Hi. I'm sharing my Trine 3 Walkthrough. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL957yPFpIoy-hpuQeeWsi4rgERg3Vxg09 Summary: *Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power* is a visually stunning action-platformer developed by Frozenbyte. It is the third installment in the *Trine* series, blending puzzle-solving, platforming, and action elements. The game stands out by introducing a shift from the series' traditional 2D gameplay to 3D environments, adding a new dimension to its physics-based puzzles. The story follows three heroes—Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight, and Zoya the Thief—who are bound to the magical artifact known as the Trine. The trio must work together to solve puzzles, battle enemies, and navigate through a mystical world filled with vibrant, fairy-tale-inspired landscapes. While the game was praised for its gorgeous visuals and enchanting soundtrack, its relatively short length and abrupt ending received criticism, attributed to budget constraints during development. Despite its flaws, *Trine 3* offers a cooperative multiplayer experience and continues to charm fans with its engaging gameplay and whimsical atmosphere.

Either the devs never bothered to test the game, or the testers never bothered to do their job properly. Actually, forget testing, how did this even pass the prototype vetting? The added spacial depth with the fixed camera makes this unplayable in local co-op, and local co-op is the highlight of the Trine series. What a self-defeating design! Such a shame because the Trine series is otherwise charming and fun.

[h1][b] TLDR: The 2.5D shift brings genuinely cool new puzzle ideas, but this is an unfinished, buggy product that ends one-third into its own story and apparently will never be finished. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Graphics ➕New perspective adds refreshing puzzle elements ➕Good fantasy/fairy tale vibe [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖Animations seem janky ➖Only contains 1/3rd of the story(!) ➖No upgrades/loot ➖Collecting coins to unlock levels feels bad ➖Feels like an Early Access game My past reviews: [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/35700?snr=1_5_9__402]Trine 1 (T1)[/url] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/Synikx/recommended/35720?snr=1_5_9__402]Trine 2 (T2)[/url] [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] The game world continues the tradition of the prior games by showcasing a colorfully vibrant fantasy/fairy tale world. This is furthered by this game moving out of the 2D realm and into the 2.5D area, which greatly expands the look and feel of the world. The levels themselves contain typical Trine areas - caves, cities, forests, and a magic academy. There’s around the same amount of exploration here as in prior titles where a small off-path with a puzzle gives you some currency. To me, the world, despite how limited it is, was one of the higher points of T3. The narrative is somewhat interesting, how the heroes from the previous games are after pieces of the Trine in order to stop a villain. However, the game abruptly ends literally by saying “We’ve collected 1 of 3 pieces….” showing some serious issues with the development of this game. As far as I know, this remains incomplete. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] Most of the big mechanical changes here are around the game moving from 2D to 2.5D, including the characters new abilities. The wizard has a slam now with their block, the thief can attach the grappling hook to items, and the knight can charge/buttslam. These definitely add some new elements to the puzzles that I wish we had more of. Like some of the coolest parts to me was making an elevator by attaching thief’s rope to two ends of board and circling it around top part that rises. Super cool. Unfortunately, these cool events don’t happen that much, most of the game has you collecting these coins, called “Trine fragments” that basically make you feel like a Sonic game. These coins then unlock the next level, making them both essential and incredibly boring for progression. I sorely miss the character upgrades and loot of the previous games. The difficulty is noticeably easier than the past Trines, maybe because there’s only 1/3rd of the game available, but the only real difficulty was the optional areas to get coins. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] Superb graphics, the areas look stunning and vibrant. I’d say early PS5-era graphics. Animations are very bad though, combat with the knight looks ridiculous as his limbs flail everywhere from attacking and blocking. Furthermore, the animations have a sort of “Stutter” with them. I’ts like the characters are locked to 30 FPS while the rest of the game moves at 120 FPS. Odd. The technical side seemed fine. Game ran good. There were frequent bugs, with items literally glitching out and disappearing. Enemy ragdolls being stuck/thrown about, and more. This happened frequently and constantly. Very buggy. 1440p @ 240hz | installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] Music seemed okay. Nothing really stood out to me. Sound effects seemed to be missing. There is a big lack of sound when the knight blocks or attacks. Feels a bit cheap, especially when combined with the poor animations. There is voice acting, but it seems like some of the parts were missing. Like it read some characters speaking, but not all the text in the same part. Like the narrator was missing. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [2/10] [/b] [/h1] Aside from the ~5 or so main levels, there are a handful of shorter optional levels. I beat the full game and got credits after doing all content in under 5 hours. There was nothing else to do but achievements like collect all coins. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] Trine 3 (T3) unfortunately feels like an Early Access game. Aside from the major fact that it ends seemingly 1/3rd of the way through, there are other parts like audio, animations, and bugs that are clearly representative of a product in development. But from what I understand, T3 is no longer in development. This seems to be a classic case of being overly ambitious, because T3 has a good core with some good puzzles, but a huge portion of the game is…..just simply missing. I think the move from 2D to 2.5D shows the potential for some cool creative new puzzles, so I’m sad to have seen this remain unfinished. This is an easy “No” for recommendation due to this massive issue. [h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]No[/h1] Base price of $22 is a slap in the face considering how this ends. Even the historical low of $5 is asking a bit much. If you must play, I wouldn’t pay over $3 for this. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR

despite the negative reviews, the game is quite fun actually. the only problem i can think of is this game being shorter compared to the other trines. overall, i enjoyed it frrr and it was worth playing.

They took most of what was good about the series and dumbed it down which I didn't like. The major change was that traversal is no longer in 2D but in 3D which could have been done well, but in this one it was poorly thought out. Level design was a step below as well. At least there were less collectibles than Trine 2. Art style and atmosphere of the game is till the same that you would expect. It's probably the only thing that wasn't a downgrade. There are no challenging achievements and it makes the game very short and less replayable. It's the low point of the series for me. 4/10

太短了，比我的牛子还短

6 / 10 (INCOMPLETE GAME) Such a shame the devs abandoned this game. There are a lot of good things going on in there with its 3D gameplay, it definitely needed improvements and touchups in the gameplay mechanics (falling off cliffs at the far ends of the screen, for example). If the devs would be able to complete the development of this game in the future, and polish up the gameplay mechanics (with upgrades to characters), that would be fantastic. Only worth a go as it is for hardcore Trine fans.