Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power

Trine 3's vibrant world and creative physics puzzles are as appealing as ever, but the transition to 3D is a painful one.

We extend our sympathies toward Frozenbyte since Trine 3's weaknesses are due to unforeseen costs that exceeded its budget, but this doesn't alter the reality of the game's state. While it may surpass expectations as a picturesque fairy tale come to life with a lovely score and promising tale, your childlike wonder will fade and be cut short due to abrupt closure, trite puzzle-solving, and dumbed-down gameplay that spells a fumble for this middling entry.

Trine 3: Artifacts of Power is by no means a bad game. It's visuals are exemplary, the characters charming and delightful, and the overall tone of the game is very well suited to the Switch. Unfortunately, in transitioning over to fully 3D environments, the poor depth perception and limited sense of progression really hurts the experience. If you enjoy collecting items, there's just about enough here to warrant a purchase, but everyone else would be wise to hold off until the upcoming Trine 4.

Artifacts of Power hits most of the right marks. . . . At the same time, there's a feeling that the game lost something when it went fully 3D.

Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power continues with the Trine tradition of puzzle-solving co-op gameplay which has worked fine before and continues to work fine today. The main issue with Trine 3 is how it made the transition to a 3D world, one which just does not fit well with the gameplay and ends up feeling less enjoyable than its predecessors as a consequence, even if its worlds are still gorgeous to look at and to listen to.

Frozenbyte brings us the third part of the Trine saga at the gates of the launch of the fourth part. This third part is probably the most unpopular game in the soul artifact franchise. Not for its overall quality, even high, but for its simplification of mechanics and its duration, possible victims of a development too ambitious for a modest budget and a step to 3D well developed but with a playable cost. Despite all this, and also thanks to its impeccable audiovisual section, the game is still remarkable, highly recommended for anyone, and essential for Trine fans.

While Trine 3 would've benefitted from a much greater length, less frustrating puzzles and online co-op, what's here will more than suit fans of the series. The new 3D direction takes getting used to, but really incorporates into the developer's vision remarkably; and the visuals are quite stunning at times. If you're a fan of the series, this is a must. If not, maybe this could make you become one, despite the shortcomings.

Trine 3 tries new things, and while it doesn't always hit the mark, it ultimately makes for a very enjoyable experience.

While not the best version of the game, the PS4 version still plays and looks great. People looking for an online experience should go to the PC version for that, but at the same time, if you have a buddy to play locally with you, you can have a really great time traversing the beautiful environments and solving the puzzles. Sure, it's a bit short, but the time I had with it was a really fun one.

In many ways a step down for the franchise, Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power is an unfortunate combination of lackluster 3D platforming and unfinished storytelling.