2023 has been a damn good year for videogames – there’s been awesome remakes, brand new IP’s, and excellent new entries in long running series. Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy firmly belongs in that last category, bringing the series trademark physic’s based platforming and puzzling to new levels of brilliance and challenge.
For those unfamiliar with the Trine series, it is a 2.5D platforming series with heavy use of physics to aid in both light combat and puzzle solving. Things have come a long way since Half-Life 2‘s weighted see-saw, and while there are a fair few examples of this in Trine 5, the expanded nature of the puzzles has us using the physics in much more creative ways. Be it wrapping Zoya’s rope around two objects to force them together, or carefully placing Amadeus’ platforms to hold our weight for just long enough to hop up onto a ledge, or even Pontius’ shield bash sending objects smashing through enemies and walls alike, there feels much greater freedom and inventiveness to the physics solutions here.
Frozenbyte have expanded not only the puzzle layouts, but the challenge too, both in the main path and the many hidden side areas that are a joy to find and solve. Some of the areas had me stumped for way longer than any prior game has done, and thanks to the tools at hand, we can solve them in almost anyway we see fit.
One example had us pulling a lever down to slide a grapple point into place, but this was also tucked away and was tricky to reach. After a few minutes trying to figure out what I was meant to do, I just used Amadeus’ box and plank fused together, raised them into place on the upper ledge and just forwent the actual puzzle in favour of Zoya simply grappling on to that instead and pulling herself up. There were many more examples of us being able to wangle the physics system into a solution that was probably not the intended one, but – much like Tears of the Kingdom – Trine 5 is content to put us in a situation and let us get out of it however we see fit. It’s remarkably freeing to be able to come up with on the fly ideas and give them a try, and rarely were there moments where our creativity was hampered by a forced scenario.
I’ve spent the entire time playing Trine 5 so far solo, during which we can switch instantly to any of the three heroes of Trine with a button press. Again, this has allowed me to come up with crafty solutions, some of which were centred around that quick swap idea. Played in co-op, we can set the game to account for this, forcing players to work together and mixing up the actual layout of puzzles to account for the extra people on hand. Previous games have had elements of this, and it’s going to make a second playthrough with others way more appealing than it already was. We can also play in three player (whereby each controls one character only) or up to four where we can swap characters freely.
Combat has always been a little weaker in Trine than the platforming and puzzling, though in this outing it is much closer in terms of enjoyment. The difficulty has been ramped up (again, as a solo player) and each of the three hero’s has multiple offensive options, meaning we don’t just need to select Pontius and bash every thing in sight. Granted, this is still usually the best option for the smaller skirmishes, but the boss fights force our hand a bit more in terms of variety. Amadeus’ levitation can be used to throw back bombs, while Zoya’s arrows can be shot through fire, though there are more options than these examples. It made these fights both more fun and more of a challenge than I remember from prior games, where the fights there could end up being more of a drag than a fun change of pace.
Each of the three can be upgraded with various skills that players of the previous games will be familiar with; from conjuring different items to being able to control elemental arrows and sticking a sword in a wall to create a makeshift ledge, these are all but essential to unlock. As before, there are hundreds of orbs in each level to collect, and depositing these at a checkpoint grants us upgrade points to spend. Handily, should we pick an upgrade we’re not fond of the points can be taken back without penalty at anytime and used elsewhere. I did find use for this a few times, and it’s a great touch that’ll let us modify our approach if we get stuck at any point.
It wouldn’t be a Trine game without some utterly gorgeous presentation, and A Clockwork Conspiracy is easily the best yet. The visuals are perfect Fairy Tale-like, all bright colours and bold designs, with some excellent animation and are full of character. I don’t know how many times I stopped just to admire the view, and Frozenbyte even lean in to this at points – come across a dead end overlooking the environment and the camera will pan out to show off more of the majestic backgrounds. We only ever move on a 2D plane (none of Trine 3‘s more 3D environments here, which is more than welcome in my eyes) but a lot of love has clearly gone into making the world look and feel alive, even right into the distance. Audio work is once again a highlight too, the sumptuous score perfectly complimenting the stunning visual work.
I’m sitting here trying to think of something – anything – that I could construe as a down point, but it’s to Frozenbyte’s credit that I’m struggling. On one hand, it can be easy to get by a lot of the solutions by simply spawning a box or two, stacking them up, and hopping over problems, but then on the other Frozenbyte account for this later on by sloping more surfaces or putting barriers in to stop exactly this tactic – but crucially, it never feels unfair, more just a nudge to experiment again.
Other than this self imposed nit-pick though, I can say that I’ve had an amazing time with Trine 5. It builds upon what makes the series great – the physics, puzzles, beautiful audio/visual work – while making the weaker points – combat – far more enjoyable than ever before. It’s astounded me that the series has remained somewhat of a cult hit until now, but if there’s any justice in the world, A Clockwork Conspiracy will change that.
Conclusion
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is an incredible amalgamation of everything the series has done so far, and produces not only the best Trine game yet, but also one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year. The freedom we’re granted with the tools on offer is excellent, and combined with stunning presentation, this make Trine 5 utterly essential playing in my eyes.
Become a Patron!This game was reviewed based on Xbox S|X review code, using an Xbox S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
