Developer: Angry Mob Games
Publisher: Angry Mob Games
Available on: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Trinity Fusion is a 2.5D platformer action-adventure game with challenging gameplay and roguelite elements reminiscent of games like Dead Cells and the Blasphemous series. You play as three characters - each of them a parallel self of one another from a different world - as you embark on the mission to save a crumbling multiverse.
A long time ago, a group known as the Engineers created the multiverse - a collection of several worlds where each one served a different, specific purpose. The Underworld was teeming with life and resources, the Overworld was a colossal factory world with perfect order, and the Hyperworld represented the pinnacle of science, technology, and arts. The Engineers resided in the Prime world and co-ordinated the entire multiverse. However, over time, they lost control over the multiverse as each world spiraled out of their control or fell into chaos. Your mission is to merge the worlds back together and salvage what could be saved.
To start with the basics, the controls and movement are fluid and responsive. This is important for any game, but especially ones with challenging, fast-paced gameplay. Otherwise, the main idea of the game should feel familiar for anyone who has played roguelite games before - world map, enemies, upgrades, and loot are procedurally generated for every run, while there’s a central hub area where you can get permanent bonuses, unlocks, and upgrades in exchange for in-game currency earned during runs.
You can freely choose from a roster of three characters - Altara, Kera, and Naira - with distinct personalities, combat styles, and worlds to explore. For instance, Altara can use versatile energy weapons like flame pillars that leave DoT damage on floors or frost blasts that slow enemies down. Her universe is the Underworld, a world of desolate wastes and deep caverns crawling with wild beasts. Kera can carry two melee weapons, one of them being heavy melee weapons like hammers that deal much more damage and are exclusive to her. With Kera, you will explore the forges and factories of Overworld and face hostile robots. Naira can use ranged projectile weapons like guns and bows that can easily dispatch enemies from a distance. Her world is the Hyperworld where the Ewer - post-humans who merged with technology and are hostile to the Engineers - have taken over.
However, these boundaries can be bypassed by the titular ‘fusion’ mechanic, where you can combine two characters into a hybrid with both their abilities. For example, if you started as Altara and fused with Naira, then you would be able to use the features of both characters and use both energy and ranged weapons. Fusion is a powerful, versatile mechanic that greatly increases your options, but it is not free of drawbacks since it also means you would need to upgrade three weapons rather than two to keep up with the power scaling.
Another interesting mechanic in the game is the ‘cursed’ chests, which give you rare items or strong gear in exchange for random debuffs that can be removed by fulfilling specific challenges. The challenges vary greatly in difficulty, ranging from simple tasks like reaching the stage exit or using a consumable item to more difficult ones like killing a set number of enemies with no damage. Likewise, the debuffs can also be anything between a 20% malus in damage, losing your coins every time you get hit, or even outright losing access to your minimap. It is a high-stakes bet at any point in the game since you could receive a great item for a trivial challenge but get something you don’t need at a heavy cost.
The temporary upgrades you can collect during each run are called ‘amplifiers,’ which give you various stat boosts and effects. Many of them are quite conditional and don’t make a huge difference on their own, but they can become much more potent when combined with other amplifiers. Amplifiers are also divided into several different categories, and once you collect 3 amplifiers in the same category, you can then obtain a more powerful amplifier for free. There are also hybrid amplifiers that count towards 2 categories when chosen.
A big part of the game’s difficulty comes from limited healing. In Trinity Fusion, healing items are single-use pickups, and only one may be carried at a time. They are also not that potent and can heal roughly one-third of your max health at most. Similarly, health-related amplifiers are often situational, RNG-dependent, or come with drawbacks. Most attacks won’t deal huge amounts of damage in one hit, but it can also rack up quickly if you are not careful.
Overall, Trinity Fusion is a robust roguelite action game with great visuals and engaging gameplay. It offers several innovative mechanics that give a fresh spin to the genre, while the visuals and art style of the three different worlds also feel distinct and varied. The developers are also actively adding more content with updates. I would definitely recommend the game to those who enjoy challenging roguelites with fast-paced combat.