Regular readers will be well aware of my aversion to roguelike/roguelite games, and so when a new one rolled through the door I was clearly in first place to review it, right?

The game in question this time is called Trinity Fusion, the latest from Angry Mob Games. With an interesting take on the multiverse theory of reality to explore, and a promising looking combat system to get to grips with, the basics appear to be there. Do all the strands come together into a pleasing symphony, or is it somewhat discordant, like when I tried to learn the recorder as a boy? 

Starting with how Trinity Fusion looks and the news here is pretty good. There is a pleasing hand drawn style to the graphics, with our heroine (one of three) looking nicely designed and very well animated. Each of the three characters we can unlock has a different vibe, related to the facet of the world that she comes from, and in this way interest is maintained. 

The levels of the game are presented in a 2D platform style, with each stage being its own self-contained arena. Arena seems the wrong word, given that the levels are huge and run various multiple paths through, but it is the best one I have. Those levels are also procedurally generated, so no two runs are the same, and since you will spend a lot of time dying and restarting, this is a good thing. Anyway, the enemies that you face off against are also a well designed bunch, from bouncing blobs to skeleton dogs to giant robot type enemies. All are well animated and this makes reading their attacks pretty easy. Doing something about them, mind, well that’s a whole other question. 

I’ve been impressed by the audio too, with nicely acted voiced cutscenes, and the sounds of combat and jumping exactly as you would expect. All in all, the presentation of Trinity Fusion gets a big tick from me. 

It is however the narrative which is the beating heart of any decent single player game. Here the story is also a good one, as the narrative thread that is woven is suitably sci-fi and more than a little bonkers. 

We are Maya, a young lady who inhabits a man made universe. This place has three realms, for want of a better word. Yet all are dying. Maya is psychically linked to her other selves in the other two realms, and she can basically take control of them. According to the blurb of the game, the only way to save the worlds is to destroy them, which seems somewhat counter intuitive, but let’s roll with it for now. We are going to save the world through the medium of violence, running through the worlds and hitting things. I am fully onboard with this approach. With different worlds to explore, all with their own distinct look, the scene is set for a grand adventure. 

Gameplay is next up on my checklist, and here the list of features is pretty long. There are a lot of interesting features to Trinity Fusion, so starting at the beginning, as a roguelike, you can fully expect to die. Like, a lot. And the good part of dying is that you get stronger with each death, as the “currency” you collect on the way helps you get stronger for the next run. We can purchase psychic enhancements that have things like extra health in them, which always comes in handy. Further come combat enhancements, and these are a little more obtuse, but surprisingly helpful. Things like having a weapon bench outside a boss room, or a shop instead to make sure you have everything you need is very useful, and can make the difference between success and failure. 

Other features? Well, the most surprising thing about Trinity Fusion is the ability to merge two of the characters together, giving you the benefits of two different fighting styles in one package. Obviously, as you get stronger and move further into the game, the enemies get stronger, so having more capabilities is really a no brainer. 

And you’ll need it, as the actual combat is very well thought out, and feels good to play. We have a melee weapon, that when we hit things fills a power gauge, and this power gauge allows us to use our ranged weapon, be that a simple gun or a bouncing ball of electricity, and pretty much everything in between. As we go about our adventure, we will find new weapons in chests or dropped by enemies, with there being some thought as to what to carry – is a stronger sword with a shorter range better than, say, a scythe that doesn’t hit as hard but can make contact from further away? Do you want to use a rocket launcher as a projectile weapon, or one that causes pillars of flame to shoot out to the sides?

The final piece of the Trinity Fusion jigsaw is a dodge move, that when timed correctly actually makes you invulnerable, and can also be used in the air. This, when combined with the double jump we have from the start, makes life easier as we explore the place. 

The choices don’t end there, as Trinity Fusion comes with a very cool upgrade system during each run. As we explore, we find things that look like blue pillars, and these give us new abilities to use. However, there is a second layer to this, as the abilities have a colour associated with them. Manage to find three things that have the same colour and a bonus will be yours, a trait awarded at the same time. So it is kind of a four for three offer, and this can only be a good thing, right? More abilities certainly makes things easier, anyway, for a given value of “easy”, even if Trinity Fusion is far from that, even on the lowest difficulty level. 

Trinity Fusion is a good game with a steep learning curve and instinctive combat that is enjoyable to get involved in. No two runs are the same, the difficulty is hard, yet if I had one complaint it would be that the damage you take feels wrong – the screen will be flashing red to tell you that you are almost dead, when you feel like you’ve barely been hit. With a tad more feel to the fighting, Trinity Fusion would have been a very high scorer, but as is, this remains a challenging and enjoyable proposition. 

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• Source: https://www.thexboxhub.com/trinity-fusion-review/