Trinty Fusion Review on Xbox

Trinty Fusion is a 2.5D rogue-lite metroidvania, where the only way to save the multiverse, is to end it.

The premise is you take control of your parallel selves on a mission to save a dying multiverse. Fight through a combination of procedurally-generated levels as well as hand-crafted challenges and arenas that will put your skills to the test.

The game boasts a rogue-lite journey, three universes and characters to explore and high-intensity combat with an arsenal of special weapons and abilities.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is Controller mapping and aim assist. Smart dash is also added, however there is no subtitle options or sound options. This would mean that those with audio or visual issues would struggle until a patch adds in some other options.

Gameplay

This particular title has been on my radar since April when I first played the demo at WASD. Completing said demo, convince me, someone who has struggled with rogue-lite Metroidvania’s before, that this was something special. The biggest draw to the game is the 3 distinct protagonists on offer once you have unlocked them. But that’s not all, you see, if you gain enough resource, and have unlocked a different character, you can also fuse with your alternate self for something truly special.

You start off in a random universe with its corresponding character, in a relatively weak state with basic weaponry and no perks. From here it is up to you to slash, slide, dash and jump your way through the level to a portal to the next zone. Because of your weak nature, exploration is key in order to build up experience and find better loot to equip. You would think with procedurally-generated levels, loot placement and occurrence, would be an issue, but thank fully I can say that there is plenty to get hold of and increase your base damage, to ensure an easier task of getting through the levels. Be it be dropping from enemies or finding hidden chests, there is plenty to always progress regardless of location. Loots consists of weapons, damage amplifiers and special abilities, with each element specifically targeting a particular part of your characters build. 

You are not forced to take any loot and can compare on the go before swapping out what abilities and weapons you want. This also feeds into the cursed chests, which are a nice unique feature that provide a catch 22 sort of damage amplifier. 

These themselves provide you items with even higher stats increases, but with an equally damaging counter stat. You cannot decide if the loot is worth taking so there is a risk involved, for example one item I found gave me a 42% critical hit increase but a 10% base damage drop.

As with any rogue-lite, you will lose your current weapons and any damage amplifies upon death, but will keep the permanent perks regardless. Permanent Perk upgrades improve your stats and increase your chances of success across all your runs. They boost anything from your max health, regen capabilities to new skills. These ensure that regardless of the grind to get enough resource to purchase them, progression in some format is always guaranteed.

Combat is superb, with smooth stylish attacks dependant on the weapon or ability you wish to use and the character you have chosen. Dashing between enemies, before counter attacking feels smooth and engaging that become second nature the more you progress. Your soon be pushing through the levels at break neck speed should you wish, before coming upon a boss. Boss encounters are quite tough and will require you to manage your attacks carefully as dependant on the health status, they will switch attack patterns to ensure that nothing feels stale. Once a boss has been defeated, you align a lens that then allows you to enter an alternate reality and it’s corresponding character, before being transported back to the hub world.

The hub world is where you will meet Maya, whom is your physic contact and forth character. She is the one who brings you back from the dead and allows you to fuse with each other, creating a new combined individual. Within this hub world you will meet other characters in which will provide you with story progression, character choice, and permanent character upgrades. You can also choose to enter a different reality from here, should you need to grind out some enemies to upgrade yourself before progressing the story.

The 3 characters available are Kara, Naira, and Altara and are technically the same person but from alternate realities, with each having their own unique style of combat. Naira, is from a cybernetic reality, and has the ability to wall jump and double jump. Kara, is from a robot reality, and has only melee weapons, but with increased damage. Altara, is from a heavy organic reality, and has more defensive abilities like barriers and projectile attacks.

There is one issue, you cannot use a different character in a different reality. So to keep things fresh, Trinty Fusion has come up with a workaround, in which each reality has a device, that if you can find it will allow you to fuse characters instead. You can choose from the other two beings you are not using to merge the powers and abilities from the character you are, to then create a unique being with access to more weapons and the special abilities of both. This vastly switches up gameplay and allows for even more exploration within the reality that your playing that may not have allowed for access with their corresponding character.

The enjoyment of this game has endeared me to rogue-lite Metroidvania’s, something which few of titles of the genre can say. The freshness of alternate realities and their protagonists, the ability to fuse them in any way you see fit and the smoothness of the combat, kept me coming back again and again.

Graphics

The game isn’t your standard 2D platformer style, as the designers have decided to use 3D models throughout the whole game, allowing for areas to be more like 2.5D. This depth to the game, does make it more distinct and visually allows for more cues when enemies attack.

Being procedurally generated, it also give the game some more uniqueness with every run as there seems to be enough tiles to create visually cohesive levels with each new start. Combine this with the 3 very different realities and visually, you won’t be bored regardless of your runs length.

Enemy designs are superb with enough differing variants regardless of the reality in question to keep you going back for more. Bosses are of course the most stunning and visually unique, and are suitably tailored to the reality they are from. Framerates was solid and at no point did I see any tearing or slowdown.

Sound

Trinity Fusion has voice acting, and the voice actors do a good job selling their respective characters and personalities well. What is a little off putting though is that no part of the character models move when the voicework is being said, breaking the immersion.

The music is slightly orchestral and is fitting to each different reality and for me at least never felt out of place. But it’s the sound effects that are the highlight of the game, with the variety of weapons and gadgets all coming in meaty and robust when hitting a foe. Combining this with environmental sounds also and what you get is an nice collection of sounds sell their respective realties and the enemies within.

My recommendation here, is a good quality headset to ensure the that orchestral tones smooth over the brutal combat going about.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Trinty Fusion is a "Must Own’’.

This game was superb to play and helped me understand the joy of rogue-lite Metroidvania’s pull towards its fanbase. Smooth engaging combat, interesting loot and addictive mechanics have held me like no other before it.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £16.74 or approx. $22 and depending on skill and patience would give you about 30+ hours worth of gameplay. Due to procedural generating levels and loot, fusing your protagonists, extra difficulties, there is enough replay value here should you wish to do so.

If you’re a fan of rogue-lite Metroidvania’s, or just starting to look into this genre, picking up Trinty Fusion would be a wise move.