I love a good nostalgic JRPG, as it can always remind me of simpler times. Trinity Trigger seeks to recapture the magic of those classic 90s gems and takes heavy inspiration from the Secret of Mana series. The game is developed by Three Rings and published by XSeed Games. The story of Trinity Trigger is set in the fantasy realm of Trinitia.

Long ago the world was enveloped by war between the gods of Order and Chaos. After the war relics of the god’s battles remained on the world in the form of giant weapons named Arma. In the present day, our protagonist Cyan discovers he has been chosen to take part in this centuries-long war as a representative of the gods of Chaos. After learning of this fate he sets off on a journey with a girl named Elise in order to end the conflict peacefully.

The premise here is certainly your typical fare for this genre. Unfortunately, I can’t say it ever manages to evolve beyond a bland and generic plotline that failed to grab my attention. Virtually, all of the world-building is delivered through large exposition dumps. This only serves to hinder your immersion while exploring charming environments. The main cast of characters is equally bland. It takes quite a long time for you to learn much about any of them beyond surface-level characteristics.

The major gameplay of Trinity Trigger revolves around stamina-based action combat that allows you to quickly swap between a variety of weapons and your three core party members. There are eight total weapons with six unique combo attacks that are tailored toward the corresponding element of our heroes.

You can freely customize and level up these attacks as you defeat enemies and progress through the story. I enjoyed Trinity Trigger‘s customization but found that the balancing could use work. Certain weapons like the axe are too slow and require huge stamina investments to ever be worth using. Meanwhile, the bow does decent damage and is easily abusable as you have more than enough space to maneuver endlessly away from enemies and refill your stamina easily.

The basic three-hit combo comprises the core of this combat system. Of course, it is complemented only by a powerful trigger strike that can be unleashed once enough energy has been built up through hitting enemies. These attacks are satisfying, but quickly grow dull after you use them for a long period of time.

You have access to items called Manatite which can be equipped on your weapons in order to provide various offensive or defensive buffs. However, most don’t dramatically change your attacks in meaningful ways. As a result, I found myself wishing for more expansive weapon move pools or trigger strikes to keep combat feeling fresh.

Each strike of your weapon will also deplete a stamina wheel. However, unlike other stamina-based ARPG’s, Trinity Trigger allows you to continue attacking even after your stamina has been depleted with the consequence of decreased damage output. Fortunately, the wheel can be refilled instantly by precisely dodging enemy attacks or simply taking a moment of rest between your assault.

This sounds good as a concept but in practice, it is quite clunky. Enemy attack animations are extremely awkward with some being very slow and others being barely perceptible because of the top-down third-person perspective. Basic enemies can be killed in just a few hits. This discourages you from bothering to learn their attack patterns, especially when party members steal your kills beforehand.

In contrast, boss encounters in Trinity Trigger have the opposite issue. Every boss within the game is challenging, not for unique mechanics or attack patterns but simply because they can take increased levels of punishment. Every boss has two bars of health, one of which comprises its armor while the other reflects its actual HP.

Once you whittle down the armor the boss is stunned for a short window, which allows you to inflict real damage before instantly regaining its entire armor bar once again. As a result, every encounter devolves into a button mash fest that goes against the core tenets of the combat system. It’s as though the developers couldn’t make up their minds between fast-paced hack-and-slash combat or a slower risk-versus-reward combat system.

Another issue I have with the combat is the terrible party AI. My party members were often caught standing in obvious attack patterns or walking directly into dungeon hazards. Every major fight will see your potions and healing items drained completely, and the constant upkeep of life totals will take away from the flow of actually fun gameplay. The game does have an accessible co-op option with up to three players though, which is a great feature. Sadly, it doesn’t discount the detriments you’ll face when flying solo through the game’s story mode.

Outside of combat, you can spend extra time completing various side quests for NPCs or grinding for resources to craft new items. Neither task is particularly rewarding given most of the items you craft can already be purchased and side quests offer meager rewards that never make up for the time spent on them.

The best elements of Trinity Trigger come from its presentation. The hand-drawn character portraits are beautifully detailed and channel the style of artist Yoshida Akihiko, who provided illustrations for Bravely Default and the Tactics Ogre series. The few pre-rendered cutscenes are gorgeously animated and look straight out of an anime film or TV series as well.

Additionally, the in-game models for the main characters are also well-animated. While the chibi style may not be for everyone, I personally didn’t mind it. The game also features full voice acting with both English and Japanese voices available. I played through the game with English voices and found them to fit the characters and story well. The soundtrack is also solid and certainly helps to provide the world with further characterization.

Another positive of Trinity Trigger is the game’s performance. This game runs smoothly from beginning to end. I never had frame rate issues or encountered technical glitches throughout my playthrough. The visuals certainly aren’t the most groundbreaking, but I don’t consider that a downside, considering the game is seeking to capture a retro aesthetic.

While Trinity Trigger fumbles in a lot of areas for my personal taste, I still think many will enjoy what is being offered here. If you love the original Secret of Mana games, I think you will enjoy this one. It’s clear there was effort put into the game and if you’re looking for an old-school game to pass the time this certainly checks many of the boxes.

 A Nintendo Switch review copy of Trinity Trigger was provided by XSEED Games for this review  

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Trinity Trigger

59.99

5.5

Score

5.5/10

Pros

• Character portraits and art
• Solid Music
• Charming world/ visuals

Cons

• Bad party AI
• Stamina meter
• Somewhat bland story and characters