Trove

Genre: Open-World Action-RPG

Players: 1-16 Co-Op (Online)

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Review:

WARNING: THIS GAME HEAVILY PUSHES MICROTRANSACTIONS

Trove is a free-to-play Open-World Action-RPG originally released on PC in 2015 before gradually getting ported to the Xbox One in 2016, the PlayStation 4 in 2017, and the Nintendo Switch in 2021. This is a game that was very clearly inspired by Minecraft, but takes the gameplay in a direction closer to an MMO, with much of the focus here on raiding dungeons with online comrades.

I’ll start by saying that you’re gonna’ see a lot of comparisons to Minecraft in this review. I generally try not to hold a game up against another too much, but when there are so many similarities, it’s kinda’ hard to avoid.

Of course, you can’t say “inspired by Minecraft” without the presentation being comprised of that signature blocky voxel-style of 3D visuals, here lightly cel-shaded. The colors used here are brighter and less real-world grounded than Minecraft’s, it’s less impressive due to a shorter pop-in distance, and the textures aren’t quite as good (not that Minecraft’s textures were all that great to begin with). It works, but is pretty uninspired. At the very least, the game’s placid fantasy-themed synthesized soundtrack is decent enough, although once again, it pales next to Minecraft.

As for the gameplay, I will say that the focus on adventuring over deconstruction and building does make this a somewhat different experience than Minecraft. With players raiding dungeons in the game’s open world, fighting enemies, defeating bosses, and collecting loot, the gameplay at times feels a little bit closer to something like Diablo… at least in theory.

In practice, well… there are issues. The gameplay here is extremely repetitive, with enemies that are fairly simple and combat that’s not extremely varied. If we’re measuring this game against something like Diablo or an MMO, the loot isn’t as plentiful or enticing, the dungeons are brief and not all that challenging, and even though the game seems to want to retain the construction and land deformation elements of Minecraft, it can’t seem to think of very much to do with it.

You could argue that the simple gameplay here makes this a game that’s appealing to younger and less-experienced players, but unfortunately the game is saddled with a poor tutorial with tiny text that doesn’t really explain the game’s systems properly in a way that makes sure that players understand how it all works. As simple as the gameplay is, the way it’s presented here seems like it will still likely confuse the more novice players most likely to appreciate it.

There’s some other issues as well. The Nintendo Switch version of the game doesn’t make use of the motion controls for gyroscopic aiming nor does it make use of the touchscreen. However, even worse, this seems like a somewhat unstable port, with the menu taking an absurdly long time to open after pressing the button, and the game crashed on me multiple times while I was playing it. This is a game that’s nearly a decade old now, and not in any way taxing on modern hardware, so for it to run this poorly is pretty disappointing.

Finally, I should mention the microtransactions. Thankfully, these don’t seem too intrusive, though they come with frustrations regardless – apparently you’re not able to see how much things cost in the game’s store menu until you open it up in the menu… the same menu that takes absurdly long to open. It’s perplexing that this game makes it as difficult as possible to spend your money on it, for those who are even inclined to do so in the first place.

Despite its flaws, Trove still does have some of the positive qualities of its inspirations – a large world to explore, some enjoyable dungeon raiding, and a nice social element. It’s just a shame that its disparate elements don’t mesh well together, and each of them are too weak enough on their own to really sell the game. Add to that an overall underwhelming and buggy port and Trove is a Minecraft-esque Open-World Action-RPG with Diablo-esque dungeon raiding and loot grabbing that absolutely pales in comparison to both of those games.

tl;dr – Trove is a free-to-play Open-World Action-RPG with elements of Minecraft and Diablo. Unfortunately, these different elements don’t mesh well together, and aren’t strong enough on their own. On top of that, the Nintendo Switch version of the game is extremely buggy. There’s fun to be had here, but there are major flaws that keep this game from stepping out from under the shadow of its inspirations.

Grade: C

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2021 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Worst Microtransactions

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