Trident’s Tale caught my eye with promises of pirate adventure and its colorful art. It looked like a game that might appeal to me and my kids. The art, music, and side characters lend themselves to enjoying pirate adventures and making our way through the story. Unfortunately, my sea-faring journey faced some adversity before I could set sail.

When you open the game, it recommends using a controller. I’m not very adept at controller gameplay, but I’ve found that when games hit you with a “Hey, use a controller” on the first screen, it’s likely a game that runs better using one. So I grabbed my controller and got ready to sail the seas. I pressed start and the game crashed to the desktop. Multiple attempts to start the game with my controller had the same result so I unplugged the controller and went with keyboard and mouse. I finally met Ocean, the protagonist I’d play in my pirate journey.

Meet Ocean – A Plucky Young Pirate

Ocean is a young pirate with a lot of pluck. She finds an artifact, a discovery that brings enemies who attack the island where she grew up. Ocean must flee the island by sailing away in her adoptive father’s ship. The game provides a tutorial over time, giving tips on game mechanics as they are encountered in the story. Movement and combat in the game felt very clunky and awkward with keyboard and mouse. Eventually, I adjusted to the movement enough to get through fights without having to use as many healing potions.

I appreciate the way Trident’s Tale builds Ocean’s skills. Discovering new items and characters unlocks new abilities. The first side character to join Ocean’s crew teaches her some magic to help her move beyond the first challenging boss battle. I liked the how the discovery of new special skills linked with the storyline, which unfolds through conversations with side characters Ocean encounters. The voice-overs are pretty good, though sometimes they do not match the on-screen dialogue.

Exploration is one of the highlights of the game. Movement is relatively smooth while looking for hidden treasures in the nooks and crannies of an island or making your way around the seas. Sometimes, there is platforming involved in exploration, and those moments were sometimes less fun due to the awkward movement control. I had to turn to the internet to figure out how to heal my ship after I wandered into some sea battles. (You use Ocean’s health potions to repair the damage to the ship.)

Puzzles, Platforms, and Sailing the Seas

Ocean encounters puzzles and platform challenges as you move through the quest line. I have mobility issues with my hands. Some floor spike and dart obstacles were tough for me as they required a series of very accurately timed movements. I took a break after finally making it through the first big puzzle area and started sailing around the ocean. I really enjoyed exploring the seas, collecting materials and enjoying the wind and the waves. Every now and then I ended up in battles with another ship which didn’t always go well, but overall the sailing was definitely the highlight of the game for me.

An Unfinished Adventure

Between the frequent game crashes and my hands getting sore from attempting the puzzles, I decided to check Trident’s Tale back into my game library for now. I’m following the game on Steam and will revisit it if I see a patch that might fix some of the issues I experienced. What I’ve played so far feels like a good, light-hearted, platform puzzle adventure game. Unfortunately, the client crashes and clunky feel of the controls kept me from experiencing the full game.

Update: A few weeks later I tried again and was able to use the controller and successfully enter the game. I got a little further than before, and only had 2 game crashes during a 1.5 hour session.

Game key was provided for review purposes

This is a short of some sailing around the ocean, which was definitely my favorite part of the game so far.